Lancaster School District, California elections (2015)
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Two seats on the Lancaster School District Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.[1][2] Incumbents Merle "Mel" Kleven and John Lee Miller from Trustee Areas 1 and 3, respectively, were up for re-election.[3]
Challenger Keith Giles defeated Kleven, Debra Cook-Lewis, Susan Corso, Cheryl Gayfield and George Chris Zelazo for the Trustee Area 1 seat. Miller did not file to run for the Trustee Area 3 seat. Gregory Tepe won the race to replace Miller by defeating William "Bill" Buck, Antoine Hawkins, Shannon Renee McDonald and Chuck Simons.[4][5] Kevin Fryer and Brett Sinclair Hitchcock originally filed to run for the Trustee Area 1 seat and Jayson Stonne filed for the Trustee Area 3 seat, but all three of them withdrew from the race.[6]
See how this race compared to past school board elections in both the district and the state in the "Election trends" section. Cook-Lewis participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. To read her responses, check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section.
About the district[edit]
- See also: Lancaster School District, California
Lancaster School District is located in Los Angeles County in southwestern California. The county seat is Los Angeles.[7] Los Angeles County was home to 10,116,705 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[8] During the 2012-2013 school year, Lancaster School District was the 109th-largest school district by enrollment in California and served 14,713 students.[9]
Demographics[edit]
Los Angeles County underperformed compared to the rest of California in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 30.7 percent for California as a whole. The median household income for Los Angeles County was $55,909, compared to $61,094 for the entire state. The percentage of people below poverty level was 17.8 percent compared to 15.9 percent statewide.[8]
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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 Lancaster Board of Trustees consists of five members elected geographically by district to four-year terms. Board members are elected on a staggered basis every November of odd-numbered years. There are no primary elections. Three seats were up for election on November 5, 2013, and two seats were on the ballot on November 3, 2015.[1][11]
School board candidates had to be at least 18 years old, residents of the school district and qualified voters. They could not be employees of the school district while in office.[11] To get on the ballot, candidates had to file their declaration of candidacy with the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk by August 7, 2015.[12]
To vote in this election, residents of the district had to register by October 19, 2015. Voters could cast vote-by-mail ballots from October 24, 2015, through Election Day.[12] Photo identification was not required to vote in California.
Elections[edit]
2015[edit]
Candidates[edit]
Trustee Area 1[edit]
Election results[edit]
| Lancaster School District, Trustee Area 1, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Keith Giles |
27.2% | 215 |
| Merle "Mel" Kleven Incumbent | 22.8% | 180 |
| Susan Corso | 19.9% | 157 |
| Debra Cook-Lewis | 13.6% | 107 |
| Cheryl Gayfield | 11.2% | 88 |
| George Chris Zelazo | 5.3% | 42 |
| Total Votes | 789 | |
| Source: "Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Results," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Candidates[edit]
| Merle "Mel" Kleven | Debra Cook-Lewis | Susan Corso | |||
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| Cheryl Gayfield | Keith Giles 
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George Chris Zelazo | |||
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Trustee Area 3[edit]
Election results[edit]
| Lancaster School District, Trustee Area 3, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Gregory Tepe |
43.1% | 495 |
| William "Bill" Buck | 25.8% | 297 |
| Antoine Hawkins | 12.1% | 139 |
| Chuck Simons | 10.9% | 125 |
| Shannon Renee McDonald | 8.1% | 93 |
| Total Votes | 1,149 | |
| Source: "Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "NOVEMBER 03, 2015 - LOCAL AND MUNICIPAL CONSOLIDATED ELECTIONS: Final Official Election Results," accessed November 24, 2015 | ||
Candidates[edit]
| William "Bill" Buck | Antoine Hawkins | Shannon Renee McDonald | |||
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| Chuck Simons | Gregory Tepe
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Endorsements[edit]
Antoine Hawkins was endorsed by the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.[13] Gregory Tepe was endorsed by the Republican Party of the 36th Assembly District.[14] Debra Cook-Lewis was endorsed by the California School Employees Association.[15]
Campaign finance[edit]
At the time of this election, the Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk did not publish school board candidate campaign finance reports online. Ballotpedia staffers requested this information, but the only free method of viewing the files was at their office.
The Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk targeted the end of 2018 to make school board candidate campaign finance reports available online for free. From that point forward, Ballotpedia began including campaign finance data for Los Angeles County school board candidates.[16][17][18]
Campaign finance reporting requirements in California vary depending on how much money candidates spend or raise. For candidates planning to raise or spend less than $1,000, an Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement Short Form (Form 470) must be filed with their county or city elections office. If candidates plan to spend up to $1,000, including their own funds, they must also file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501). "If a candidate does not raise any money and personal funds are used only to pay filing or ballot statement fees, the candidate is not required to file the Form 501," according to the Fair Political Practices Commission. If candidates raise money outside of their own funds, a separate campaign bank account must be established.[19]
Candidates raising or spending more than $1,000, including their personal funds, must file a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501), file a Statement of Organization (Form 410) and establish a separate bank account for campaign funds. They must then file Recipient Committee Campaign Statements (Form 460) to disclose their contributions and expenditures throughout their campaigns. If they receive more than $1,000 from a single source within 90 days of the election, they must file a 24-hour Contribution Report (Form 497).[19]
If you have any information regarding the campaign finance disclosures in this race, please contact the school board elections team at elections@ballotpedia.org.
