14 school board seats are up for grabs in SLO County. See latest election results here
Fourteen school board seats are up for election in San Luis Obispo County on Tuesday — including hotly contested races like the showdown at the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District where a whopping eight candidates are vying for four seats.
As of the fourth round of results released at 12:20 a.m., a number of clear contenders have been established, while other races stayed much closer.
Ballots for about 45.2% of registered voters had been counted as of 12:20 a.m., according to the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
The 8 p.m. ballot drop included mail-in ballots received up to the weekend before Election Day. Later releases included tallies for ballots cast in-person on Election Day.
This story will be updated as more ballot counts are released. Check back to see the latest numbers.
Atascadero Unified School District
Five candidates are vying for three seats on the Atascadero Unified School District Board of Trustees — and the race was still neck-and-neck as of the fourth Election Night results drop.
The three candidates with the highest share of the vote will be elected to the board.
As of 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, Joey Arnold was ahead with 21.9% of the vote. Corinne Kuhnle and Roni DeCoster fell in line behind Arnold — Kuhnle with 21% of the vote and DeCoster with 20%.
Close on DeCoster’s heels was Jodi Taylor with 19.6%, while incumbent Matt Pennon fell slightly behind with 17.5%.
DeCoster, who was in the lead after the first results drop, told The Tribune she hoped Pennon would pull forward throughout the night.
“We are very hopeful and confident that Matt will move his way up as well,” DeCoster told The Tribune.
Lucia Mar Unified School District
Three seats are up for grabs in the Lucia Mar Unified School District — and incumbent candidates maintained a tight lead over a slate of challengers, as of the final Election Night vote tally release.
As of 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, incumbent Don Stewart was leading with 53.9% of votes cast over challenger Paul Bischoff, with 46.1%, in Trustee Area 1.
Stewart told The Tribune that he’s “cautiously optimistic,” based on the early results.
He said it shows that “(the voters) want us to focus on student safety and academic excellence and certainly finances and financial accountability, versus some of the culture war issues.”
In Trustee Area 2, incumbent Dee Santos was leading with 53.1% of the vote, while challenger Paul Hively was lagging with 47%.
Finally, incumbent Vicki Meagher led with 52.1% of the vote over challenger Mike Fuller in Trustee Area 4 with 48% of the vote.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District
Eight candidates are vying for four seats on the Paso Robles Joint Unified School District Board of Trustees.
As of the end of Election Night, Area 3 incumbent Nathan Williams was poised to maintain his seat with 64.1% of the vote over challenger Hunter Breese, with 35.8%.
In Trustee Area 5, incumbent Laurene McCoy was leading with 56.4% of the vote, while challenger Tim Gearhart was behind with 43.4%.
Leo Castillo led in Trustee Area 6 with 52.5% of the vote, compared to Adelita Hiteshew’s 47.1%.
Finally in Trustee Area 7, incumbent Kenney Enney was in the lead. Enney sat at 57.6% of the vote, while challenger Tracy Dauterman had 42.4%.
San Luis Coastal Unified School District
One seat is up for grabs in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District.
As of the final Election Night report at 12:20 a.m. Wednesday, Erica Flores Baltodano was solidly positioned to oust incumbent Eve Hinton from her seat, with 71.8% of the vote compared to Hinton’s 28.1%.
Baltodano told The Tribune she was “deeply touched and grateful for the support.”
“I look forward to serving,” Baltodano said Tuesday night.
Templeton Unified School District
Four candidates are vying for three seats on the Templeton Unified School District Board of Trustees.
The three candidates with the highest share of the vote will be elected to the board.
As of the end of Election Night, incumbent Ted Dubost maintained a lead with 27.8% of the vote. Following closely behind was Cheryl Parks with 27% of the vote and Matt Allison with 26.9%.
Jason Tesarz lagged slightly behind with 18.3% of the vote, according to the tallies.
School bond measures
Voters in three school districts were tasked with approving or rejecting multi-million-dollar general obligation bond measures. Bonds fund school facilities and maintenance costs and require a 55% majority vote to pass.
Lucia Mar’s $143.2 million school bond looked tentatively poised to fail with only 53.3% of the vote. Templeton’s $52.3 million bond also was under the threshold at 54.8% of the vote.
Atascadero’s $110 million bond was the only that looked like it could pass, with 55.4%.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 9:05 PM.
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