Missouri school board elections, 2016

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Elections

General elections for Missouri school boards were held April 5, 2016. There were no primary or runoff elections. Special elections for unexpired board terms were held in conjunction with the general election cycle. Nineteen Missouri school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment in the 2013–2014 school year held elections in 2016.

Here are several quick facts about Missouri's school board elections in 2016:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2016 was Springfield Public Schools with 25,545 K-12 students.
• The smallest Missouri school district among the nation's top 1,000 largest with an election in 2016 was Mehlville School District with 10,537 K-12 students.
• Kansas City Public Schools had the most seats up for election in 2016 with four seats on the ballot.
• The other 18 districts tied for fewest seats up for election in 2016 with two seats on the ballot each.

The district listed below served 306,069 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 the district and its school board elections.

2016 Missouri School Board Elections
District	General date	Regular term (years)	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Blue Springs School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	14,382
Columbia Public Schools	4/5/2016	3	2	7	17,872
Ferguson-Florissant School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	12,056
Fort Zumwalt R-II School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	18,654
Fox C-6 School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	11,682
Francis Howell School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	19,975
Hazelwood School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	18,402
Independence School District	4/5/2016	6	2	7	14,856
Kansas City Public Schools	4/5/2016	4	4	9	15,230
Lee's Summit R-7 Schools	4/5/2016	3	2	7	17,844
Liberty Public Schools	4/5/2016	3	2	7	11,821
Mehlville School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	11,060
North Kansas City Schools	4/5/2016	3	2	7	19,726
Park Hill School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	10,631
Parkway Schools	4/5/2016	3	2	7	17,955
Rockwood School District	4/5/2016	3	2	7	21,883
Springfield Public Schools	4/5/2016	3	3	7	25,609
St. Joseph School District	4/5/2016	6	2	7	11,882
Wentzville R-IV School District	4/5/2016	3	3	7	14,549

Election trends

Trends in Missouri school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections held in Missouri's largest school districts saw more candidates run per seat on the ballot compared to the state's 2014 school board elections. The 2015 elections also had fewer unopposed seats compared to 2014. Newcomers fared better in 2015 than in 2014. They won 55.26 percent of seats on the ballot in 2015, compared to 43.86 percent in 2014.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Missouri'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, Missouri's largest school district elections garnered an average of 1.92 candidates per seat up for election. This was an increase from the state's average of 1.86 candidates per seat in the 2014 elections. The state's 2015 school board elections also had a smaller percentage of unopposed seats than it had in 2014. A total of 10.53 percent of seats attracted no opposition in 2015, compared to 15.79 percent in the state's 2014 elections.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

A total of 73.91 percent of incumbents who ran to retain their seats won re-election in 2015. Twenty-three of the 38 incumbents whose seats were on the ballot ran to keep their seats, and 17 of them won. Two of those winners ran unopposed; the other 15 defeated challengers to win additional terms.

In 2014, 85.71 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election retained their seats. A total of 37 of the 57 incumbents who were up for re-election ran to keep their seats, and 32 of them were re-elected. Eight of those winners ran unopposed; the other 24 defeated challengers to keep their seats.

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

Missouri school board elections, 2014 - 2015
	2014	2015
All candidates
Seats up	57	38
Candidates	106	73
Candidates/seat	1.86	1.92
Unopposed seats	9	4
% unopposed	15.79%	10.53%
% seats won by newcomers	43.86%	55.26%
Incumbents
Sought re-election	37	23
Unopposed	8	2
Retained	32	17
% retained	85.71%	73.91%

Academic performance

See also: Public education in Missouri

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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 table 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. Students in Missouri scored about the same as those in Arkansas and Illinois, but slightly lower than students in Iowa. The best scores in the state were earned by fourth graders in math, with 39 percent scoring at or above proficient.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Missouri	39%	33%	35%	36%
Arkansas	39%	28%	32%	30%
Illinois	39%	36%	34%	36%
Iowa	48%	36%	38%	37%
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 Missouri 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.

Missouri schools reported a graduation rate of 85.7 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second highest among its neighboring states.

In Missouri, more students took the ACT than the SAT in 2013, earning an average ACT score of 21.6.

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
Missouri	85.7%	Second	21.6	74%	1773	4%
Arkansas	84.9%	Second	20.2	90%	1697	4%
Illinois	83.2%	Third	20.6	100%	1807	5%
Iowa	89.7%	First	22.1	66%	1763	3%
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 Missouri was higher than the national average at 3.4 percent in the 2010-2011 school year. The dropout rate was lower than the national average at 2.9 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

State profile

State profile

Demographic data for Missouri
	Missouri	U.S.
Total population:	6,076,204	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	68,742	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	82.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	11.5%	12.6%
Asian:	1.8%	5.1%
Native American:	0.4%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	3.9%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	88.4%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	27.1%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$48,173	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	18.2%	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 Missouri. **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 Missouri

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

More Missouri coverage on Ballotpedia

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See also

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