Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools elections (2015)
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Three seats on the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education were up for general election on November 3, 2015.
The seats of incumbents Ericka Ellis-Stewart, Mary T. McCray and Timothy Morgan were up for grabs in the race. Ellis-Stewart and McCray won re-election to their seats. Newcomer Elyse Dashew won the open seat left by Morgan. Other candidates in the race were Angela Ambroise, Janeen Bryant, Larry Bumgarner, Levester Flowers, Jeremy Stephenson and Amelia Stinson-Wesley.[1][2][3]
Incumbent Timothy Morgan did not run for re-election, but he gave an official endorsement to Jeremy Stephenson, who also received official endorsements from current board members Rhonda Lennon Cheek and Paul Bailey. Stephenson brought in approximately three times more in campaign contributions than any other candidate in the race.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released a report showing North Carolina's teacher turnover rate tripled from 2010 to 2015. Following the state-wide trend, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district lost a 12-year high of 16.5 percent of their teachers in 2015.[4]
One of the nine candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 school board candidate survey as of September 22, 2015. Check out the "Ballotpedia survey responses" section to see their answers.
About the district
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is located in central North Carolina in Mecklenburg County. The county seat is Charlotte. The county was home to an estimated 1,012,539 residents in 2014, according to the United States Census Bureau.[5] Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools was the second-largest school district in North Carolina, serving 144,478 students during the 2012-2013 school year.[6]
Demographics
Mecklenburg County outperformed the rest of North Carolina in terms of higher education achievement in 2013. The United States Census Bureau found that 40.7 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree, compared to 27.3 percent of state residents. The median household income in the county was $55,444, compared to $46,334 for the state. The poverty rate for the county was 15.4 percent, compared to 17.5 percent for the entire state.[5]
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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
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education consists of nine members elected to four-year terms. Three members represent the district at-large, while six members are elected by district. Three of the at-large seats were up for election on November 3, 2015, and the remaining six districted seats were up for election on November 7, 2017.
School board candidates had to file for this election with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections by July 17, 2015. To vote in the election, residents had to register by October 9, 2015.[8]
Elections
2015
Candidates
At-large
Ericka Ellis-Stewart 
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Mary T. McCray
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Angela Ambroise | |||
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| Janeen Bryant | Larry Bumgarner | Elyse Dashew
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| Levester Flowers | Jeremy Stephenson | Amelia Stinson-Wesley | |||
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Election results
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, At-Large, 4-year Term, General Election, 2015 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Ericka Ellis-Stewart Incumbent |
18.3% | 36,922 |
| Elyse Dashew |
14.9% | 29,955 |
| Mary T. McCray Incumbent |
13.8% | 27,709 |
| Jeremy Stephenson | 11.8% | 23,701 |
| Larry Bumgarner | 10.9% | 21,964 |
| Janeen Bryant | 10.6% | 21,270 |
| Amelia Stinson-Wesley | 7.4% | 14,979 |
| Angela Ambroise | 6.3% | 12,775 |
| Levester Flowers | 5.7% | 11,530 |
| Write-in votes | 0.23% | 453 |
| Total Votes | 201,258 | |
| Source: North Carolina Secretary of State, "11/03/2015 Official General Election Results," accessed November 30, 2015 | ||
Endorsements
Ericka Ellis-Stewart, Elyse Dashew and Mary T. McCray received an official endorsement from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Educators Association.[9]
Jeremy Stephenson received the following official endorsements:[10]
- Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education members Tim Morgan, Rhonda Lennon Cheek and Paul Bailey
- Charlotte City Council member Edmund H. Driggs
- North Carolina State House members Dan Bishop (R-104), John Bradford (R-98), Rob Bryan (R-88), D. Craig Horn (R-68) and Charles Jeter (R-92)
- North Carolina State Senate members Bob Rucho (R-39) and Jeff Tarte (R-41)
Campaign finance
Candidates received a total of $144,963.32 and spent a total of $125,548.30 during the election, according to the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections.[11] This election saw a 35 percent increase in campaign contributions for half the seats up for election when compared to the election in 2013 . In 2013, there were six seats up for election and twelve candidates brought in a total of $59,798.87, averaging $4,983.23 per candidate. The nine candidates on the ballot for the three seats up for election in 2015 brought in a total of $144,963.32, averaging $16,107.04 per candidate.
| Candidates | Contributions | Expenditures | Cash on hand |
|---|---|---|---|
| Angela Ambroise | Reported no contributions during the election | ||
| Janeen Bryant | $13,907.97 | $12,953.08 | $954.89 |
| Larry Bumgarner | Reported no contributions during the election | ||
| Elyse Dashew | $45,174.75 | $41,145.51 | $4,145.21 |
| Ericka Ellis-Stewart | $17,780.80 | $12,619.71 | $5,161.09 |
| Levester Flowers | $4,796.32 | $4,790.75 | $5.57 |
| Mary T. McCray | $9,674.06 | $6,913.82 | $3,553.49 |
| Jeremy Stephenson | $48,171.38 | $43,107.74 | $5,063.64 |
| Amelia Stinson-Wesley | $5,458.04 | $4,017.65 | $1,440.39 |
Past elections
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What was at stake?
