South Washington County Schools elections (2015)

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2015 South Washington County Schools Elections

* * *

General Election date:
November 3, 2015
Table of Contents
About the district
Method of election
Elections
What was at stake?
Key deadlines
Additional elections
External links
See also
Minnesota
South Washington County Schools
Washington County, Minnesota ballot measures
Local ballot measures, Minnesota

Three seats on the South Washington County School Board were up for general election on November 3, 2015.

The seats of incumbents Ron Kath, Joe Slavin and Michelle Witte were up for election.[1] Kath, Slavin and Witte defeated challengers Dean Barton, Patricia Driscoll, Molly Lutz and Andrea Mayer-Bruestle for the three at-large seats. Lutz previously ran unsuccessfully for a board seat in 2013.

## Contents

* 1 About the district
* 1.1 Demographics
* 2 Voter and candidate information
* 3 Elections
* 3.1 2015
* 3.1.1 Candidates
* 3.1.1.1 At-large
* 3.1.2 Election results
* 3.1.3 Endorsements
* 3.1.4 Campaign finance
* 3.1.5 Past elections
* 3.1.6 2013
* 3.1.7 2011
* 4 What was at stake?
* 4.1 Ballotpedia survey responses
* 4.1.1 Top priorities
* 4.1.2 Ranking the issues
* 4.1.3 Positions on the issues
* 5 Key deadlines
* 6 Additional elections on the ballot
* 7 Recent news
* 8 See also
* 9 External links
* 10 Footnotes

## About the district[edit]

See also: South Washington County Schools, Minnesota

South Washington County Schools is located in Washington County, Minn.

South Washington County Schools is located in east-central Minnesota in Washington County. The county seat is Stillwater. This county was home to 238,136 residents in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau.[2] In the 2011-2012 school year, South Washington County Schools was the sixth-largest school district in Minnesota and served 17,858 students.[3]

### Demographics[edit]

Washington County outperformed the rest of Minnesota in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 40.5 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 32.6 percent for Minnesota as a whole. The median household income in Washington County was $81,540, compared to $59,836 for the state of Minnesota. The poverty rate was 5.7 percent, compared to 11.5 percent for the entire state.[2]

|  Racial Demographics, 2013[2]

Race  | Washington County (%)  | Minnesota (%)
White | 87.9 | 86.2
Black or African American | 4.2 | 5.7
American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.5 | 1.3
Asian | 5.3 | 4.5
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.1
Two or More Races | 2.0 | 2.3
Hispanic or Latino | 3.7 | 5.0

|  Presidential Voting Pattern,
Washington County[4]

Year  | Democratic Vote  | Republican Vote
2012 | 70,203 | 69,137
2008 | 70,277 | 64,334
2004 | 61,395 | 65,751
2000 | 49,637 | 51,502

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.

## Voter and candidate information[edit]

The South Washington County School Board consists of seven members elected at-large to four-year terms. There was no primary election, and the general election was held on November 3, 2015. Three seats were up for election in 2015.[1]

School board candidates had to file nomination documents during the candidate filing period, which began on July 28, 2015, and ended on August 11, 2015. The deadline for candidates to withdraw was August 13, 2015.[5]

## Elections[edit]

### 2015[edit]

#### Candidates[edit]

##### At-large[edit]

Ron Kath | Joe Slavin | Michelle Witte

|
|

* Incumbent
* Bachelor's degree, the University of St. Thomas
* Director of customer planning and communication, Schwan's Food Company

* Incumbent
* B.S., Winona State University
* M.S., Winona State University
* Skyview Middle School principal, North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale School District

* Incumbent
* Director, Merrill Community Arts Center

Dean Barton | Patricia Driscoll

|

* Veteran, United States Marine Corps
* Finance professional, American Enterprise Investment Services

* B.S., the University of Wisconsin at River Falls
* M.A., the University of St. Thomas
* Retired educator

Molly Lutz | Andrea Mayer-Bruestle

* Member, District 833 Communications Team

* B.S., the University of Wisconsin at River Falls

#### Election results[edit]

South Washington County Schools, At-Large, General Election, 2015

Candidate | Vote % | Votes
Ron Kath Incumbent | 18.4% | 5,382
Michelle Witte Incumbent | 17.2% | 5,028
Joe Slavin Incumbent | 15.1% | 4,431
Molly Lutz | 14.1% | 4,120
Dean Barton | 12.1% | 3,547
Patricia Driscoll | 11.3% | 3,297
Andrea Mayer-Bruestle | 10.9% | 3,186
Write-in votes | 0.94% | 276
Total Votes | 29,267
Source: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, "Local Results in Washington County," accessed November 4, 2015
These election results are not official and will be updated when certified results are available. You can submit certified results by contacting us.

#### Endorsements[edit]

Incumbents Ron Kath, Joe Slavin and Michelle Witte received endorsements from the United Teachers of South Washington County.[6]

#### Campaign finance[edit]

The South Washington County Schools administration does not publish and freely disclose school board candidate campaign finance reports. If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at editor@ballotpedia.org.

