Virginia - Election of School Boards

 

2002-2003 Data:  elected boards=101, Appointed Boards = 30, Boards with both = 3 

2002-2003 Board Profile

Elected School Boards in Virginia: A Progress Report

Election of School Boards (November 2001)

Election of School Boards (August, 1999)

Election of School Boards: (May 1998)

Election of School Boards:(May 1996)

Election of School Boards (May 1997)

Election Results: November 1995

Election Results: November 1996

Election Results: November 1997

An update of information by Pat Cahape, Appalachia Educational Laboratory, 1993

In April of 1992, the General Assembly of Virginia en-acted legislation that gives local school divisions the option of changing from appointed school boards to elected school boards. Though the process is complex, localities all around Virginia have enthusiastically gotten started.

The Outlines of Change

Before the 1992 legislation, Virginia was the only state that did not allow for elected local school boards. Since that time, 102 of the 134 local school divisions in Virginia have changed or begun the process of changing from an appointed school board to an elected one and more than 60 percent of Virginia's current school board members are elected officials.

In each of these localities, supporters of elections collected the signatures of 10 percent of the registered voters, and had a simple referendum question included on the general election ballot:

"Shall the method of selecting the school board be changed from appointment... to direct election by the voters?

YES NO"

Overwhelmingly, the electorate has voted "Yes." However, in three school divisions - Danville City, Hanover County, and Salem City - the referenda for school board elections were defeated. But even with local passage of the referendum, local governments had to decide about representation (wards, districts, or at-large) and membership terms (staggered, four-year, or some other length). Once they completed their plan for school board elections, the Department of Justice required local officials to submit it to the Civil Rights Division for approval.

Even prior to school board elections, Virginia has had a much better than average track record for minority representation on its local school boards. Nationally, minority representation in 1995 stood at 11 percent, according to The American School Board Journal. By contrast, Virginia minority representation for the 1995-96 school years stood at 20 percent. There had been some fear that minority representation would suffer in the changeover, but figures have not supported that assumption.

On the other hand, female representation on Virginia school boards has consistently lagged behind the national average according to these same sources. Nationally, women held about 43 percent of school board seats in 1995, compared with 35 percent in Virginia's school boards for 1995-96. So far, elections have yielded a slight increase in the number of female school board members in Virginia.

In May 1994, approximately 25% of the 70 seats for office were unopposed. In the November 1995 election, which involved 75 counties and 368 seats, 76% of the incumbent school board members running for office were elected. There were 135 or 37% of the races that were unopposed. In May 1996, involving 22 localities and 75 seats, there were 23 or 31% unopposed races. Eighty-nine percent of the incumbent members were elected to office.

Elected School Boards (102 plus 2 military dependents divisions*)

Albemarle County

Alexandria City

Amelia County

Appomattox County

Arlington County

Augusta County

Bath County

Bedford County

Bland County

Botetourt County

Bristol City

Buchanan County

Buckingham County

Buena Vista City

Campbell County

Caroline County

Carroll County

Charles City County

Charlotte County

Chesapeake City

Chesterfield County

Clarke County

Colonial Beach Town

Colonial Heights City

Craig County

Culpeper County

Dahlgren Dependents*

Dickenson County

Dinwiddie County

Fairfax City

Fairfax County

Falls Church City

Fauquier County

Floyd County

Fluvanna County

Franklin County

Frederick County

Fredericksburg City

Giles County

Gloucester County

Goochland County

Grayson County

Greene County

Halifax County

Hampton City

Harrisonburg City

Henrico County

Henry County

Highland County

King George County

King & Queen County

King William County

Lancaster County

Lee County

Loudoun County

Louisa County

Lunenburg County

Madison County

Manassas City

Mathews County

Mecklenburg County

Middlesex County

Montgomery County

Nelson County

New Kent County

Newport News City

Norton City

Page County

Patrick County

Pittsylvania County

Portsmouth City

Powhatan County

Prince George County

Prince William County

Pulaski County

Quantico Dependents*

Radford City

Rappahannock County

Richmond City

Roanoke County

Rockbridge County

Rockingham County

Russell County

Scott County

Shenandoah County

Smyth County

Spotsylvania County

Stafford County

Staunton City

Suffolk City

Surry County

Sussex County

Tazewell County

Virginia Beach City

Warren County

Washington County

Waynesboro City

West Point Town

Westmoreland County

Wise County

Wythe County

York County

Appointed School Boards (32 plus State Correctional Board)

Accomack County

Amherst County

Bedford City

Brunswick County

Charlottesville City

Covington City

Cumberland County

Danville City

Essex County

Franklin City

Galax City

Greensville / Emporia

Hanover County

Hopewell City

Isle of Wight County

Lexington City

Lynchburg City

Manassas Park City

Martinsville City

Norfolk City

Northampton County

Northumberland County

Nottoway County

Orange County

Petersburg City

Poquoson City

Prince Edward County

Richmond County

Roanoke City

Salem City

Southampton County

Williamsburg/James City

Winchester City

NOTE: Alleghany Highlands School Division, which comprises Alleghany County and the city of Clifton Forge has an appointed board with one member elected from the city.

1994--74 school board members were elected

1995--373 school board members were elected

1996--75 school board members were elected in May; in the November elections, six school board members in five counties were elected in special or general elections. In addition, tgwo more localities (Surry and Sussex) approved referenda to switch to elected school boards.

1997--Nine (9) school board members elected in May (Alexandria City), includig five incumbents and four newcombers.

As of July 1, there will be 522 sitting elected school board members. According to the 1995-96 VSBA Profile Survey, there are 846 local school board members statewide. This reflects a 61.7% elected to 38.3% appointed school board members in Virginia.

Number of locality elections: 21 (plus Clifton Forge)

Number of seats to be elected: 75

Number of unopposed races: 23

Number of females elected: 30

Number of males elected: 45

Number of candidates (total): 162

Number of candidates, female: 54 Number of candidates, male: 108

Number of current (appointed) members seeking election: 46

Number of current (appointed) members winning election: 40

Percentage of incumbents winning election: 89%

Number of "newcomers": 35

Number of white elected: Not available

Number of non-whites elected: Not available

**Only Fairfax City (5 members) and Richmond City (9 members) elected their entire board. Each of the following five school boards saw one incumbent lose: Colonial Heights, Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Suffolk.

**Six localities (Clifton Forge, Harrisonburg, Norton, Portsmouth, Radford and Staunton) elected school board members for the first time.

**98 localities have now elected all or some of their school board members. 100 localities have approved the ESB referendum.

**As of July 1,1996 there will be 522 sitting elected school board members. According to the 1995-96 VSBA Profile Survey, there are 846 local school board members statewide (thus, elected school board members will comprise nearly 62% of the statewide total).

Revised: 5/9/97

At the November 5, 1996 elections, six (6) school board members in five (5) counties were elected in special or general elections. In addition, two (2) more localities (Surry and Sussex) approved referenda to switch to elected school boards, bringing the number of localities to approve the ESB question to 102.

Only Alexandria City elected its school board members; 8 of 9 incumbents ran for reelection, with 5 of the 8 winning.

Revised 5/97

Number of locality elections = 75 counties

Number of seats elected = 368

Number of unopposed races = 135

Number of females elected = 110

Number of males elected = 258

Number of candidates (total) = 679

Number of female candidates = 202

Number of male candidates = 477

Number of current (appointed) members seeking election = 241

Number of current (appointed) members winning election = 184

Number of "Newcomers" = 184

** 48 localities elected all school board seats; 27 elected part of the seats.

** five localities had one seat each for which no candidate filed

Localities that approved the ESB question: James City County, King and Queen County, and Harrisonburg City.

100 localities have now approved the Elected School Board referendum.

Election of School Boards / School Board Candidates ------November 1999

 Number of locality elections 81 counties

Number of seats up for election 380

Number of unopposed seats 231

Number of seats with no candidate 8

Total number of candidates 534

Number current school board members seeking re-election 267.

updated 9/1/99