2015
Election trends
- See also: 2013 school board elections
The 2015 school board race saw more candidates per seat than the district’s last election in 2013. The 2013 election had 12 candidates running for six seats, averaging two candidates per seat. The 2015 election had nine candidates for three seats, raising the rate to three candidates per seat. With one new member joining the board in 2015, a third of the members had joined the board since 2013. The other two-thirds of the members had an average of six years of experience as a board member as of 2015.
Issues in the district
Jones appointed to empty seat on board
Board member Joyce Waddell resigned from her District 3 seat on the school board when she was elected to the North Carolina State Senate in November 2014. The board was required by law to appoint a new member to fill the empty seat. The board originally split their votes 4-4 between possible appointees Pat Martinez and Levester Flowers. After two votes with the same result, the members decided to reconvene the next week to vote again. The third vote resulted in a 5-3 vote in favor of Ruby Jones over Pat Martinez. Flowers received no votes in the third round of voting.
Jones worked in education in various roles for over 40 years. She previously worked in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school district as a teacher and an administrator. At the time of her appointment, she worked as an adjunct professor at Central Piedmont Community College. Jones finished Waddell's term and was up for election in November 2017.[12][13]
| Comparitive statistics on teacher attrition in North Carolina[14] | ||||
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| District | Total Teachers | Teachers Leaving | Leaving with Career Status | Turnover percentage |
| State Average | 1,887.3 | 276.7 | 200.7 | 14.3 |
| Northampton County Schools* | 155 | 52 | 28 | 33.55 |
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | 8,609 | 1,420 | 858 | 16.49 |
| Graham County Schools** | 87 | 5 | 5 | 5.75 |
| *Highest turnover percentage **lowest turnover percentage | ||||
Teacher turnover hit 12-year high
North Carolina saw the number of teachers leaving the state triple over a five-year period, according to a 2015 report by the state’s department of public instruction. In an effort to retain more teachers, the General Assmebly approved a starting salary increase from $33,000 to $35,000 for new teachers. While the state's school districts saw some of the largest teacher salary increases in the country in 2015, districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg still fell below the national average for teacher lifetime earnings when salaries were adjusted for cost of living. The report also showed an increase in teachers who left the profession entirely. In 2015, approximately 1,200 teachers reported leaving North Carolina school districts for a different profession. That number was 366 in 2010.[4]
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District saw a teacher turnover rate of 16.5 percent in the 2014-2015 school year, compared to the state average of 14.8 percent. That was the highest rate for the district in 12 years. Over 48 percent of teachers cited "personal reasons" as their reason for leaving the district. The district had the 31st-highest turnover rate of the 115 school districts in North Carolina between 2010-2015. It also had the fourth-highest turnover rate of the 14 school districts in the Charlotte metropolitan area in 2015.[15][14]
| The graph above displays the teacher turnover percent in 2015 for the ten largest schools by enrollment in North Carolina. The table below shows 2015 teacher attrition data for the 39 North Carolina schools that are included in the largest 1,000 schools by enrollment in the country. Click [show] on the right to expand the table.[14] |
| North Carolina teacher attrition full data, 2015 | ||||
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| District name | Total teachers | Teachers leaving | Leaving with career status | Turnover percent |
| Alamance-Burlington Schools | 1,507 | 231 | 166 | 15.33 |
| Brunswick County Schools | 805 | 120 | 94 | 14.91 |
| Buncombe County Schools | 1,672 | 217 | 163 | 12.98 |
| Burke County Schools | 847 | 79 | 78 | 9.33 |
| Cabarrus County Schools | 1,895 | 264 | 206 | 13.93 |
| Caldwell County Schools | 838 | 63 | 52 | 7.52 |
| Catawba County Schools | 1,050 | 124 | 105 | 11.81 |
| Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools | 942 | 175 | 133 | 18.58 |
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | 8,609 | 1,420 | 858 | 16.49 |
| Cleveland County Schools | 1,115 | 144 | 117 | 12.91 |
| Craven County Schools | 948 | 167 | 115 | 17.62 |
| Cumberland County Schools | 3,650 | 641 | 483 | 17.56 |
| Davidson County Schools | 1,204 | 112 | 86 | 9.3 |
| Duplin County Schools | 643 | 92 | 62 | 14.31 |
| Durham Public Schools | 2,389 | 488 | 326 | 20.43 |
| Gaston County Schools | 1,906 | 247 | 190 | 12.96 |
| Guilford County Schools | 4,984 | 745 | 534 | 14.95 |
| Harnett County Schools | 1,370 | 266 | 158 | 19.42 |
| Henderson County Schools | 921 | 121 | 98 | 13.14 |
| Iredell-Statesville Schools | 1,300 | 191 | 155 | 14.69 |
| Johnston County Schools | 2,292 | 321 | 230 | 14.01 |
| Lee County Schools | 636 | 118 | 66 | 18.55 |
| Lenoir County Public Schools | 581 | 75 | 48 | 12.91 |
| Lincoln County Schools | 789 | 81 | 68 | 10.27 |
| Moore County Schools | 833 | 144 | 114 | 17.29 |
| Nash-Rocky Mount Schools | 947 | 174 | 128 | 18.37 |
| New Hanover County Schools | 1,686 | 212 | 176 | 12.57 |
| Onslow County Schools | 1,589 | 246 | 163 | 15.48 |
| Pitt County Schools | 1,638 | 286 | 196 | 17.46 |
| Public Schools of Robeson County | 1,511 | 240 | 162 | 15.88 |
| Randolph County Schools | 1,193 | 153 | 116 | 12.82 |
| Rockingham County Schools | 881 | 93 | 71 | 10.56 |
| Rowan-Salisbury Schools | 1,300 | 183 | 144 | 14.08 |
| Union County Public Schools | 2,567 | 401 | 312 | 15.62 |
| Wake County Schools | 10,144 | 1,355 | 1,057 | 13.36 |
| Wayne County Public Schools | 1,218 | 142 | 106 | 11.66 |
| Wilkes County Schools | 631 | 63 | 39 | 9.98 |
| Wilson County Schools | 747 | 124 | 88 | 16.6 |
| Winston-Salem/Forsyth Schools | 3,826 | 472 | 364 | 12.34 |
Ballotpedia survey responses
One of the nine candidates in this election participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates as of October 29, 2015. The following sections display the responses to the survey questions from Janeen Bryant.