#### Past elections[edit]

Information about earlier elections can be found by clicking [show] at the right.

|

#### 2013

See also: South Washington County Schools elections (2013)
| South Washington County Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2013

Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes
| Nonpartisan  | Katie Schwartz | 11.5% | 3,239
| Nonpartisan  | Tracy Brunnette Incumbent | 10.6% | 2,990
| Nonpartisan  | Katy McElwee-Stevens Incumbent | 9.4% | 2,648
| Nonpartisan  | Sharon H. Van Leer | 8.7% | 2,464
| Nonpartisan  |  Molly Lutz | 8.7% | 2,458
| Nonpartisan  |  David G. Kemper Incumbent | 8% | 2,267
| Nonpartisan  |  Mike Thissen | 6.7% | 1,900
| Nonpartisan  |  Michael P. Edman | 6.7% | 1,880
| Nonpartisan  |  Raj Gandhi | 6.4% | 1,803
| Nonpartisan  |  Frederick E. Hess | 5.9% | 1,679
| Nonpartisan  |  Leilani Holmstadt | 5.5% | 1,567
| Nonpartisan  |  Wayne A. Johnson | 5.5% | 1,541
| Nonpartisan  |  John P. Griffin, II | 4.7% | 1,323
| Nonpartisan  |  Safiyyah Cummings | 1.2% | 339
| Nonpartisan  |  Write-in votes  | 0.6% | 163
Total Votes | 28,261
Source: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, "Results for Selected Contests in School District No. 833 - South Washington County," accessed December 18, 2013 and South Washington County Bulletin, "Recount confirms Van Leer District 833 School Board victory," November 22, 2013

South Washington County Schools, At-Large Special Election, 2-year term, 2013

Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes
| Nonpartisan  | Laurie Johnson Incumbent | 51.2% | 3,873
| Nonpartisan  |  Susan Richardson | 32.8% | 2,484
| Nonpartisan  |  David W. Firkus | 15.3% | 1,158
| Nonpartisan  |  Write-in votes  | 0.6% | 47
Total Votes | 7,562
Source: Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, "Results for Selected Contests in School District No. 833 - South Washington County," accessed December 18, 2013

#### 2011

South Washington County Schools, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2011

Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes
| Nonpartisan  | Ron Kath Incumbent | 20.1% | 2,127
| Nonpartisan  | Jim Gelbmann Incumbent | 19.3% | 2,036
| Nonpartisan  | Leslee Boyd Incumbent | 18.6% | 1,964
| Nonpartisan  |  Katie Schwartz  | 14.2% | 1,501
| Nonpartisan  |  Joe Ryan  | 13.9% | 1,471
| Nonpartisan  |  Lezlie Schriver  | 8.1% | 852
| Nonpartisan  |  Steve Lagoon  | 5.4% | 572
| Nonpartisan  |  Write-in votes  | 0.5% | 50
Total Votes | 10,573
Source: Washington County, Minnesota, "Election Summary Report," accessed October 15, 2013

## What was at stake?[edit]

#### Ballotpedia survey responses[edit]

See also: Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Two of the seven candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from Patricia Driscoll and Michelle Witte.

##### Top priorities[edit]

When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Patricia Driscoll stated:

“  | Financial stability.[7] | ”

|
|

—Patricia Driscoll, 2015[8]

When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Michelle Witte stated:

“  | Ensure educators have the resources they need to serve our students, through passage of our levy referendums, and budgeting driven by evidence of what supports student achievement; To recruit and retain excellence in our workforce through support of more competitive compensation, professional development, and efforts to diversify; Support curriculum re-design that meets changing student needs.[7] | ”

|
|

—Michelle Witte, 2015[9]

##### Ranking the issues[edit]

The candidates were asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays the candidates' rankings:

Issue importance ranking

Issue  | Driscoll  | Witte
Expanding arts education | 5 | 5
Expanding career-technical education | 3 | 6
Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | 1 | 1
Improving college readiness | 4 | 3
Closing the achievement gap | 2 | 2
Improving education for special needs students | 6 | 4
Expanding school choice options | 7 | 7

##### Positions on the issues[edit]

The candidates were asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. A link to the candidates' responses can be found below.

* Patricia Driscoll survey responses
* Michelle Witte survey responses

## Key deadlines[edit]

The following dates were key deadlines for the South Washington County Schools election in 2015:[5]

Deadline  | Event

|

July 28, 2015 | First day for candidates to file nomination documents
August 11, 2015 | Last day for candidates to file nomination documents
August 13, 2015 | Last day for candidates to withdraw
November 3, 2015 | Election Day

## Additional elections on the ballot[edit]

See also: Minnesota elections, 2015

This election did not share the ballot with other elections.[10]

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms South Washington County Schools Minnesota. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

South Washington County Schools elections (2015) - Google News

## See also[edit]

South Washington County Schools | Minnesota | School Boards

|
|

* South Washington County Schools elections (2013)

* List of school districts in Minnesota

* Minnesota school board elections, 2015
* Public education in Minnesota
* Local ballot measures, Minnesota

* School board elections, 2015
* School board elections, 2014
* School board election data analysis, 2015
* School board election data analysis, 2014

## External links[edit]

| Suggest a link

|

* South Washington County Schools
* Washington County Elections Division

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 South Washington County Schools, "School Board Members," accessed January 26, 2015
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United States Census Bureau, "Washington County, Minnesota," accessed October 15, 2013
3. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 22, 2014
4. ↑ Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, "Election Results and Statistics," accessed October 15, 2013
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, "Filing Periods," accessed January 26, 2015
6. ↑ United Teachers of South Washington County, "Home," accessed October 29, 2015
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
8. ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Patricia Driscoll Responses," September 25, 2015
9. ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Michelle Witte Responses," October 3, 2015
10. ↑ Washington County, Minnesota, "Sample Ballots," accessed October 21, 2015

2015 South Washington County Schools Elections

Washington County, Minnesota
Election date:| November 3, 2015
Candidates:| At-large: • Incumbent, Ron Kath • Incumbent, Joe Slavin • Incumbent, Michelle Witte • Dean Barton • Patricia Driscoll • Molly Lutz • Andrea Mayer-Bruestle
Important information:| What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot

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State of Minnesota
St. Paul (capital)

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