Past elections[edit]
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2013
2011On November 8, 2011, two seats on the Lancaster School District Board of Education were up for election. Candidates Merle "Mel" Kleven and John Lee Miller were unopposed and won the uncontested election. 2009
2005
2001
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What was at stake?[edit]
2015[edit]
Election trends[edit]
- See also: 2013 school board elections
With two seats on the ballot on November 3, 2015, nearly half of the Lancaster Board of Education had the potential to change hands. One of the two incumbents ran for re-election, guaranteeing at least one newcomer would join the board. An average of 5.5 candidates ran per seat on the ballot in this race. Two newcomers were elected to the board. One defeated the incumbent, and one won the open seat.
In the 2013 school board election, three incumbents ran to retain the three seats on the ballot. Two won re-election, and a newcomer beat the third incumbent to win a seat on the board. An average of two candidates ran per seat in this election.
Both the 2013 and 2015 school board races in the Lancaster School District had a higher number of candidates run per seat than the 2014 state average of 1.91 candidates per seat up for election in California's largest school districts. That year, just over 25 percent of board seats in those districts were unopposed, and 37.65 percent of seats went to newcomers.
Ballotpedia survey responses[edit]
One of the 11 candidates in this race participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from challenger Debra Cook-Lewis.
Top priorities[edit]
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Cook-Lewis stated:
| “ | Seeking to understand the needs and concerns of the students/parents in my Trustee Area in order to serve as their advocate on the Board.[20] | ” |
| —Debra Cook-Lewis (2015)[21] | ||
Ranking the issues[edit]
Cook-Lewis was 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 candidate's rankings:
| Issue importance ranking | ||
|---|---|---|
| Issue | Cook-Lewis' ranking | |
| Expanding arts education | ||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||
| Improving college readiness | ||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||
| Expanding school choice options | ||
Positions on the issues[edit]
Cook-Lewis was 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 candidate's responses can be found below.
Key deadlines[edit]
The following dates were key deadlines for the Lancaster School District election in 2015:[12][22]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| June 8, 2015 - August 7, 2015 | Candidate filing period |
| July 31, 2015 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| August 5, 2015 - November 2, 2015 | 24-hour campaign contribution reporting period |
| September 7, 2015 - October 20, 2015 | Write-in candidate filing period |
| September 24, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 19, 2015 | Voter registration deadline |
| October 22, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 24, 2015 | First day voters can cast vote-by-mail ballots |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| February 1, 2016 | Semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot[edit]
- See also: California elections, 2015
No elections shared the ballot with the Lancaster School District. A number of other school districts in Los Angeles County, however, also held school board elections on November 3, 2015.[23]
Recent news[edit]
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Lancaster School District California. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also[edit]
| Lancaster School District | California | School Boards |
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External links[edit]
Footnotes[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “2015 Scheduled Elections,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, “Running for Office,” accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Lancaster School District, "Meet the Board," accessed January 27, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Candidate List: Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed August 14, 2015
- ↑ County of Los Angeles Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Election Results, "LANCASTER SCHOOL GOV BD MEMBER TR AREA 3," accessed November 4, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local and Municipal Consolidated Elections: Final List of Qualified Candidates to Appear on the Ballot," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Geology.com, "California County Map with County Seat Cities," accessed September 23, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 United States Census Bureau, "Los Angeles County, California," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed April 29, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Past Election Results," accessed July 1, 2014
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lancaster School District, "BB 9220 Board Bylaws: Governing Board Elections," accessed August 7, 2015
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Calendar of Events," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Democratic Party, "Endorsements," accessed October 27, 2015
- ↑ Facebook, "Republican Party of the 36th Assembly District," October 3, 2015
- ↑ Smart Voter, "Debra M. Cook-Lewis: Candidate for Governing Board Member; Lancaster School District; Trustee Area 1," accessed October 28, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed July 2, 2014
- ↑ Daniel Anderson, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," October 7, 2016
- ↑ Abbey Smith, “Email communication with Brenda Duran, Los Angeles County Public Information Officer," January 2, 2018
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Fair Political Practices Commission, "Local Candidates, Superior Court Judges, Their Controlled Committees, and Primarily Formed Committees for Local Candidates: Campaign Disclosure Manual 2," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015, "Debra Cook-Lewis responses," October 13, 2015
- ↑ Fair Political Practices Commission, "Filing Schedule for Candidates and Controlled Committees for Local Office Being Voted on November 3, 2015," accessed August 5, 2015
- ↑ Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "Local And Municipal Consolidated Elections - 11/3/2015," accessed July 29, 2015
| 2015 Lancaster School District Elections | |
| Los Angeles County, California | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | Trustee Area 1: • Incumbent, Merle "Mel" Kleven • Debra Cook-Lewis • Susan Corso • Cheryl Gayfield • Keith Giles • George Chris Zelazo Trustee Area 3: • William "Bill" Buck • Antoine Hawkins • Shannon Renee McDonald • Chuck Simons • Gregory Tepe |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot |
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