Arkansas school board elections, 2016

← 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 Arkansas Federal government Presidential election Congressional delegation Federal courts State government State executives Arkansas State Legislature Ballot measures State courts Local government Cities in Arkansas Local ballot measures Recall efforts Public education Charter schools Higher education School choice See also External links Footnotes

2017 →

Elections

The annual school board election date for Arkansas school boards was traditionally the third Tuesday in September. In 2016, however, school boards could choose between holding their elections on September 20 or November 8, following the passage of Senate Bill 968 in 2015.

If no candidate won the majority of votes cast in a given election, the top two vote recipients advanced to a runoff election on October 11 for September generals and November 29 for November generals. Unopposed elections were canceled and did not appear on the ballot. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

Eight of the Arkansas school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for 19 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 Springdale Public Schools with 20,741 K-12 students.
• The smallest Arkansas school district among the nation's largest with an election in 2016 was Fayetteville Public Schools with 9,421 K-12 students.
• Five of Arkansas' largest districts had two seats up for election each in 2016; the other two districts had one seat up for election each.
• One of Arkansas' largest districts had seven seats up for election in 2016.

The districts listed below served 112,211 K-12 students during the 2012-2013 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 Arkansas School Board Elections
District	General date	Runoff date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Conway Public Schools	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	1	7	9,829
Springdale Public Schools	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	1	7	20,741
Bentonville School District	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	2	7	14,880
Cabot Public School District	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	2	7	10,423
Fort Smith Public Schools	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	3	2	7	14,374
Rogers School District	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	2	7	14,793
Pulaski County Special School District	11/08/2016	11/29/2016	4	7	7	17,750
Fayetteville Public Schools	9/20/2016	10/11/2016	5	2	7	9,421

Issues

School board regains local control, changes election date

See also: Battles over school governance (2016)

The majority of Arkansas' 237 school districts are governed by locally elected school boards. The Pulaski County Special School District was an exception to this norm. In 2011, after several years of fiscal distress designation, the Arkansas Board of Education dissolved the district's school board, replacing it with an appointed advisory board and suspending elections indefinitely. Additionally, Pulaski County's superintendent was removed, and the Arkansas Commissioner of Education assumed the duties of the position.

Arkansas Education Commissioner Johnny Key

The advisory board was able to make policy recommendations for the district and was required to report quarterly to the education commissioner about the district's fiscal standing. Members of the board were volunteers nominated by community leaders, the education commissioner, or lawmakers. Each individual's appointment was confirmed by the state board of education. In a meeting held on March 10, 2016, the board of education released Pulaski County from its fiscal distress designation, green-lighting the first school board election in five years. The advisory status of the school board was removed, allowing the board to assume full control over the district.

Pulaski County's school board election, which since 1988 had been scheduled for the third Tuesday in September, was moved to coincide with general elections on November 8, 2016. Education Commissioner Johnny Key explained this decision, saying, "As a matter of policy, I believe a November election date promotes greater participation in the governance of our public schools." The Helena-West Helena School District school board also returned to local control in 2016, with elections on November 8.

Election trends

Trends in Arkansas school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections held in Arkansas' largest school districts had the same number of seats on the ballot as the 2014 school board elections. The same number of candidates ran in each election, and the same number of seats were unopposed. The 2015 elections, however, saw fewer newcomers join school boards in the state. More incumbents ran for re-election in 2015 than in 2014, and they were also more successful in their bids for re-election.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Arkansas' 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, school board elections in the state's largest school districts attracted an average of 1.45 candidates per seat. The 2014 school board elections also attracted an average of 1.45 candidates per seat. Eleven seats were on the ballot both years, and a total of 16 candidates filed to run both years. Six of the seats went unopposed each year as well.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

A total of 77.78 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 retained their seats. This was higher than the 62.50 percent of incumbents who kept their seats in 2014. Nine incumbents ran for re-election in 2015, and seven of them were re-elected. Five of them won re-election unopposed, and two defeated challengers to keep their seats.

In 2014, eight incumbents ran to retain their seats, and five of them won re-election. Three of the winners ran unopposed, and two defeated challengers to keep their seats.

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

Arkansas school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	11	11
Candidates	16	16
Candidates/seat	1.45	1.45
Unopposed seats	6	6
% unopposed	54.55%	54.55%
% seats won by newcomers	54.55%	36.36%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	8	9
Unopposed	3	5
Retained	5	7
% retained	62.50%	77.78%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Arkansas

---

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 chart below presents the percentage of fourth- and eighth-grade students who scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri), students in Arkansas generally scored above those in Louisiana and Mississippi, and below those in Missouri. The state's highest scores were earned by fourth-grade students in math, which tied with Missouri.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Arkansas	39%	28%	32%	30%
Louisiana	26%	21%	23%	24%
Mississippi	26%	21%	21%	20%
Missouri	39%	33%	35%	36%
U.S. averages	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 Arkansas 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.

Arkansas schools reported a graduation rate of 84.9 percent, second highest among its neighboring states.

In Arkansas, more students took the ACT than the SAT, earning an average ACT score of 20.2.

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
Arkansas	84.9%	Second	20.2	90%	1,697	4%
Louisiana	73.5%	Fifth	19.5	100%	1,655	5%
Mississippi	75.5%	Fifth	18.9	95%	1,673	3%
Missouri	85.7%	Second	21.6	74%	1,773	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 SY 2010–11 and SY 2011–12. The event dropout rate for Arkansas was higher than the national average at 3.5 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout rate was lower than the national average at 3.2 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Arkansas
	Arkansas	U.S.
Total population:	2,977,853	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	52,035	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	78%	73.6%
Black/African American:	15.5%	12.6%
Asian:	1.4%	5.1%
Native American:	0.6%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.2%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.1%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	6.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	84.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	21.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$41,371	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	22.9%	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 Arkansas. **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 Arkansas

Arkansas voted Republican in all six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

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, one is located in Arkansas, accounting for 0.5 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. Arkansas had one Retained Pivot County, 0.55 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More Arkansas coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Arkansas
• United States congressional delegations from Arkansas
• Public policy in Arkansas
• Endorsers in Arkansas
• Arkansas fact checks
• More...

See also

Arkansas	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Arkansas List of school districts in Arkansas	School board elections, 2016 Arkansas school board elections, 2015 Arkansas school board elections, 2014	School boards in session: 2015 in brief School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief Analysis of spending in America's largest school districts Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey