School board elections take place all over Iowa today, and seven community colleges in our state have property tax levy renewal questions on the ballot. I encourage Bleeding Heartland readers to make your voices heard. Your vote is more likely to be decisive in a low-turnout local election. Regardless of whether you or any family members use public education, we all benefit from adequate funding for community colleges and competent leadership of K-12 school district boards. The Republican Party of Iowa is urging supporters to reject the community college tax levies.
I live in the West Des Moines school district, where as usual, there is no real competition: just three candidates this year for three spots on the school board. It’s still important to turn out, not only because of the Des Moines Area Community College tax levies, but also to prevent some “out there” write-in candidate from winning a school board seat with a few dozen votes. I’m biased against write-ins, because it’s not hard to get on the ballot in our state. If you want to serve on the school board, you shouldn’t hide behind some stealth agenda.
Many communities have highly competitive school board races. I haven’t studied all the candidates for Des Moines school board, but I do hope voters reject the incumbents. They were rubber stamps for former superintendent Nancy Sebring and have mishandled several controversial issues in recent years. Time for new blood on the Des Moines school board. A lot of Democrats I know are voting for Rob Barron, a longtime staffer for Senator Tom Harkin.
John Deeth has been covering the Iowa City elections at his site, including turnout, campaign funding, and teachers’ union endorsements.
I learned from Blog for Iowa that the city of Pleasant Hill wants to put a massive industrial warehouse next to Southeast Polk High School along Highway 163. That is insane. Mixing a bunch of semi trucks with inexperienced high school drivers is a recipe for disaster. Even if there aren’t any traffic fatalities, the idling trucks will pump out a lot of polluted air near the school, day in and day out.
14 Comments
Des Moines board election
I know the teacher’s union recommended the following candidates in the Des Moines race….Shane Schulte (At-Large), Joe Jongewaard (At-Large), Teree Caldwell-Johnson (District 4), and Toussaint Cheatom (District 2). They have a pretty rigorous interview process that focuses on candidate’s views on labor rights and education policy issues.
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 10:25 AM
I have heard good things
about all of those candidates, but I don’t understand why the teachers’ union would endorse an incumbent (Caldwell-Johnson). The current school board just hasn’t done its job well. I would be happy with any of Schulte, Jongewaard, or Cheatom.
desmoinesdem Tue 10 Sep 11:22 AM
The other two candidates in southside....
were either (a) anti-union or (b) didn’t seem to have a viable campaign (based on the candidate interviews) so there was only one left…
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 11:29 AM
Current board dysfunction...
seems to be rooted in some real personality conflicts and loyalties to past superintendent….hopefully after this election, some of that will be gone!
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 11:31 AM
I would like to think so
but I don’t think the closure of the Gateway school was handled well either, and that happened under the new superintendent.
desmoinesdem Tue 10 Sep 12:48 PM
Interesting sidelight to the DMPS race...
The out of state, hedge fund financed, education corporate reform group, Students First has their state of Iowa director living in Des Moines The director of Students First is Patty Link who is married to Democratic consultant Jeff Link. Mrs. Link has shown support for a couple of the candidates running in the DMPS school board election and it has raised questions about whether Students First is hoping to become more involved in Iowa school board elections. Students First itself has not come out with any endorsements of school board candidates but Mrs. Link’s involvement in the DM board election has raised questions in some peoples’ minds.
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 11:38 AM
I asked Rob Barron about this
after you posted your diary on Patty Link’s involvement in Students First. Here is his response:
desmoinesdem Tue 10 Sep 12:47 PM
Glad he made that statement....
It is good that he has acknowledged that the policies of Students First are rooted in the wrong perceptions of public schools. Hope that blunts any thought of Students First getting a toe in the door here in Des Moines.
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 1:25 PM
Turnout so far in Des Moines....
looks to outpace the 2011 election….looks to be heaviest so far in the northwest side of town which is typical…the DM Register reported these numbers as of 10 am…1,080 people had cast a ballot in the race. In 2011, 876 voters had cast ballots by mid-morning….Turnout is heaviest so far in the District 1, where 546 people had cast their ballots by 10 a.m. In comparison: 226 people had voted in District 4, 191 people had voted in District 2, and 117 people had voted in District 3.
http://blogs.desmoinesregister…
razzpunk Tue 10 Sep 1:45 PM
the west side of Des Moines
always has higher turnout in school board elections.
Will be interesting to see the results.
desmoinesdem Tue 10 Sep 5:02 PM
Low turnout
I didn’t vote in our school district election. I should feel worse about it, but I don’t. The school district boundaries are so screwed up on my end of town, That no one in my neighborhood sends their kids to their official school district because of the distances involved. They are all open enrolled into a closer district, or attend a very nearby private school. I know the candidates and issues in the school district that my children attend, but I don’t feel like I have enough information or frankly interest in voting in my “official” school district election. I just have no nexus with my official school district. Otherwise I am a regular voter. Does this make me a bad citizen?
rockm Wed 11 Sep 8:53 AM
I think you should have voted
yes on the community college tax levies at least. I understand that it’s hard to get motivated to find information about candidates to run a school district your kids don’t attend. I try to at least find out whether the WDM candidates are Bob Vander Plaats type people.
desmoinesdem Wed 11 Sep 3:29 PM
My Republican state senator didn't get the memo
from the state party to reject the community college tax levies. Mark Segebart wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the Carroll Daily Times Herald supporting the levies.
Segebart was probably trying to make up for his foolish threat last spring to de-fund DMACC because of their support for an anti-bullying conference for LGBT students. He got a lot of flack for that.
cocinero Wed 11 Sep 11:09 AM
How the mighty fall
In Scott County, Dave Loebsack’s 2012 Republican opponent John Archer lost his re-election bid for the Pleasant Valley school board. His poor meeting attendance during congressional run was a minor issue in last year’s race.
http://www.scottcountyiowa.com…
Also here’s my Iowa City roundup. http://jdeeth.blogspot.com/201…
jdeeth Wed 11 Sep 4:47 PM