Tucson Unified School District elections (2014)

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2014 Tucson Unified School District Elections
General Election date:
November 4, 2014
Table of Contents
About the district
Method of election
Elections
What was at stake?
Key deadlines
Additional elections
External links
See also
Arizona
Tucson Unified School District
Pima County, Arizona ballot measures
Local ballot measures, Arizona
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Two seats on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board were up for general election on November 4, 2014.

Incumbents Michael Hicks and Adelita Grijalva faced a wide field of challengers. Don Cotton, Jen Darland, Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, Debe Campos-Fleenor, Francis Saitta, Rene Bernal and Miguel Cuevas ran to unseat the at-large board members.[1] They were unsuccessful; Grijalva and Hicks were re-elected to the board. Cuevas had previously served on the board from 2008 to 2012.

About the district

See also: Tucson Unified School District, Arizona
Tucson Unified School District is located in Pima County, Arizona.

Tucson Unified School District is located in south-central Arizona in Pima County. Tucson is its county seat. In 2013, Pima County was home to 996,554 residents according to United States Census Bureau estimates. In the 2011-2012 school year, Tucson Unified School District was the second-largest school district in Arizona and served 51,720 students.[2]

Demographics

Pima County overperformed compared to the rest of Arizona in terms of higher education achievement in 2012. The United States Census Bureau found that 29.4 percent of Pima County residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree compared to 26.6 percent for Arizona as a whole. The median household income for the county was $46,443 compared to $50,256 statewide. The poverty rate in Pima County was 18.5 percent compared to 17.2 percent statewide.[2]

Racial Demographics, 2013[2]
Race Pima County (%) Arizona (%)
White 85.8 84.0
Black or African American 4.0 4.6
American Indian and Alaska Native 4.2 5.3
Asian 3.0 3.2
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0.2 0.3
Two or More Races 2.8 2.6
Hispanic or Latino 35.7 30.3

Presidential Voting Pattern, Pima County[3]
Year Democratic Vote Republican Vote
2012 201,251 174,779
2008 206,254 182,406
2004 193,128 171,109
2000 147,688 124,579

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.

Voter and candidate information

The Tucson Unified School District Governing Board is composed of five at-large, nonpartisan members who are elected to four-year terms. There was no primary election, and the general election was November 4, 2014. Arizona law required an automatic recount in the case of a tie. If a tie held, the winner would have been chosen by drawing lots in the presence of the candidates. There were no runoff elections. Members-elect assumed their board memberships on January 1, 2015.[4]

Candidates were required to submit nominating petitions signed by qualified electors totaling 0.5 percent of the total voter registration in the school district to the county school superintendent between July 7, 2014, and August 6, 2014.[4] For the 2014 general election, the number of required signatures for Tucson's governing board was 400.[5]

Voters were required to register by October 6, 2014, in order to vote in the general election. Early voting began October 9, 2014.[6]

Elections

2014

Candidates

At-large

Election results

Tucson Unified School District, At-Large General Election, 4-year term, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngAdelita Grijalva Incumbent 19.5% 34,347
     Nonpartisan Green check mark transparent.pngMichael Hicks Incumbent 16.3% 28,708
     Nonpartisan Jen Darland 16% 28,191
     Nonpartisan Don Cotton 10.7% 18,944
     Nonpartisan Debe Campos-Fleenor 10% 17,647
     Nonpartisan Betts Putnam-Hidalgo 9.6% 16,927
     Nonpartisan Rene Bernal 8.7% 15,424
     Nonpartisan Miguel Cuevas 6.6% 11,581
     Nonpartisan Francis Saitta 2.2% 3,952
     Nonpartisan Write-in votes 0.3% 585
Total Votes 176,306
Source: Pima County Elections, "Official Results," accessed December 30, 2014

Endorsements

The Arizona Daily Star endorsed Jen Darland and Betts Putnam-Hidalgo, while the Tucson Weekly also endorsed Darland.[7][8]

Adelita Grijalva was endorsed by the following:[9]

Debe Campos-Fleenor was endorsed by the following individuals:[10]

  • Mark Stegeman, TUSD Governing Board
  • Ray Carroll, Pima County Board of Supervisors member
  • Rep. Ethan Orr (R-9)
  • Former Sen. Linda Lopez (D-2)
  • Robert Graham, Arizona Republican Party Chair
  • Bruce Ash, Republican National Committee Member
  • Bob Westerman, former Arizona Republican Party Chair

Jen Darland was also endorsed by the following:[11]

Campaign finance

Candidates had received a total of $75,582.81 and spent a total of $37,446.17 as of October 28, 2014, according to the Pima County Elections Department.[12]

Candidate Contributions Expenditures Cash on hand
Adelita Grijalva $23,844.00 $7,360.82 $16,483.18
Michael Hicks $10,220.00 $6,696.16 $3,523.84
Miguel Cuevas $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Rene Bernal $255.00 $109.13 $145.87
Debe Campos-Fleenor $12,753.30 $2,893.89 $9,859.41
Don Cotton $0.00 $0.00 $0.00
Jen Darland $22,207.22 $18,189.32 $4,017.90
Betts Putnam-Hidalgo $6,303.29 $2,196.85 $4,106.44
Francis Saitta $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Past elections

What was at stake?

