Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2017)

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2018 → ← 2016
Oklahoma City Public Schools Elections
General election date
February 14, 2017
Runoff election date
April 4, 2017
Enrollment (14-15)
41,074 students

Three of the eight seats on the Oklahoma City Public Schools school board were up for runoff election on April 4, 2017. The runoff for all three seats was held since no candidate in any of the races received a majority of the votes cast in the general election on February 14, 2017. The district was the largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year. This election fell during an ongoing community discussion on the role of charter schools. A total of 11 candidates filed for the seats, making this race the most highly-contested election in the state covered by Ballotpedia in 2017. One of the seats, that of the chairperson, was elected at large, while the other two were elected by district.

Five candidates filed to run for chairperson, including Office 4 incumbent Paula Lewis. Newcomers Stanley Hupfeld, Gregory Wyatt, Bianca Rose, and former board member Wilfredo Santos-Rivera joined Lewis on the ballot. Hupfeld and Lewis faced each other in the runoff, with Lewis emerging victorious. The Office 1 incumbent did not file for re-election, leaving Nathan Shirley, Cheryl Poole, and Charles Henry to compete for the open seat, with Henry and Poole moving on to compete for the seat in the runoff. Henry won the runoff election. Office 2 incumbent Justin Ellis faced Nick Singer and Rebecca Budd in his bid for re-election. The incumbent was unsuccessful in his bid and Singer and Budd advanced to the runoff, with Budd winning the seat.

Since Paula Lewis won the chairperson seat election, Office 4 was left vacant. The board appointed someone to replace her. The appointee served until the next regular election in the district, which was held in February 2018.

Elections

Voter and candidate information

The Oklahoma City Public Schools school board consists of seven members elected by district to four-year terms. An eighth member is elected at large to the chairperson seat on the board. Two seats were up for election in 2016. A general election was held on February 14, 2017, and a runoff election was held on April 4, 2017. Candidates had to file affidavits of candidacy between December 5, 2016, and December 7, 2016.

To vote in Oklahoma, one had to be at least 18 years old, a United States citizen, and a resident of Oklahoma. Voters in Oklahoma had to show proof of identity before receiving a ballot. Valid forms of identification had to include the name of the voter, a photograph, and an expiration date that occurred after the date of the election. In order to vote in this school board election, voters had to register by January 20, 2017.

See also: Voting in Oklahoma and Voter identification laws by state

Chairperson (runoff)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Chairperson Seat Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Paula Lewis	53.00%	6,157
Stanley Hupfeld	47.00%	5,459
Total Votes		11,616
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed April 28, 2017

Candidates

Stanley Hupfeld		Paula Lewis
			Office 4 incumbent (2016-2017)

Chairperson (general)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Chairperson Seat General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Stanley Hupfeld	39.82%	3,119
Paula Lewis	37.33%	2,924
Wilfredo Santos-Rivera	10.95%	858
Bianca Rose	7.34%	575
Gregory Wyatt	4.56%	357
Total Votes		7,833
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed March 7, 2017

Candidates defeated in the general

Wilfredo Santos-Rivera		Bianca Rose		Gregory Wyatt
	Oklahoma City school board member, 2006-2010		Oklahoma Public School Resource Center Former Oklahoma City teacher

Office 1 (runoff)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Office 1 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Charles Henry	50.15%	1,309
Cheryl Poole	49.85%	1,301
Total Votes		2,610
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed April 28, 2017

Candidates

Cheryl Poole		Charles Henry

Office 1 (general)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Office 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Charles Henry	37.62%	661
Cheryl Poole	35.17%	618
Nathan Shirley	27.21%	478
Total Votes		1,757
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed March 7, 2017

Candidates defeated in general

Nathan Shirley

Office 2 (runoff)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Office 2 Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rebecca Budd	53.35%	1,616
Nick Singer	46.65%	1,413
Total Votes		3,029
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed April 28, 2017

Candidates

Nick Singer		Rebecca Budd
	Works for the Oklahoma Education Association		Retired pharmaceutical professional School volunteer

Office 2 (general)

Results

Oklahoma City Public Schools, Office 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rebecca Budd	36.66%	819
Nick Singer	33.35%	745
Justin Ellis Incumbent	29.99%	670
Total Votes		2,234
Source: Oklahoma State Election Board, "Official Results," accessed March 7, 2017

Candidates defeated in general

Justin Ellis
	Incumbent

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Oklahoma elections, 2017

The Oklahoma City Public Schools general election shared the ballot with the primary election for the Oklahoma City Council.

Key deadlines

The following table lists key deadlines for Oklahoma's school board elections in 2017:

Deadline	Event
December 5, 2016	First day of candidate filing period
December 7, 2016	Last day of candidate filing period
January 20, 2017	Last day to register to vote in the school board election
January 31, 2017	Post-General Contributions and Expenditures Report due
February 14, 2017	General election
April 4, 2017	Runoff election (if necessary)
April 30, 2017	1st Quarter Contributions and Expenditures Report due
July 31, 2017	2nd Quarter Contributions and Expenditures Report due

Endorsements

Do you know of an official or organization that endorsed a candidate in this race? Let Ballotpedia know by email at [email protected].

