Massachusetts school board elections, 2015

• Election trends
  • Competitiveness
  • Incumbency advantage
  • Data table
• Spotlight districts
  • Worcester Public Schools
• Survey responses
  • Top priorities
  • Ranking the issues
  • Positions on the issues
• State profile
  • Academic performance
  • Dropout rate
• See also
  • References

2016 → ← 2014

2015 School Board Elections

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Elections Information

Election dates • 2015 elections • Candidate filing dates • Finance reporting • Poll opening and closing times

A total of nine Massachusetts school districts among America's largest school districts by enrollment held elections for 51 seats on November 3, 2015.

Here are several quick facts about Massachusetts's school board elections in 2015:

• The largest school district by enrollment with an election in 2015 was Worcester Public Schools with 24,740 K-12 students.
• The smallest school district by enrollment with an election in 2015 was Quincy Public Schools with 9,266 K-12 students.
• Newton Public Schools had the most seats on the ballot in 2015 with eight seats up for election.
• Quincy Public Schools and New Bedford Public Schools tied for the fewest seats on the ballot in 2015 with three seats up for election in both districts.

The districts listed below served 126,853 K-12 students during the 2012-2013 school year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Click on the district names for more information on the district and its school board elections.

2015 Massachusetts School Board Elections
District	Date	Seats up for election	Total board seats	Student enrollment
Brockton Public Schools	11/3/2015	7	7	16,595
Fall River Public Schools	11/3/2015	6	7	10,138
Lawrence Public Schools	11/3/2015	6	7	13,145
Lowell Public Schools	11/3/2015	6	7	13,879
Lynn Public Schools	11/3/2015	6	7	14,139
New Bedford Public Schools	11/3/2015	3	7	12,616
Newton Public Schools	11/3/2015	8	9	12,335
Quincy Public Schools	11/3/2015	3	7	9,266
Worcester Public Schools	11/3/2015	6	7	24,740

Trends in Massachusetts school board elections

See also: School boards in session: 2015 in brief

The 2015 school board elections in the largest school districts in Massachusetts attracted a lower average number of candidates per seat and than the school board elections held in the largest school districts across the United States did. Despite having a lower average number of candidates, the state also had a lower percentage of unopposed seats compared to the country as a whole. Newcomers fared better in school board elections held across the country than they did in Massachusetts. They won one-third of the seats on the ballot in Massachusetts, compared to 40.77 percent of seats up for election in the United States.

The following sections analyze competitiveness and incumbency advantage in Massachusetts' school board elections. One district held primary elections for some of its seats. In the other districts, 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 2015 were nonpartisan.

Details of the data discussed here can be found in the table below.

Competitiveness

In 2015, an average of 1.49 candidates ran per seat up for election in the largest school districts in Massachusetts. An average of 1.72 candidates ran per seat in elections held in the largest school districts nationwide. A total of 25.49 percent of school board seats in Massachusetts were unopposed. This was lower than the 35.97 percent of seats that were unopposed across the country.

Incumbency advantage

See also: School board incumbency analysis: 2015 in brief

A total of 85.71 percent of incumbents who ran for re-election in 2015 in Massachusetts retained their seats. Thirty-five of the 51 incumbents whose terms were up for election ran to keep their seats, and 30 of them won. Ten of those winners ran unopposed; the other 20 defeated challengers to win additional terms.

A total of 82.66 percent of incumbents kept their seats in school board elections across the country, and 40.45 percent of them ran unopposed. 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

The table below displays the statistics for school board elections in Massachusetts' largest school districts in 2015.

Massachusetts school board elections, 2015
Year	Total	Incumbents
Seats up	Candidates	Candidates/ seat	Unopposed seats	% unopposed	% seats won by newcomers	Sought re-election	Unopposed	Retained	% retained
2015	51	76	1.49	13	25.49%	33.33%	35	10	30	85.71%

Spotlight districts

Worcester Public Schools

See also: What was at stake in the Worcester Public Schools election?

School safety debate

Student arrests at two district schools in April 2015 spurred a conversation about school safety that crossed over into the 2015 board elections. On April 29, 2015, five students at Worcester Technical High School were arrested for carrying knives and a pellet gun near the school. Another incident on the same day involved police monitoring of a Burncoat High School student and another person fleeing the property and dropping a handgun during their escape. The city responded to the incidents on April 30 by stationing police officers in all five high schools for the remainder of the 2014-2015 school year. The district experienced 40 weapon incidents during that school year along with 36 assaults on students.