Top priorities
When asked what her top priorities would be if elected, Bryant stated:
| “ | My top priority if elected for school board is to support teachers and empowering their voice. I also want to also focus on the search for superintendent and the process for student assignment guidelines. [16] | ” |
| —Janeen Bryant (2015)[17] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate 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 from most to least important:
| Issue | Bryant's ranking | |||
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| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | ||||
| Closing the achievement gap | ||||
| Expanding arts education | ||||
| Expanding career-technical education | ||||
| Expanding school choice options | ||||
| Improving college readiness | ||||
| Improving education for special needs students | ||||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 multiple choice and short answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. Links to the candidate's responses can be found below.
Key deadlines
The following dates were key deadlines for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Board of Education election in 2015:[1][18]
| Deadline | Event |
|---|---|
| July 6-17, 2015 | Candidate filing period |
| July 31, 2015 | Mid-year semi-annual campaign finance report due |
| September 29, 2015 | 35-day campaign finance report due |
| October 2, 2015 | Absentee voting by mail begins |
| October 9, 2015 | Last day to register to vote in election |
| October 22-31, 2015 | In-person absentee voting period |
| October 26, 2015 | Pre-election campaign finance report due |
| October 27, 2015 | Absentee voting by mail ends |
| November 3, 2015 | Election Day |
| November 10, 2015 | Certification of election |
| January 29, 2016 | Year-end semi-annual campaign finance report due |
Additional elections on the ballot
- See also: North Carolina elections, 2015
This election shared the ballot with races for mayor and city council in Charlotte. There was also a referendum on the ballot for residents of Mecklenburg County that would change the terms of the board of commissioners from two years to four years.[19]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools North Carolina. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
| Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools | North Carolina | School Boards |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, "Board of Education," accessed June 26, 2015
- ↑ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, "Candidate Listing," accessed July 20, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina Secretary of State, "11/03/2015 Unofficial Municipal Election Results," accessed November 3, 2015
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 North Carolina Public Radio, WUNC, "More Teachers Leave North Carolina To Teach In Other States," October 2, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 United States Census Bureau, "QuickFacts: Mecklenburg County," accessed October 19, 2015"
- ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools," accessed June 22, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed June 29, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Election Calendar," accessed June 18, 2015
- ↑ The Charlotte Observer, "CMS teachers group endorses three in school board election," October 13, 2015
- ↑ Jeremy Stephenson for School Board, "Endorsements," accessed October 15, 2015
- ↑ Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed March 7, 2016
- ↑ The Charlotte Observer, "Ruby Jones named newest Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member," February 10, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, "Ruby M. Jones," accessed October 20, 2015
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, "2014-2015 Annual Report on Teachers Leaving the Profession, S.B. 333 Teacher Attrition Data," accessed October 5, 2015
- ↑ Charlotte Observer, "CMS teacher turnover hits 16.5 percent, a 12-year high," October 1, 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, "Janeen Bryant's responses," October 29, 2015
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "2015 Municipal Election Reporting Schedules," accessed October 19, 2015
- ↑ Mecklenburg County Board of Elections, "Sample Ballot," accessed October 19, 2015
| 2015 Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Elections | |
| Mecklenburg County, North Carolina | |
| Election date: | November 3, 2015 |
| Candidates: | At-large: • Incumbent, Ericka Ellis-Stewart • Incumbent, Mary T. McCray • Angela Ambroise • Janeen Bryant • Larry Bumgarner • Elyse Dashew • Levester Flowers • Jeremy Stephenson • Amelia Stinson-Wesley |
| Important information: | What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional measures on the ballot |
