Oklahoma school board elections, 2016

Oklahoma 2016 elections

* * *

Presidential • U.S. Senate • U.S. House • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • State judges • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Recalls • Candidate ballot access |

|
|

<- 2015

* 2016 school board elections
* Election details and procedures
* List of elections
* Poll opening and closing times
* By geographic region
* Northeast
* Connecticut
* Maine
* Massachusetts
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New York
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* Vermont
* Midwest
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Michigan
* Minnesota
* Missouri
* Nebraska
* North Dakota
* Ohio
* South Dakota
* Wisconsin
* South
* Alabama
* Arkansas
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maryland
* Mississippi
* North Carolina
* Oklahoma
* South Carolina
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Virginia
* West Virginia
* West
* Arizona
* California
* Colorado
* Idaho
* Montana
* Nevada
* New Mexico
* Oregon
* Utah
* Washington
* Wyoming
* Pacific
* Alaska
* Hawaii
* Past elections
* 2015
* 2014
* 2013
* Learn more about Oklahoma
* Federal government
* Presidential election
* Congressional delegation
* Federal courts
* State government
* State executives
* Oklahoma State Legislature
* Ballot measures
* State courts
* Local government
* Cities in Oklahoma
* Local ballot measures
* Recall efforts
* Public education
* Charter schools
* Higher education
* School choice
* See also
* External links
* Footnotes

2017 →

|
|

## Contents

* 1 Elections
* 2 Issues
* 2.1 Oklahoma district considered using Bible curriculum from founder of Hobby Lobby
* 3 Election trends
* 3.1 Trends in Oklahoma school board elections
* 3.1.1 Competitiveness
* 3.1.1.1 Unopposed races
* 3.1.1.2 No candidate races
* 3.1.2 Incumbency advantage
* 3.1.3 Runoff prevalence
* 3.1.4 Data table
* 4 Academic performance
* 4.1 NAEP scores
* 4.2 Graduation, ACT and SAT scores
* 4.3 Dropout rate
* 5 State profile
* 5.1 State profile
* 5.1.1 Presidential voting pattern
* 5.2 See also
* 5.3 Footnotes

# Elections

General elections for Oklahoma school boards were held February 9, 2016. If no candidate won a majority of the votes cast in a given race, the district was required to hold a runoff election on April 5, 2016. Special elections for unexpired board terms were held in conjunction with the general election cycle.

Thirteen Oklahoma school districts were among America's largest school districts by enrollment in the 2012–2013 school year.

Here are several quick facts about Oklahoma's school board elections in 2016:

* The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was Oklahoma City Public Schools with 40,913 K-12 students.
* The smallest Oklahoma school district among the nation's top 1,000 largest with an election in 2016 was Owasso Public Schools with 9,490 K-12 students.
* Oklahoma City Public Schools and Tulsa Public Schools tied for the most seats up for election in 2016 with two seats on the ballot each.
* The other 11 districts tied for fewest seats up for election in 2016 with one seat on the ballot each.

The district listed below served 256,252 K-12 students during the 2013-2014 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district name for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2016 Oklahoma School Board Elections

District  | General date  | Runoff date  | Regular term (years)  | Seats up for election  | Total board seats  | Student enrollment
Broken Arrow Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 17,947
Edmond Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 23,020
Jenks Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 11,181
Lawton Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 15,463
Midwest City-Del City Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14,586
Moore Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 23,019
Mustang Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 9,976
Norman Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 15,601
Oklahoma City Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 2 | 8 | 40,913
Owasso Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 9,490
Putnam City Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 19,378
Tulsa Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 40,152
Union Public Schools | 2/9/2016 | 4/5/2016 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 15,526

# Issues

### Oklahoma district considered using Bible curriculum from founder of Hobby Lobby

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

In April 2014, the Mustang Public Schools Board of Education approved the creation of a Bible history class as an elective course for students at Mustang High School. The curriculum was promoted to the board by Steven Green, the president of Hobby Lobby and founder of the Museum of the Bible. Green's politics had been in the spotlight on a national level as well, including Hobby Lobby's case before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding religious objections to birth control and the Affordable Care Act. According to The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the curriculum, the "curriculum says people should rest on the Sabbath because God did so after six days of creation, and says people risk God’s punishment if they do not obey him."[1]

Both the curriculum and the process by which the curriculum was approved came under fire. It was alleged that the board meeting violated Oklahoma's open meeting laws.[1] Just before the meeting at which the vote to approve the curriculum was made, the school board met in small groups with Green in Oklahoma County. County District Attorney David Prater stated,[1]

“  | Even if there’s an out-of-county board, if they come here and meet in an attempt to circumvent the Open Meetings Act, just because they’ve met in a place that’s not routine, doesn’t mean they circumvent their requirements for meetings. If someone is going to that great of length to avoid quorum, it sounds like they’re being pretty darn careful.[2] | ”

|
|

—District Attorney David Prater (2014)[1]

While board member Jeff Landrith denied even knowing of the meetings, it was later revealed that he had sent a note stating that he would not be able to attend them. Superintendent Sean McDaniel said of the decision to hold separate, private meetings:[1]

“  | This was something that we wanted to be able to have conversation about and ask questions. If we have the media and the public coming into Hobby Lobby headquarters with us, that can just be confusing and awkward since we’re all seeing it for the first time. My thought was, ‘Hey, let’s hold off on having a public meeting until we see a little more.'[2] | ”

|
|

—Mustang Superintendent Sean McDaniel (2014)[1]

Additionally, a Wisconsin-based group called Freedom from Religion threatened to sue the district over the course, calling the curriculum developed by Green's organization a violation of the First Amendment. The group sent a four-page letter stating their intention to seek legal action against any district that teaches the course to schools across Oklahoma. The letter stated that the curriculum, "did not teach about the bible, but preached from the bible."[3]

In December 2014, it was announced that the district would still be seeking to offer a Bible history class, but that it would not be using curriculum developed in conjunction with Green. The district's decision to drop Green's curriculum led to Freedom from Religion dropping further legal action.[4][5]

In response to the controversy, Sen. Kyle D. Loveless (R-45) introduced Senate Bill 48 in early 2015. The proposed law would have protected school districts who provide elective courses on the "objective study of religion or the Bible" from being held liable for providing the courses, but the bill ultimately died in committee.[6][7]

# Election trends

## Trends in Oklahoma school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

School board elections held in Oklahoma's largest school districts in 2015 attracted fewer candidates than the elections held in 2014. The 2015 elections also had fewer newcomers elected to school boards compared to the 2014 elections. Neither year saw much competition, however, as more than half of the seats on the ballot went unopposed in both 2014 and 2015. A total of 85.71 percent of seats went unopposed in 2015, and 62.50 percent of seats on the ballot in 2014 went unchallenged.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Oklahoma's school board elections. These districts did not utilize primary elections, but runoff elections were possible as the state required candidates to receive a majority of the votes cast. 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, Oklahoma's largest school districts attracted an average of 1.14 candidates per seat on the ballot. This was lower than the average 1.31 candidates who ran in the state's 2014 school board elections. Twelve of the 14 seats up for election in 2015 were unopposed, and in 2014, 10 of 16 seats on the ballot went unchallenged.

#### Unopposed races

Of the 14 seats up for election in 2015, only two saw contested races. The 12 uncontested races did not appear on the ballot.

Oklahoma unopposed races

Year  | Total
seats  | Unopposed
seats  | Percent
unopposed
2015 | 14 | 12 | 85.7%
2014 | 16 | 10 | 62.5%

Oklahoma's school board elections have a history of low competition. Of the 13 largest school districts in Oklahoma, only seven held elections in 2014 or 2013. Owasso Public Schools had a particularly long history of unopposed races with its last contested race occurring in 2006.

#### No candidate races

In 2015, there were no school board seats up for election that did not see at least one candidate file for the race.

In 2014, one seat failed to garner any candidates for the general election. The seat on the Union Public Schools Board of Education was filled by an appointment of the remaining board members.

### Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

Twelve of the 14 incumbents whose seats were on the ballot in 2015 ran for re-election, and all 12 of them retained their seats. One of those incumbents defeated a challenger to win re-election; the others were unopposed in the bids to keep their seats.

Fewer incumbents ran to retain their seats in the 2014 school board elections. Sixteen seats were on the ballot, and 10 incumbents ran to keep them, a total of 62.50 percent. Eight of those incumbents won re-election, seven of which ran unopposed.

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.

### Runoff prevalence

Oklahoma runoff prevalence

Year  | Possible  | Actual
2015 | 0 | 0
2014 | 1 | 1

Candidates must secure votes totaling 50 percent plus one to win school board elections in Oklahoma. If no candidate secures a majority in the general election, the top two vote recipients advance to a runoff election.

In 2014, only one race advanced to a runoff election. In 2015, no district had more than two candidates running for any one board position, which made a runoff election unnecessary.

