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Kathy Korte
Kathy Korte was the District 2 representative on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education in New Mexico. She ran for re-election in the general election on February 3, 2015.[1] She was defeated by challenger Peggy Muller-Aragon.
Biography
Korte is an elections coordinator for the Associated Press. She has previously been a copy editor for the Albuquerque Tribune, Omaha World-Herald and Salt Lake Tribune, and was a business editor for the Albuquerque Tribune. Korte earned her bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1993. She and her husband have four children in Albuquerque Public Schools.[2][3][4]
Elections
2015
The election in Albuquerque Public Schools featured three of seven total seats up for general election on February 3, 2015. The seats from Districts 1, 2 and 4 were up for re-election.
Incumbent Analee Maestas faced two challengers for the District 1 seat, Colt Balok and Madelyn Jones, and won re-election. In District 2, incumbent Kathy Korte faced only one challenger, Peggy L. Muller-Aragon. Muller-Aragon defeated Korte to take a seat on the board. District 4 incumbent Martin Esquivel did not seek re-election, leaving the seat open for a newcomer. Five candidates, Sina-Aurelia Pleasant Soul-Bowe, Mark Gilboard, John Jake Lopez, Charles MacQuigg and Barbara Petersen, filed to run for that open seat. James Osborn also originally filed to run for the District 4 seat, but he withdrew his candidacy. Petersen defeated her fellow candidates to become the next District 4 representative on the board.
Results
| Albuquerque Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2015 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan |  Peggy Muller-Aragon |
63.8% | 1,961 | |
| Nonpartisan | Kathy Korte Incumbent | 36.2% | 1,111 | |
| Total Votes | 3,072 | |||
| Source: Abbey Smith, "Email communication with the Bernalillo County Bureau of Elections," February 26, 2015 | ||||
Funding
The New Mexico Secretary of State's Office requires school board candidates in districts with an enrollment of 12,000 students or more to file an annual report each year. Candidates running for a seat on this district's school board had to file that annual report by April 13, 2015.[5]
Endorsements
Korte was endorsed by the Albuquerque Teachers Federation.[6] A list of Korte's additional supporters can be found here.
2011
| Albuquerque Public Schools, District 2 General Election, 4-year term, 2011 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
| Nonpartisan | Kathy Korte |
39.5% | 872 | |
| Nonpartisan | Peter Anthony Sanchez | 30.9% | 683 | |
| Nonpartisan | John D. Herrera | 13.5% | 299 | |
| Nonpartisan | Greg Scott Snyder | 10.1% | 223 | |
| Nonpartisan | Felix I. Nunez | 5.9% | 131 | |
| Total Votes | 2,208 | |||
| Source: Bernalillo County Bureau of Elections, "Election Results for APS/CNM District Election 2011," accessed December 16, 2014 | ||||
Campaign themes
2015
Ballotpedia survey responses
Korte participated in Ballotpedia's 2015 survey of school board candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:
| “ | "To continue advocating for:
-- elimination of excessive high-stakes testing that unfairly grades teachers, schools and kids and the associated unfunded mandates from the state; |
” |
| —Kathy Korte (2015)[8] | ||
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the school district, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important:
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in New Mexico. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding career-technical education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving college readiness | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer 10 questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column of the following table:
| Question | Response |
|---|---|
| "They should not be implemented." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "No." | |
| "Schools should have the freedom to decide which curriculum is most effective based on a student's different needs. We are forced to use certain tests -- regardless of a student's level. Every community is different. Community schools, where services for low-income students are wide-ranging and their families are also connected to such needed services." | |
| "Expulsion should be used for serious offenses to ensure the safety of other students as well as the integrity of education at district schools." | |
| "I have become a strong believer in community schools -- collaborating with social service agencies and businesses to provide alternative services that public schools can't provide. Alternative schools are also another great option -- those schools that serve a targeted student population, like teens who are pregnant or teens who want to return to school for a diploma." | |
| "No." | |
| "Put underperforming teachers on a probationary period while they seek to improve." | |
| "I have worked diligently to maintain communications with the constituents I serve. I am a regular FB user and converse daily with constituents on my FB pages. I send email updates letting constituents know about important issues or decisions coming up regarding our schools.
I am co-founder of a citizens grass-roots group called Stand4KidsNM, which we founded to fight back against the education reforms being forced on our kids by New Mexico state education leader Hanna Skandera. This is the epitome of citizen outreach, as we took a big role at last year's Legislature to be a presence at the Capitol and plan to do so again this year." |
Candidate website
Korte highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ | Four years ago, I promised to be the voice of parents on the APS board. Today, I can proudly say that I have fulfilled that promise and much more. I have become a voice for all New Mexico citizens who care about public education.
For the past four years, the state and federal governments have forced horrible policies on our kids and teachers. They have attempted to silence parents who want information. It is clear that we still need a parent who is engaged in what is happening in our schools and who is willing to stand up for our families and our school communities. I pledge to continue to: 1. Fight the excessive overtesting of our students and the use of those tests to unfairly evaluate our teachers and schools; 2. Fight for the allocation of money directly to our schools instead of to the standardized testing companies; 3. Educate our community about the excellence of our public schools and the great programs we do offer![7] |
” |
| —Kathy Korte's campaign website (2015)[9] | ||
Recent news
This section links to a Google news search for the term "Kathy + Korte + Albuquerque + Public + Schools"
See also
- Albuquerque Public Schools, New Mexico
- Albuquerque Public Schools elections (2015)
- New Mexico school board elections attract numerous educators as candidates (January 23, 2015)
- New faces to join all of New Mexico's largest school district boards (February 4, 2015)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "11 people file candidacy for 3 APS board seats," December 17, 2014
- ↑ LinkedIn, "Kathy Korte," accessed December 24, 2014
- ↑ Albuquerque Public Schools, "Kathy Korte," accessed December 24, 2014
- ↑ Albuquerque Journal, "APS District 2: Candidate profiles and Q&A," January 23, 2015
- ↑ New Mexico Secretary of State, "Guidelines of Candidates and Campaign Committees: associated with Proposed Rule-Campaign Finance," accessed January 6, 2015
- ↑ AFT Union, "Board of Education ATF-COPE Endorsed Candidates," accessed January 26, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2015
- ↑ Kathy 4 Kids, "Your Independent Voice," accessed January 8, 2015
