Amy Martin (Kansas)
Ballotpedia provides comprehensive coverage of the 100 largest cities in America by population as well as mayoral, city council, and district attorney election coverage in state capitals outside of the 100 largest cities. This board member is outside of that coverage scope and does not receive scheduled updates.
Amy Martin was a District 2, Position 5 representative on the Olathe Public Schools USD 233 school board in Kansas. Martin won a new term in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Martin participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read her responses.
Elections
2017
Three of the seven seats on the Olathe Public Schools USD 233 Board of Education in Kansas were up for general election on November 7, 2017. Incumbents Amy Martin (District 2, Position 5), Brent McCune (District 3, Position 3), and Brian Geary (District 3, Position 6) were re-elected without opposition to their respective seats.[1][2]
Results
| Olathe Public Schools USD 233, District 2, Position 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Amy Martin Incumbent (unopposed) |
98.90% | 9,792 |
| Write-in votes | 1.1% | 109 |
| Total Votes | 9,901 | |
| Source: Johnson County, "Election Summary Report 2017 Fall General Official Final Results," accessed November 17, 2017 | ||
Funding
Martin reported no contributions or expenditures to the Johnson County Election Office in the election.[3]
2013
| Olathe Public Schools USD 233, District 2 Position 5 General Election, 4-year term, 2013 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Amy Martin Incumbent |
98.3% | 4,152 | |
| Nonpartisan | Write-in votes | 1.7% | 72 | |
| Total Votes | 4,224 | |||
| Source: Johnson County Elections, "Election Summary Report 2013 Spring General," April 8, 2013 | ||||
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Amy Martin participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[4] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on July 19, 2017:
| “ | I will continue my work to make sure the Olathe School District continues its mission to make sure students are prepared for their future.[5][6] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Kansas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| “ | These are difficult to rank because all (with the exception of expanding school choice) are crucial.[6] | ” |
| —Amy Martin (July 19, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. All of our schools are performing well and we should focus our efforts on improving them rather than starting something new. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should defer to school board decisions in most cases. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Alone, standardized tests do not give us a complete picture of a student's mastery of the curriculum but they are an important part of an overall strategy. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Offer additional training options. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| No. Merit pay has not been shown to increase student success. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Olathe already offers choice within our public system. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be reserved for only the most severe violations of the student code of conduct. We offer a special program for students to continue their education if expulsion happens. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Teachers |
See also
- Olathe Public Schools USD 233, Kansas
- Olathe Public Schools USD 233 elections (2017)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Election Summary Report: 2017 Fall General," accessed November 7, 2017 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Unofficial Candidate Filings - November 7, 2017," accessed June 1, 2017
- ↑ Johnson County Election Office, "Campaign & Committee Reports," accessed December 18, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Amy Martin's responses," July 19, 2017
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