Campaign finance

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2017

Every school board candidate in Oklahoma who accepted or spent more than $1,000 was required to file a Statement of Organization with the school district clerk within 10 days of the transaction. This statement establishes the candidate's campaign committee and declares the names of the chair and treasurer of the committee. Once a candidate filed a Statement of Organization, his or her committee was required to make reports of contributions and expenditures.

Contribution and expenditure reports had to be made for the last quarter of the year preceding the election and quarterly during the election year until the committee was dissolved and a final report of contributions and expenditures was made. The reporting dates for this 2017 election were:

• January 31, 2017: Post-General Contributions and Expenditures Report
• April 30, 2017: 1st Quarter Contributions and Expenditures Report
• July 31, 2017: 2nd Quarter Contributions and Expenditures Report

Chairperson seat

Both runoff and general candidates had raised a total of $70,121.00 and spent a total of $5,170.90 in this race as of March 2, 2017. The table below details the contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand reported by the candidates who filed campaign finance reports with the Oklahoma City Public Schools board clerk.

Runoff candidates

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Stanley Hupfeld	$65,270.00	$3,750.88	$61,519.12
Paula Lewis	$3,000.00	$35.00	$2,965.00

Defeated in general

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Bianca Rose	$1,851.00	$1,385.02	$465.98

Office 1

Both runoff and general candidates had raised a total of $27,805.00 and spent a total of $7,876.24 in this race as of March 2, 2017. The table below details the contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand reported by the candidates who filed campaign finance reports with the Oklahoma City Public Schools board clerk.

Runoff candidates

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Cheryl Poole	$6,020.00	$852.75	$5,167.25

Defeated in general

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Nathan Shirley	$21,785.00	$7,023.49	$14,761.51

Office 2

Runoff candidates had raised a total of $35,740.24 and spent a total of $28,525.26 in this race as of March 2, 2017. The table below details the contributions, expenditures, and cash on hand reported by the candidates who filed campaign finance reports with the Oklahoma City Public Schools board clerk.

Runoff candidates

Candidate	Contributions	Expenditures	Cash on hand
Rebecca Budd	$34,965.24	$28,525.26	$6,439.98
Nick Singer	$775.00	$00.00	$775.00

Past elections

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

2016 See also: Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2016) District 3 Oklahoma City Public Schools, District 3 General Election, 4-year terms, 2016 Candidate Vote % Votes Carrie Coppernoll Jacobs 53.90% 283 Adam Zodrow 46.10% 242 Total Votes (100) 525 Source: Oklahoma Election Board, "Election Summary by County," accessed February 9, 2016 District 4 Due to lack of opposition, the District 4 seat did not appear on the ballot and newcomer Paula Lewis was automatically elected. 2015 See also: Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2015) Incumbent Gloria Torres won the District 6 seat by default as she was the only candidate to file for election. 2014 See also: Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2014) District 5 Ruth Veales won the District 5 seat by default as she was the only candidate to file for election. District 7 Oklahoma City Public Schools, District 7 General Election, 4-year term, 2014 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Ron Millican Incumbent 72.9% 223      Nonpartisan Wilfredo Santos-Rivera 27.1% 83 Total Votes 306 Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State, "Annual School Election," accessed February 11, 2014 2013 Chair Oklahoma City Public Schools, Chair General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Lynne Hardin 51.3% 3,381      Nonpartisan Angela Monson Incumbent 48.7% 3,211 Total Votes 6,592 Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State, "County Election Results," accessed January 15, 2014 District 1 Oklahoma City Public Schools, District 1 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Bob Hammack 76.1% 1,017      Nonpartisan E. Jann Maultsby 23.9% 319 Total Votes 1,336 Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State, "County Election Results," accessed January 15, 2014 District 2 Oklahoma City Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Nonpartisan Justin Ellis 66.6% 1,153      Nonpartisan Gail Vines Incumbent 33.4% 579 Total Votes 1,732 Source: Oklahoma Secretary of State, "County Election Results," accessed January 15, 2014

What was at stake?

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2017

Election trends

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2017 election in Oklahoma City Public Schools was the most highly-contested race covered by Ballotpedia in the state, with an average of 3.67 candidates running per seat. The district saw a mixture of opposed and unopposed races between 2013 and 2017. During this time period, the district's average rate of unopposed seats was 40 percent. In 2015, the district's rate of unopposed seats was 100 percent, the Oklahoma state average was 85.71 percent, and the U.S. average was 35.95 percent. In 2015, no school district in Oklahoma covered by Ballotpedia elected a newcomer to its school board, while 40.81 percent of school districts across the U.S. elected at least one newcomer during the same year. However, the state saw a higher rate of seats won by newcomers in 2014 when that rate was 43.75 percent, while it was 38.24 percent in the U.S.

School board election trends
Year	Candidates per seat	Unopposed seats	Incumbent success rate	Seats won by newcomers
Oklahoma City Public Schools
2017	3.67	00.00%	TBD	TBD
2016	1.5	50.00%	NA	100.00%
2015	1	100.00%	100.00%	00.00%
2014	1.5	50.00%	100.00%	00.00%
2013	2	00.00%	00.00%	100.00%
Oklahoma
2015	1.14	85.71%	100.00%	00.00%
2014	1.31	62.50%	80.00%	43.75%
United States
2015	1.72	35.95%	82.66%	40.81%
2014	1.89	32.59%	81.31%	38.24%

Issues in the election

Charter school expansion drew varying opinions

A community discussion on the role of charter schools in the district was a theme surrounding the 2017 Oklahoma City school board election. This election had the potential to impact charter school expansion efforts in the district. The board could have seen up to two new members elected with new perspectives on charter schools, and at least one new member was guaranteed to fill the open Office 1 seat.

Stanley Hupfeld

"Charter schools aren't the only answer, but they can be one answer," Stanley Hupfeld said. One of the city’s first charter schools—Stanley Hupfeld Academy—was named after him. Hupfeld was a supporter of the growth of KIPP Reach College Preparatory charter in 2016. However, he said he was not a proponent of all charter schools. “I know people want to describe me as pro charter," Hupfeld said. "But I am pro charter for charters that work. To say I want to see all the schools converted to charters is not true.”

Paula Lewis

Paula Lewis voted against the KIPP expansion. "I voted no on KIPP because I didn't like the process, but that doesn't mean I'm against charter schools," she said. "My stance on charter schools is that we need to have a stance as a district, and right now we don't have that." Lewis stated that she would probably bring a higher level of scrutiny toward charter schools to the chair position. She also said that the district did not have a consistent method of considering charter proposals, and that she wanted to see a steady set of standards implemented for all charter applications.

Oklahoma had lower funding for its students than in other states, according to NewsOK. 2016 saw midyear budget cuts for the state’s public schools and the rejection of a teacher pay-raise plan. With these funding troubles in the background, charter proponents were faced with difficulty in their expansion efforts. As of January 2017, the district had 12 charter schools. Those in favor of district charter schools argued that they provided choices for parents, especially those who lived in eastern Oklahoma City where many of the district’s low-performing schools were located.

Bianca Rose

"If I had a child I would like to have a choice in my school, and charters can offer choice,” said Bianca Rose. "There are charter schools on the southside where it is known that there is overcrowding and there is a need there," she said. "In the northeast community, there is also a lot of room for improvement with our schools and I think charters can be one option."

“I wish that we did not have to do charter schools,” said Justin Ellis. “I wish that Oklahoma City had the best education to give to the children without going charters, but we don't.” Ellis stated that a new district staff position was created to oversee charter schools, which he said showed the board wanted to become more involved in supervising both current and future charter schools.

Nick Singer was unconvinced about charter schools, at least in considering their impact on conventional public schools. “I totally get people who send their kids to charter schools but where I'm concerned is if you are only creating enough slots for 5,000, 6,000 or 8,000 kids … you are missing a lot of impact for kids who can't get in,” he said. Singer also said he wanted to see an increase in the transparency surrounding charter school funding, especially city funds and tax breaks used for their construction.

Rebecca Budd said she supported Oklahoma City charter schools, but she expressed worry that the district did not have a long-term vision of school growth to consider when weighing the addition of charter schools. “If you were to draw a picture of the district 10 years from now, what's going to be important?” she said. “Then you have to decide where charters fit into that.” Budd was also concerned with the KIPP charter school’s plan to expand to eastern Oklahoma City, which would include sharing space with another elementary school. She said the proposal lacked transparency. “These types of decisions, especially going through what we did last summer, haven't included a lot of details about what information the board is using to make these decisions,” Budd said.

About the district

See also: Oklahoma City Public Schools, Oklahoma

Oklahoma City Public Schools is located in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma.

Oklahoma City Public Schools is located in Oklahoma County in central Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County is Oklahoma City. The county was home to an estimated 776,864 residents between 2010 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau. The district was the largest school district in the state in the 2014-2015 school year and served 41,074 students.

Demographics

Oklahoma County outperformed Oklahoma as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2011 to 2015. The United States Census Bureau found that 30.6 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 24.1 percent for Oklahoma as a whole. The median household income in the county was $47,437, compared to $46,879 for the entire state. The poverty rate in the county was 16.2 percent, while that rate was 16.1 percent for the state as a whole.

Racial Demographics, 2015
Race	Oklahoma County (%)	Oklahoma (%)
White	71.2	74.8
Black or African American	15.7	7.8
American Indian and Alaska Native	4.2	9.1
Asian	3.5	2.2
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander	0.1	0.2
Two or More Races	5.2	6.0
Hispanic or Latino	16.6	10.1

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.

Recent news

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

Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2017) - Google News

See also

Oklahoma City Public Schools	Oklahoma	School Boards
Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2016) Oklahoma City Public Schools elections (2015) List of school districts in Oklahoma	Oklahoma school board elections, 2017 Public education in Oklahoma Local ballot measures, Oklahoma	School board elections, 2017 School board elections, 2016 School board election data analysis, 2017 School board election data analysis, 2016

External links

• Oklahoma City Public Schools
• Oklahoma County Election Board
• Oklahoma State Board of Elections
• Oklahoma Ethics Commission