While the governing board is a nonpartisan political body, all nine candidates' political affiliations were known with two Republicans, Michael Hicks and Debe Campos-Fleenor, and seven Democrats, Adelita Grijalva, Miguel Cuevas, Rene Bernal, Don Cotton, Jen Darland, Betts Putnam-Hidalgo and Francis Saitta.[13] Prior to the general election, Grijalva and Darland were leading the race in campaign finance contributions and expenditures.

Issues in the election

Proposition 420

In addition to voting on governing board members, residents of the school district voted upon Proposition 420 which would authorize the district to sell or lease nine schools that were closed in 2013. The proposition's official ballot language was as follows:

“ 2014 TUSD Proposition 420.JPG[14] ”
—Office of the Pima County School Superintendent (2014)[15]

Yard sign stealing


Adelita Grijalva, "Sign Thief Caught on Camera Targeting Adelita Grijalva For TUSD," October 27, 2014

According to candidate Adelita Grijalva, over $7,000 worth of yard signs for her campaign had been stolen as of October 27, 2014. Grijalva captured video of one her signs being stolen and posted it to YouTube on October 27, 2014.[16]

Campaign finance reports for activity through September 15, 2014, were available when the sign stealing was accused. As of those reports, Grijalva had two expenditures explicitly for signs. One to The Gloo Factory on August 30, 2014, which was for the amount of $2,224.94 with a description of "INVOICE #0935, YARD SIGNS, h FRAMES, BUTTONS, BANNER." The other expenditure was to The Home Depot on the same day for $148.22, which was described as "SIGN SUPPLIES".[17] She had made an earlier expenditure to The Gloo Factory on March 17, 2014, for $108.60, which was described as "PALPAL PAYMENT." Therefore, as of September 15, 2014, Grijalva had maximally spent $2,481.76 on yard signs.[18]

Key deadlines

The following dates were key deadlines for the Tucson Unified School District election in 2014.[6][19]

Deadline Event
January 31, 2014 Campaign finance report due
June 30, 2014 Campaign finance report due
July 7, 2014 First day to file petitions
August 6, 2014 Last day to file petitions
September 25, 2014 Last day to file as a write-in candidate
October 6, 2014 Last day to register to vote in general election
October 9, 2014 Early voting begins
October 31, 2014 Pre-general election campaign finance report due
November 4, 2014 Election Day
December 1, 2014 Official canvass of election results due
December 4, 2014 Post-general election campaign finance report due

Additional elections on the ballot

See also: Arizona elections, 2014

This election shared the ballot with general elections for Arizona's 1st, 2nd and 9th Congressional Districts, as well as eight state executive offices, the state senate, the state house of representatives, three statewide ballot measures, municipal elections and judicial elections.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Tucson + Unified + School + District + Arizona"

Tucson Unified School District News Feed

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Pima County School Superintendent's Office, "Official list of 2014 governing board candidates," accessed August 18, 2014
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 United States Census Bureau, "Pima County, Arizona, Quick Facts," accessed August 18, 2014
  3. ↑ Arizona Secretary of State, "Previous Elections," accessed August 18, 2014
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Arizona School Board Association Manuals, "Arizona Education Laws and Rules Annotated," accessed August 18, 2014
  5. ↑ Pima County School Superintendent's Office, "OFFICIAL NUMBER OF REQUIRED SIGNATURES FOR SCHOOL DISTRICT GOVERNING BOARD CANDIDATES FOR NOVEMBER 4, 2014 GENERAL ELECTION," March 7, 2014
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Arizona Secretary of State, "2014 Election Important Dates," accessed August 18, 2014
  7. ↑ Arizona Daily Star, "Star 2014 general election endorsements," October 23, 2014
  8. ↑ Tucson Weekly, "Our 2014 Endorsements," October 9, 2014
  9. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named statement
  10. ↑ Debe Campos-Fleenor TUSD School Board, "Endorsements," accessed October 28, 2014
  11. ↑ Jen Darland for TUSD, "Endorsements," accessed October 28, 2014
  12. ↑ Pima County Elections Department, "Welcome to Campaign Finance Web," accessed October 28, 2014
  13. ↑ Blog for Arizona, "5 of 7 Democratic TUSD board candidates to speak at DGT," September 13, 2014
  14. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  15. ↑ Pima County School Superintendent, "Voter Information Pamphlet: Tucson Unified School District No. 1 of Pima County, Arizona, Special Election, November 4, 2014," accessed October 29, 2014
  16. ↑ Tucson Weekly, "Who Is This Grijalva Campaign Sign Thief?" October 27, 2014
  17. ↑ Pima County Political Committee Campaign Finance Report, "Adelita Grijalva for TUSD: Post-Primary Report," September 25, 2014
  18. ↑ Pima County Political Committee Campaign Finance Report, "Adelita Grijalva for TUSD: June 30 Report," June 30, 2014
  19. ↑ Maricopa County Recorder, "Maricopa County Campaign Finance Handbook," accessed August 18, 2014
2014 Tucson Unified School District Elections
Pima County, Arizona
Election date:November 4, 2014
Candidates:At-large: • Incumbent, Michael Hicks • Incumbent, Adelita Grijalva • Don Cotton • Jen Darland • Betts Putnam-Hidalgo • Debe Campos-Fleenor • Francis Saitta • Rene Bernal • Miguel Cuevas
Important information:What was at stake? • Key deadlines • Additional elections on the ballot
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