These incidents triggered a discussion of new security measures in schools including a city council proposal to add metal detectors to high school entrances. Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme discussed crime from surrounding neighborhoods filtering into schools in the wake of the April 2015 incidents. Following the arrests, Superintendent Melinda Boone noted that district schools were safe but that all solutions would be reviewed to prevent similar problems in the future. Robert Pezzella, the district's school safety liaison, concluded from his previous safety audits that better communications between schools and city officials were needed. The city commissioned an audit of safety issues at 15 district schools by Good Harbor Techmark in September 2015. The audit had an estimated cost of $84,281 with a projected publication date of November 30, 2015.

The City of Worcester experienced a smaller decline in violent crimes from 2009 to 2013 compared to other large cities in Massachusetts. Worcester's total number of violent crimes decreased 2.2 percent during that period, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual Crime in the United States report. This rate was lower than the decline for Boston (18.6 percent), Springfield (13.2 percent), Lowell (47.5 percent) and Cambridge (27.3 percent). The following table traces the violent crime rates from 2009 to 2013 for the state's five largest cities by population.

Candidate positions on school safety

The dialogue between school board candidates in 2015 has been defined in part by the school safety discussion. The following box summarizes the positions of each candidate on school safety as discussed in candidate forums, interviews and posts on campaign websites.

Candidate stances on school safety
Candidate	Stated position
Dianna Biancheria	Improve communication between school committee and other stakeholders, input from principals and staff members on future safety plans
John L. Foley	Increase presence of school resource officers
John F. Monfredo	Support for police grant to connect schools to emergency services
Brian A. O'Connell	Improve school environment by enforcing disciplinary rules, follow recommendations of audit
Tracy A. O'Connell Novick	Opposed to police presence in schools, review recommendations of audit
Hilda Ramirez	Engagement of parents in the district, increased number of after-school and summer programs
Donna M. Colorio	Greater involvement and more funding for safety by school committee
Cotey Collins	Support for more police in schools and metal detectors
Nicola D'Andrea	Expedite safety audit, create school-by-school plans, public input on plans
Molly McCullough	Continued evaluation of police presence in schools, consistent safety standards

Survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey

Six of the 76 candidates running for a school board seat in Massachusetts' largest school districts in the 2015 elections responded to Ballotpedia's school board candidate survey. The following sections display their answers to questions about top priorities and education issues.

Top priorities

When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Raymond Henningson, Jr., incumbent on the Brockton Public Schools School Committee, stated:

“	Advocating for parents issues.	”
—Raymond Henningson, Jr. (2015)

Melissa Karam Panchley

The top priorities of Melissa Karam Panchley, incumbent on the Fall River Public Schools School Committee, were:

“	My top priority is reducing elementary classroom size and adding pre--school slots. If we can give our students a stronger foundation at a young age, the rest will follow.	”
—Melissa Karam Panchley (2015)

Pavel Payano

Pavel M. Payano, incumbent on the Lawrence Public Schools School Committee, stated the following as his top priorities:

“	To ensure that the district gets out of receivership as soon as possible.	”
—Pavel Payano (2015)

When asked what his top priorities would be if elected, Warley Williams, challenger for a seat on the New Bedford Public Schools School Committee, stated:

“	My top priority would be to persuade the Superintendent and Committee to develop a school safety, security, and discipline framework at the middle and high schools.	”
—Warley Williams (2015)

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Cyrus Vaghar

The top priorities of Cyrus Vaghar, challenger for a seat on the Newton Public Schools School Committee, were:

“	Solve the drug crises that is affecting our schools and mandate a basic financial literacy course. Right now, students can graduate high school without learning how a credit card works or how to pick a student loan.	”
—Cyrus Vaghar (2015)

John F. Monfredo, incumbent on the Worcester Public Schools School Committee, stated the following as his top priorities:

John F. Monfredo

“	1. SCHOOL SAFETY … we must do everything possible to maintain safety in our schools. 2. RIGOROUS CURRICULUM … All of our children need to be exposed to a challenging curriculum and on the secondary level be exposed to additional AP courses. 3. PARENT INVOLVEMENT - Parents are the child's first and most influential teachers and we must be sure that they are part of the learning process. 4. EMPHASIS ON EARLY LEARNING – Prek to grade three learning … We need to commit to having all our children reading on grade level by the end of grade three. ON GRADE LEVEL BY THE END OF GRADE THREE… WE NEED TO STRONGLY ADDRESS THIS ISSUE 5. CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM WITH OUR DISTRICT … IT’S TOO HIGH AND IT LEADS TO STUDENTS BECOMING FRUSTRATED AT AN EARLY AGE AND IT LEADS TO HAVING OUR STUDENTS DROP OUT OF SCHOOL. AND OF COURSE THE FUNDING ISSUE HAS A STRONG IMPACT ON THESE PRIORITIES…	”
—John Monfredo (2015)

Ranking the issues

The candidates were 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 the candidates' average rankings as well as the highest and lowest rankings for each issue.

Issue importance ranking
Issues	Average ranking	Highest ranking	Lowest ranking
Expanding arts education	4.17	1	6
Expanding career-technical education	4.17	3	6
Balancing or maintaining the district's budget	1.67	1	2
Improving college readiness	4.00	2	7
Closing the achievement gap	4.17	1	7
Improving education for special needs students	4.83	3	6
Expanding school choice options	5.00	1	7

Positions on the issues

The candidates were asked an additional 10 short answer and multiple choice questions regarding significant issues in education. Links to those responses can be found below.

• Raymond Henningson, Jr. survey responses
• Melissa Karam Panchley survey responses
• Pavel M. Payano survey responses

• Warley Williams survey responses
• Cyrus Vaghar survey responses
• John F. Monfredo survey responses

State profile

Demographic data for Massachusetts
	Massachusetts	U.S.
Total population:	6,784,240	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	7,800	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	79.6%	73.6%
Black/African American:	7.1%	12.6%
Asian:	6%	5.1%
Native American:	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.9%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	10.6%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	89.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	40.5%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$68,563	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	13.1%	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 Massachusetts. **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 Massachusetts

Massachusetts voted for the Democratic candidate in all seven presidential elections between 2000 and 2024.

More Massachusetts coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in Massachusetts
• United States congressional delegations from Massachusetts
• Public policy in Massachusetts
• Endorsers in Massachusetts
• Massachusetts fact checks
• More...

Academic performance

Education terms
For more information on education policy terms, see this article.
School board elections portal Glossary of education terms School choice on the ballot Education on the ballot

See also: Public education in Massachusetts

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). Compared to three neighboring states (Connecticut, New Hampshire, and New York), Massachusetts had the highest share of students (both fourth and eighth graders) who scored at or above proficient in reading during the 2012-2013 school year.

Percent of students scoring at or above proficient, 2012-2013
	Math - Grade 4	Math - Grade 8	Reading - Grade 4	Reading - Grade 8
Massachusetts	58%	55%	47%	48%
Connecticut	45%	37%	43%	45%
New Hampshire	59%	47%	45%	44%
New York	40%	32%	37%	35%
U.S. averages	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 Massachusetts 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 1,498 out of a possible 2,400 for the SAT.

Massachusetts schools reported a graduation rate of 85 percent during the 2012-2013 school year, second-lowest among its neighboring states

In Massachusetts, more students took the SAT than the ACT in 2013. The students taking the SAT scored an average of 1,553.

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
Massachusetts	85%	Second	24.1	22%	1,553	83%
Connecticut	85.5%	Second	24	27%	1,532	85%
New Hampshire	87.3%	First	23.8	19%	1,567	70%
New York	76.8%	Fourth	23.4	26%	1,463	76%
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," accessed May 28, 2015 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 Massachusetts was lower than the national average at 2.7 percent in the 2010-2011 school year, and 2.5 percent in the 2011-2012 school year.

See also

Massachusetts	School Boards	News and Analysis
Public education in Massachusetts List of school districts in Massachusetts	School board elections, 2015 List of school board elections in 2015 Candidate filing deadlines, 2015 Campaign finance deadlines, 2015	Incumbency no guarantee of success in Nov. 3 school board elections (November 6, 2015) What happened in Nov.'s top board elections? (November 4, 2015)