Minnesota school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Minnesota school boards were held on November 8, 2016. Primary elections, if necessary, were held on August 9, 2016. Special elections could be held in conjunction with primary or general elections to fill vacancies.

Eleven of the 19 Minnesota school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 35 seats in 2016. Here are several quick facts about those school board elections:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was Saint Paul Public Schools with 38,228 K-12 students.
• The smallest Minnesota school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was the Eastern Carver County Public Schools with 9,414 K-12 students.
• Four of Minnesota's largest districts tied for the most seats on the 2016 ballot with four seats up for election each.
• The Saint Paul Public Schools special election had the fewest seats on the 2016 ballot with one seat up for election.

The districts listed below served 189,209 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on each and its school board elections.

2016 Minnesota School Board Elections
District	Primary date	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	9,605
Eastern Carver County Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	9,414
Elk River Area School District	8/9/2016	11/8/2016	4	4	7	13,139
Lakeville Area Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	6	11,067
Minneapolis Public Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	9	36,817
North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District 622	NA	11/8/2016	4	4	7	10,742
Osseo Area Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	6	20,913
Robbinsdale Area Schools	NA	11/8/2016	4	3	7	12,472
Rochester Public Schools	8/9/2016	11/8/2016	4	3	7	16,761
Saint Paul Public Schools (special election)	NA	11/8/2016	1	1	7	38,228
St. Cloud Area School District	8/9/2016	11/8/2016	4	4	7	10,051

August 9 election results

Minnesota school board elections

Three of Minnesota's largest school districts held primary elections on August 9, 2016, to narrow the field of candidates for the general election to two candidates per seat. The candidate who received the least number of votes was defeated in each district's primary. The rest advanced to the general election that was held on November 8, 2016. Three incumbents, one from each district, ran to retain their seats, and all three advanced to the general election.

The Elk River Area School District also held a special election for the open District 2 seat. Three candidates ran to fill the vacancy, and Gregg Peppin was elected to the board.

Election results

Note: An (i) next to a candidate's name indicates incumbent status.

Elk River Area School District
At-large primary election
☑ Holly Thompson (i)
☐ Andrew Kennedy
☑ Gary Kowalkowski
☑ Kristian Mortenson
☑ Joel Nelson
☑ John Parker
☑ Christi Tullbane
District 2 special election
☐ Jerry Jaker
☑ Gregg Peppin
☐ Anthony Martin Pietrzak Jr.

Rochester Public Schools
☑ Deborah Seelinger (i)
☑ Bobbie Gallas
☐ John League
St. Cloud Area School District
☑ Al Dahlgren (i)
☑ Scott Andreasen
☐ Matt Doke
☑ Peter Hamerlinck
☑ Shannon Haws
☑ John Palmer
☑ Jeff Pollreis
☑ Monica Segura-Schwartz
☑ Ric Studer

Issues

Book banning debate in Anoka-Hennepin

See also: Education reform: The fight to shape public school curriculum (2016)

In 2013, officials of the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota selected the book Eleanor & Park for their "Rock the Book" summer reading program for district high school students. In August 2013, the Parents Action League filed a complaint with the school district regarding the content of the book, which includes profanity and sexually explicit situations, and asked for the district to remove the book from its libraries. School board Chair Tom Heidemann acknowledged that the district had made a mistake in including the book in the summer reading program without consulting parents first, but the decision to ban the book was left to a book review committee.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota issued a statement asking the school district to keep Eleanor & Park available to students, with its executive director Charles Samuelson arguing, "We are greatly concerned by removing books like this from the school libraries because they deal frankly and honestly with problems that teens face." A book review committee chaired by Anoka High Principal Mike Farley announced on November 22, 2013, that the book would not be removed from district libraries.

Election trends

Trends in Minnesota school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections in Minnesota's largest school districts attracted fewer candidates per seat than the state's 2014 school board elections did. Despite having fewer candidates, however, the 2015 elections had a smaller percentage of seats go unopposed than the 2014 elections had. Newcomers fared better in the 2014 elections. They won exactly one-third of the seats that were on the ballot in 2015, compared to 39.39 percent of the seats on the ballot in 2014.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Minnesota's school board elections. These districts did not utilize primary or runoff elections. Winners only had to receive a plurality, or relative majority, of votes to secure a seat. All of the school board elections held in the state in 2014 and 2015 were nonpartisan.

Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

In 2015, 56 candidates ran for the 33 school board seats up for election in Minnesota's largest school districts, which came to an average of 1.70 candidates per seat. The 2014 elections also had 33 school board seats on the ballot, but a total of 66 candidates sought those seats, which came to an average of two candidates per seat. Six seats—18.18 percent—went unopposed in 2015, compared to the seven seats, or 21.21 percent, that were unopposed in 2014.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

Nearly all—95.65 percent—of the incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 retained their seats. Twenty-three of the 33 incumbents whose terms were up for election ran to keep their seats, and 22 of them won. Four of those winning incumbents ran unopposed; the others defeated challengers to win additional terms.

In 2014, 86.96 percent of incumbents who ran to retain their seats won re-election. Twenty-three of the 33 incumbents whose terms were on the ballot ran to keep their seats, and 20 of them won. Five of those winners ran unopposed; the other 15 won re-election by defeating challengers.

The map below details the success rates for incumbents who ran in the 2015 school board elections that were held in the largest school districts by enrollment in the U.S.

The map above details the success rates of incumbent who ran to retain their school board seats in the largest school districts in each state. States depicted in gray did not hold school board elections.

Data table

Minnesota school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	33	33
Candidates	66	56
Candidates/seat	2.00	1.70
Unopposed seats	7	6
% unopposed	21.21%	18.18%
% seats won by newcomers	39.39%	33.33%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	23	23
Unopposed	5	4
Retained	20	22
% retained	86.96%	95.65%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Minnesota

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Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

NAEP scores

See also: NAEP scores by state

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state data on student achievement levels in mathematics and reading in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The table below presents the percentage of fourth and eighth grade students that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin), Minnesota's fourth and eighth graders earned the highest scores across the board.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Minnesota	59%	47%	41%	41%
North Dakota	48%	41%	34%	34%
South Dakota	40%	38%	32%	36%
Wisconsin	47%	40%	35%	36%
United States	41%	34%	34%	34%
Source: United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables"

Graduation, ACT and SAT scores

See also: Graduation rates by groups in state and ACT and SAT scores in the United States

The following table shows the graduation rates and average composite ACT and SAT scores for Minnesota and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged to about 81.4 percent. About 54 percent of all students in the country took the ACT, while 50 percent reported taking the SAT. The average national composite scores for those tests were 20.9 out of a possible 36 for the ACT, and 1498 out of a possible 2400 for the SAT.

Minnesota schools reported a graduation rate of 79.8 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, lowest among its neighboring states.

In Minnesota, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 23.

Comparison table for graduation rates and test scores, 2012-2013
State	Graduation rate, 2013		Average ACT composite, 2013		Average SAT composite, 2013
	Percent	Quintile ranking**	Score	Participation rate	Score	Participation rate
Minnesota	79.8%	Fourth	23	74%	1780	6%
North Dakota	87.5%	First	20.5	98%	1799	2%
South Dakota	82.7%	Third	21.9	78%	1760	3%
Wisconsin	88%	First	22.1	71%	1771	4%
United States	81.4%		20.9	54%	1498	50%
**Graduation rates for states in the first quintile ranked in the top 20 percent nationally. Similarly, graduation rates for states in the fifth quintile ranked in the bottom 20 percent nationally. Sources: United States Department of Education, "ED Data Express" ACT.org, "2013 ACT National and State Scores" The Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT scores by state, 2013"

Dropout rate

See also: Public high school dropout rates by state for a full comparison of dropout rates by group in all states

The high school event dropout rate indicates the proportion of students who were enrolled at some time during the school year and were expected to be enrolled in grades nine through 12 in the following school year but were not enrolled by October 1 of the following school year. Students who have graduated, transferred to another school, died, moved to another country, or who are out of school due to illness are not considered dropouts. The average public high school event dropout rate for the United States remained constant at 3.3 percent for both school year 2010–2011 and school year 2011–2012. The event dropout rate for Minnesota was lower than the national average at 1.8 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 1.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Minnesota
	Minnesota	U.S.
Total population:	5,482,435	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	79,627	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	84.8%	73.6%
Black/African American:	5.5%	12.6%
Asian:	4.4%	5.1%
Native American:	1%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	5%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	92.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	33.7%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$61,492	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	12.2%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Minnesota. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in Minnesota

Minnesota voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, 19 are located in Minnesota, accounting for 9.22 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. Minnesota had 15 Retained Pivot Counties and four Boomerang Pivot Counties, accounting for 8.29 and 16.00 percent of all Retained and Boomerang Pivot Counties, respectively.

More Minnesota coverage on Ballotpedia

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See also

Minnesota	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Minnesota List of school districts in Minnesota	School board elections, 2016 Minnesota school board elections, 2015 Minnesota school board elections, 2014	Education reform at the state and local levels (2016) School boards in session: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey