蜜桃影视

Explore

Education at the Polls, Coast to Coast: 22 Big Races and Ballot Questions to Watch Tuesday Night

Getty Images
While education has barely registered a blip in the presidential race, voters in 11 states must decide ballot questions and contests for various statewide offices that could have an enormous impact on schools and students around the country.
(蜜桃影视: Clinton vs. Trump 鈥 The Final Education Election Guide)
Among them are eight school-funding initiatives, five state education superintendent seats that are up for grabs and, of course, the Massachusetts charter school cap and a potential state takeover of failing schools in Georgia.
Here are 22 big education votes to watch Tuesday night:
California: School funding, English-language learners
Among the 17 questions facing Golden State voters are three education-related issues: whether to continue a tax hike on personal incomes above $250,000 to fund K-12 schools, whether the state should float $9 billion in bonds for new schools and whether to lift limits on how schools can teach English-language learners.
(蜜桃影视: California Voters to Decide Future of Bilingual Education for Country鈥檚 Largest ELL Population)
Georgia: State takeover of failing schools
Voters will decide whether to create a state takeover district, being called an opportunity school district. The campaign has pitted Gov. Nathan Deal and education reform groups, who say the measure is a moral imperative to improve the lives of tens of thousands of Georgia children, against teachers unions, the state PTA and school boards that are fighting what they call increased bureaucracy, additional costs and loss of local control.
(蜜桃影视: Moral Duty or Impending Threat? Georgia Ballot to Include Proposed State Takeover District)
An October by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution found widespread opposition to the measure: 34 percent of likely voters polled said they back the measure, while 59 percent were opposed and 8 percent remained undecided.
Indiana: Governor, state schools chief
Republican Jennifer McCormick, a district superintendent, is challenging incumbent Glenda Ritz, a Democrat and former school librarian, in a race for state superintendent of public instruction. As of early October, Ritz had a substantial advantage in fundraising, and she could be boosted by popular Democratic candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate. (Check out our coverage of the superintendent race from earlier this year.)
Over the summer, Ritz released an , which calls for increasing the availability of preschool, reducing testing, proposing a 鈥渇air and adequate鈥 funding formula, treating teachers like professionals and reaching a 91 percent graduation rate.
惭肠颁辞谤尘颈肠办鈥檚 emphasizes increasing broadband access in schools, establishing a 鈥渕eaningful and manageable鈥 assessment system, attracting and retaining teachers, closing the kindergarten readiness gap and reviewing funding problems.
Education has also become a big issue in the race to replace the current governor, Mike Pence, now the Republican vice presidential nominee. Democratic candidate John Gregg tried to tie GOP candidate Eric Holcomb, currently the lieutenant governor, to Pence鈥檚 record, which focused on expanding school choice and issuing A鈥揊 school grades. 鈥淏roken down, going nowhere. On schools, that鈥檚 the promise of Eric Holcomb,鈥 the ad says.
Holcomb, meanwhile, to 鈥渟upport and respect鈥 teachers, expand pre-K and replace a much-maligned state test.
Maine: School funding
Voters will consider whether to institute an additional 3 percent tax on personal income over $200,000 per year, with the revenue dedicated to K-12 education funding, specifically teacher salaries. , including unions and the state PTA, say schools are underfunded statewide and that the state isn鈥檛 meeting a 2004 mandate to fund 55 percent of education costs. , primarily Republican leaders, the state Chamber of Commerce and business groups, say it would burden small-business owners and prevent funds from going to sorely needed school infrastructure improvements.
Massachusetts: Charter school cap
Question 2 on the ballot asks voters to raise the cap on the number of charter schools, the highest-performing in the country, by 12 per year. Voters have been bombarded by ads from both sides. Polling has been close, with a slight advantage to the 鈥渘o鈥 side.
(蜜桃影视: All Over the Cap: The Fight for the Future of Massachusetts鈥檚 Charter Schools)
Montana: State schools chief
Melissa Romano, a Democrat and an elementary school teacher, will face state Sen. Elsie Arntzen, a Republican, in the race for superintendent of public instruction. (Current superintendent Denise Juneau is term-limited; she鈥檚 running for Montana鈥檚 lone House seat. If elected, she鈥檇 be the first Native American woman in Congress.)
Romano and Arntzen about preschool (Romano says there should be a state-funded program; Arntzen says it鈥檚 a local issue) and Common Core (Arntzen says it doesn鈥檛 have enough local input; Romano was part of a group of teachers that weighed in). Romano has also criticized Arntzen for backing school choice bills as a state legislator.
Romano has outspent Arntzen by more than $100,000, , and accepted a big contribution from the state teachers unions. State affiliates of the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association have spent $300,000 so far, the paper reported, dwarfing the $50,000 they spent on Juneau鈥檚 2008 contest.
Arntzen has put in a substantial amount of her own money; her husband is the CEO of Century Gaming, a technology firm.
Democrats have held the office since the 1980s, but Arntzen was ahead by four points in mid-October, according to a by Lee Newspapers. Twenty percent of respondents were undecided.
North Carolina: Senator, governor, state schools chief
The marquee race is for governor, where incumbent Republican Pat McCrory faces Democrat Roy Cooper, currently the state鈥檚 attorney general. Discussion of education issues, like teacher pay and spending, have largely been drowned out by HB2, a state law that overturns local anti-discrimination ordinances protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and that requires transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to the gender on their birth certificate.
(蜜桃影视: Anti-LGBT Bill Drowns Out Discussion of Education Issues in Critical North Carolina Races)
In addition to the gubernatorial contest, three-term incumbent June Atkinson, a Democrat, faces lawyer Mark Johnson, a Republican, in the race for state superintendent. And Republican Sen. Richard Burr, a member of the Senate education committee, is in a tight race against former state Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat.
North Dakota: State schools chief, school funding
Incumbent Superintendent of Public Instruction Kirsten Baesler is facing a challenge from teacher Joe Chiang. (The race is officially nonpartisan, but both are Republicans. The state party endorsed Baesler.)
Baesler has touted passage of early childhood education funding, creation of a student cabinet to make kids鈥 voices heard on education issues, and formation of a panel to rewrite the Common Core State Standards, . Chiang said he鈥檇 require any new program to have an 80 percent proven success rate of bringing students to proficiency, and that he would work to revamp education funding.
North Dakota voters will also consider whether to make it easier for the governor and state Legislature to use a specific fund from oil tax revenues for education purposes.
Oklahoma: School funding
Voters will consider whether to institute a 1 percent sales tax to be devoted to education. Most of the additional funding, 69.5 percent, would go directly to school districts, with a mandate that teacher salaries be raised at least $5,000. Districts have had to dramatically cut budgets the past two years in the face of huge state revenue shortfalls.
The rest of the tax revenue would be divided among higher education, career and technical education and the state Department of Education. Supporters, including Stand for Children and the state school boards and teachers union, say it鈥檚 the only way to ensure a dedicated stream of badly needed revenue. Opponents say there are other ways to raise revenue and that a sales tax is regressive and hurts low- and middle-income families.
A found 60 percent of registered voters support the new tax, known as Question 779.
Oregon: School funding
Measure 98 asks voters whether the Legislature should fund an $800-per-pupil grant program to be spent on dropout prevention, career and technical education and 鈥渃ollege-level opportunities.鈥 Oregon has one of the worst high school graduation rates in the country: 73.8 percent in 2014鈥15, 10 percentage points lower than the national average.
(蜜桃影视: Oregon Ballot Measure Looks to Turn Around One of the Worst Graduation Rates in the U.S.)
Oregon voters will also consider measures to raise taxes on big corporations, with the new money allocated for pre鈥揔-12 education, health care and services for senior citizens. A third ballot initiative would set aside lottery revenues for outdoor education for fifth- and sixth-graders.
Washington: State schools chief, state Supreme Court justices
Erin Jones, currently an assistant state superintendent, is running against Chris Reykdal, a state legislator, to be superintendent of public instruction. (Check out our previous coverage of the race and interviews with the five candidates who were running at the time.)
Reykdal has been endorsed by the outgoing superintendent, Randy Dorn, and the Washington Education Association in the nonpartisan race. He鈥檚 running on his experience in the state Legislature and as an educator, and he said his first act would be to bring a bipartisan full school funding plan to the legislature to meet an ongoing state Supreme Court requirement, .
Jones, meanwhile, is banking on her reputation as an outsider, . She鈥檚 garnered support from a of progressive and education reform groups, Republicans and newspaper editorial boards. Stand for Children Washington, for instance, has spent nearly $165,000 to back her campaign, according to state campaign finance records.
Washington voters will also decide whether to keep three state Supreme Court justices, all of whom signed on to pivotal decisions requiring the Legislature to increase K-12 spending and declaring charter schools unconstitutional. This is the first time in two decades that .
Greg Zempel, for instance, has received backing from the pro-charter group Stand for Children, to the tune of $130,000 to run against Chief Justice Barbara Madsen, who authored the charter decision. The state teachers union, meanwhile, has contributed to Madsen. Justices Charlie Wiggins and Mary Yu are also facing challengers.
(The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation provide funding to 蜜桃影视 and Stand for Children, which played a prominent role in the Washington judicial races, as well as the Oklahoma and Oregon ballot initiatives.)

Did you use this article in your work?

We鈥檇 love to hear how 蜜桃影视鈥檚 reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers.

Republish This Article

We want our stories to be shared as widely as possible 鈥 for free.

Please view 蜜桃影视's republishing terms.





On 蜜桃影视 Today