Difference between revisions of "School District Demo"

Revision as of 09:35, 23 September 2017

This page gives a basic format skeleton for the School Boards Portal pages. It can be as adaptable as necessary depending on each district's needs, but they will generally follow this format. Go to the "Edit" tab to see the coding.

(School District) Overview

Raw Info

• Cities: (If applicable, with internal Wiki links to each)
• Towns: (If applicable, with internal Wiki links to each)
• Unincorporated Areas: (If applicable, with internal Wiki links to each)
• County Commissioners: (Link to page), plus list # R, # D, # Unaffiliateds (U), etc. As applicable.
• State House: (Link, list, and label party)
• State Senators: (Link, list, and label party)
• Congressional: (Link, list, and label party)

Complete Example

See Douglas County RE-1 for an example.

• Cities: Aurora (small portion), Castle Pines, Littleton (sliver), Lone Tree
• Towns: Castle Rock, Larkspur, Parker
• Unincorporated Areas: Acres Green, Castle Pines Village, Franktown, Grand View Estates, Highlands Ranch, Louviers, Meridian, Perry Park, Roxborough Park, Sedalia, Stonegate, The Pinery, Westcreek
• Counties: Douglas County, Elbert County (small portion)
• County Commissioners:
• State House: HD 39 R, HD 43 R, HD 44 R, HD 45 R, HD 64 R
• State Senators: SD 1 R, SD 4 R, SD 30 R
• Congressional: CD 4 R, CD 6 R

(School District) Demographics

Raw Table:

NOTES:

• Typically the best source for all of these is the Adopted Budget of each respective school district. "Budget" is normally the line item of "Total Expenditures"
• For items that involve percentages, no need to put in the %. Simply put in the raw number, including any decimals.
• For items deailing with money, no need to put in a $ sign (exception being "Budget")
• For numbers in the thousands and beyond, do put in the commas.

Completed Example Table

Here is an example of a completed Demographic table (from Douglas County RE-1. Compare the raw table against the completed table via the Edit tab:

(School District) Superintendent

Complete Example Info

Example from Littleton Public Schools 6.

Information is not limited by what is above. If anything else pertinent comes up, can always list it with bulleted asterisks (and linked with source), such as:

• Interesting info.
• This is also useful.
• Hey, look at this.
• Made you look.
• Bam! List of five.

For an example of this, go to the Douglas County RE-1 link.

(School District) School Board

Format in Description:

• Term lengths; term limits (Usually "4 years; limited to 2 consecutive terms")

Raw Table:

• Repeat the "School board member" portion of the code for as many seats required for that body.
• "Party" only requires a D for Democrat, an R for Republican, or a U for Unaffiliated. On occasion, party cannot be definitively confirmed one way or another. In that case, put in "(Cannot confirm)".
• "Margin" is the difference between the Winner's percentage minus the percentage of the second-most voted.
• If office is elected At-Large, put as the entered value for "Margin" as ATLARGE, then put the percentage they won with in the "Total" line.
• If the winner ran unopposed, put as the entered value for "Margin" as UNOPPOSED. Nothing further required for the "Total" line.
• "Total" is from the total percentage the Winner received.
• The lines with "a" or "b" attached to the year are for candidates who ran against the winner and did not win. Or if the Winner is different than the current seatholder. There can also be "c" and "d" lines, etc.
• Different winners will be noted with their name surrounded by a single pair of parentheses--(First Last)
• Defeated candidates will have the set up "candidate|First Last|0.00%|U" between the squiggle brackets (as seen in the following Complete Example Table in the Edits Tab.
• "| 20XXnote = 1" establishes a footnote attached to the Winner's results, and "| 20XXnote1 = (Insert footnote info here)" puts in the text of the footnote.
• If footnotes require to be attached to a different section than the Winner's results, see the Ward 1 2015 results posted below in the Edit tab (it is in the "| 2015a = " section.
• Can put in more than one footnote per seat per year. Use 2, 3, onward. Can also attach multiple footnotes to a single item. Be sure to put in a comma ("1,2").

Complete Example Table

Here is an example of a completed School Board table (from Douglas County RE-1). Compare the raw table against the completed table via the Edit tab:

Special Interests

Local

• Group 1
• Group II
• Group Trois
• Group Quatro

Group Name

If an individual group warrants enough to have it's own subsection, create one here. Do so for each individual group that so warrants.

General

• Statewide
• Nationwide

Group Name

If an individual group warrants enough to have it's own subsection, create one here. Do so for each individual group that so warrants.

20XX Election

Put date of election here. Put seats up for vote here. State what seat(s) is/are termed out.

Candidates

Raw Table

(i) = incumbent

Complete Example Table

From the Brighton 27J page.

Former Candidates

Raw Table

Complete Example Table

Example from the Boulder Valley RE-2 page.

(Year) Election Issues

Raw Table

• Can add or subtract Issue Columns. To add, put "||" in between issues (with one space on both sides around it)

Issues for school board are usually, but not limited to:

• School Choice (General)
• Vouchers, Tax Credits, Education Savings Accounts (ESAs)
• Charter Schools
• Accountability
• Transparency
• School Closures

Complete Example Table

• From Denver Public Schools, District 2 candidates (Section in development)

Campaign Finance

For each candidate, each filing:

• Total contributions
• Total expenditures
• Total Cash On Hand (Can be a negative value--Debt)
• Any PAC donations, plus amount
• Individual contributions by notable individual donors, plus amount

NOTE: If using Open Secrets, only count from the PAC column, do not solely use the "Total" column, as the "Individual" column and "PAC" column are added together. "Individuals" are everyday people who happen to be employed by those companies, but not donating as those companies. This is in accordance to FEC regulations, where if an individual donates more than a certain amount, they must report their employer and it gets added to the employer's pot. Some campaigns or donation sites ask for employer regardless of donation amount.

First Filing

Month Day, Year

(Temporary raw data table. Data table specific to this being developed.)

Raw Table:

Complete Example Table:

Ballot Measures

Ballot Measure Name or Descriptive Title

Brief description.

Brief history of Ballot measure.

Ballot Language

"Language here"

Amendment Language

"Language here"

Arguments For

• Reason 1
• Reason 2
• Etc.

Can give quotes from notable people, with citations.

Arguments Against

• Reason 1
• Reason 2
• Etc.

Can give quotes from notable people with citations.

Special Interests

Sometimes special interests get involved. Detail those specific to each individual Ballot Measure here. If applicable, also put down any money spent in either direction for or against the measure.

May not require a table, as it could be a bulleted list.