Idaho school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Idaho school boards were held on September 6, 2016; unopposed elections were canceled and did not appear on the ballot. Special elections were held in conjunction with some general elections to fill vacancies.

One of the seven Idaho school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held school board elections for two seats in 2016. Boise School District served 27,275 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 it and its school board elections.

2016 Idaho School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Boise School District	9/6/2016	6	2	7	27,275

Election trends

Trends in Idaho school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The state's 2015 school board elections saw fewer candidates run per seat compared to 2014. Districts also had more candidates run unopposed, with half of the seats up for election garnering only one interested individual each. Despite the lack of competition, the 2015 school board elections in Idaho saw an increase in new members joining the board. One third of the seats in 2014 went to newcomers, but the 2015 elections saw 57.14 percent of seats go to challengers.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Idaho's 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, elections held in Idaho's largest school districts attracted an average 1.79 candidates to run per seat. This was below the average from 2014, when 2.33 candidates ran per seat up for election. Half of the seats up for election in 2015 were unopposed, but none were unopposed in 2014.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

Only 60 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election in Idaho in 2015 kept their seats. Ten incumbents ran for 14 seats. Five of those incumbents ran unopposed, automatically retaining their seats. Only one incumbent who faced a challenger was able to win the election.

By contrast, in 2014, Idaho was one of eight states that had a 100 percent incumbency success rate. Three seats were up for election in one school district. Two incumbents ran for re-election and defeated their challengers to retain their seats. The other seat went to a newcomer who defeated one fellow challenger to join the board.

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

Idaho school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	3	14
Candidates	7	25
Candidates/seat	2.33	1.79
Unopposed seats	0	7
% unopposed	0.00%	50.00%
% seats won by newcomers	33.33%	57.14%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	2	10
Unopposed	0	5
Retained	2	6
% retained	100.00%	60.00%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Idaho

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Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
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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 that scored at or above proficient in reading and math during school year 2012-2013. Compared to three neighboring states (Montana, Oregon and Washington), a smaller percentage of Idaho's students were considered at or above proficient in math and reading in fourth grade.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Idaho	40%	36%	33%	38%
Montana	45%	40%	35%	40%
Oregon	40%	34%	33%	37%
Washington	48%	42%	40%	42%
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 Idaho 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.

Idaho schools did not report a regulatory adjusted cohort graduation rate during the 2012-2013 school year.

In Idaho, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013, earning an average SAT score of 1364.

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
Idaho	N/A	N/A	22.1	49%	1364	99%
Montana	84.4%	Third	21.3	72%	1595	25%
Oregon	68.7%	Fifth	21.5	34%	1539	49%
Washington	76.4%	Fourth	22.8	21%	1537	60%
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 Idaho was lower than the national average at 1.6 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 1.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Idaho
	Idaho	U.S.
Total population:	1,652,828	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	82,643	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	91.7%	73.6%
Black/African American:	0.6%	12.6%
Asian:	1.3%	5.1%
Native American:	1.3%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.6%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	11.8%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.5%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	25.9%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$47,583	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	16.9%	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 Idaho. **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 Idaho

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

More Idaho coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Idaho
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See also

Idaho	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Idaho List of school districts in Idaho	School board elections, 2016 Idaho school board elections, 2015 Idaho 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