### Data table

Oklahoma school board elections, 2014 - 2015

| 2014 | 2015
All candidates
Seats up | 16 | 14
Candidates | 21 | 16
Candidates/seat | 1.31 | 1.14
Unopposed seats | 10 | 12
% unopposed | 62.50% | 85.71%
% seats won by newcomers | 43.75% | 14.29%
Incumbents
Sought re-election | 10 | 12
Unopposed | 7 | 11
Retained | 8 | 12
% retained | 80.00% | 100.00%

# Academic performance

See also: Public education in Oklahoma

* * *

The sections below do not contain the most recently published data on this subject. If you would like to help our coverage grow, consider donating to Ballotpedia.

* * *

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 (Arkansas, Kansas, and Missouri), Oklahoma had the smallest percentage of students scoring at or above proficient in all categories.[8]

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013

| Math - Grade 4 | Math - Grade 8 | Reading - Grade 4 | Reading - Grade 8
Oklahoma | 36% | 25% | 30% | 29%
Arkansas | 39% | 28% | 32% | 30%
Kansas | 48% | 40% | 38% | 36%
Missouri | 39% | 33% | 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 Oklahoma and surrounding states during the 2012-2013 school year. All statements made in this section refer to that school year.[8][9][10]

In the United States, public schools reported graduation rates that averaged 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.[11]

Oklahoma schools reported a graduation rate of 84.8 percent, the lowest among its neighboring states.

In Oklahoma, more students took the ACT than the SAT, earning an average ACT score of 20.8.

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
Oklahoma | 84.8% | Second | 20.8 | 75% | 1689 | 5%
Arkansas | 84.9% | Second | 20.2 | 90% | 1697 | 4%
Kansas | 85.7% | Second | 21.8 | 75% | 1752 | 6%
Missouri | 85.7% | Second | 21.6 | 74% | 1773 | 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 Oklahoma was lower than the national average at 2.5 percent in the 2010-2011 school year and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.[12]

# State profile

## State profile

Demographic data for Oklahoma

| Oklahoma| U.S.
Total population:| 3,907,414| 316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):| 68,595| 3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:| 73.1%| 73.6%
Black/African American:| 7.2%| 12.6%
Asian:| 1.9%| 5.1%
Native American:| 7.3%| 0.8%
Pacific Islander:| 0.1%| 0.2%
Two or more:| 7.8%| 3%
Hispanic/Latino:| 9.6%| 17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:| 86.9%| 86.7%
College graduation rate:| 24.1%| 29.8%
Income
Median household income:| $46,879| $53,889
Persons below poverty level:| 19.7%| 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 Oklahoma.

* * *

**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 Oklahoma

Oklahoma voted Republican in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Oklahoma coverage on Ballotpedia

* Elections in Oklahoma
* United States congressional delegations from Oklahoma
* Public policy in Oklahoma
* Endorsers in Oklahoma
* Oklahoma fact checks
* More...

## See also

Oklahoma | School Boards | News and Analysis

|
|

* Public education in Oklahoma
* List of school districts in Oklahoma

* School board elections, 2016
* Oklahoma school board elections, 2015
* Oklahoma 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

## Footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 The Dallas Morning News, "Oklahoma school board members met privately with Hobby Lobby president on Bible class," May 21, 2014
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
3. ↑ News9.com, "Wisconsin Group Threatens Oklahoma Schools Over Bible Class Curriculum," January 30, 2015
4. ↑ The Oklahoman, "Mustang Schools still plans Bible class, but not with controversial Green scholars' curriculum," December 12, 2014
5. ↑ Freedom from Religion Foundation, "Okla. school district rejects Hobby Lobby bible class," November 25, 2014
6. ↑ Oklahoma Legislature, "Senate Bill 48: As Introduced," accessed February 2, 2015
7. ↑ LegiScan, "Oklahoma Senate Bill 48 (Prior Session Legislation)," accessed April 21, 2016
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 United States Department of Education, ED Data Express, "State Tables," accessed May 13, 2014
9. ↑ ACT, "2012 ACT National and State Scores," accessed May 13, 2014
10. ↑ Commonwealth Foundation, "SAT Scores by State 2013," October 10, 2013
11. ↑ StudyPoints, "What's a good SAT score or ACT score?" accessed June 7, 2015
12. ↑ United States Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "Common Core of Data (CCD), State Dropout and Graduation Rate Data File, School Year 2010-11, Provision Version 1a and School Year 2011-12, Preliminary Version 1a," accessed May 13, 2014

v • e

Oklahoma school districts

List of school districts in Oklahoma • School board elections in Oklahoma
Oklahoma State Department of Education • Public education in Oklahoma