Superintendent of Public Instruction
Election Results
| Candidate | Votes | Pct |
|---|---|---|
| Sherri Ybarra (R) | 216,961 | 50.67% |
| Jana Jones (D) | 211,246 | 49.33% |
* Race percentages are calculated with data from the Secretary of State's Office, which omits write-in votes from its calculations when there are too few to affect the outcome. The Spokane County Auditor's Office may have slightly different percentages than are reflected here because its figures include any write-in votes.
About the Race
As two-term GOP Superintendent Tom Luna retires, there’s a hot race to succeed him between Democrat Jana Jones, the former chief deputy superintendent who narrowly lost to Luna in 2006, and Republican Sherri Ybarra, a political newcomer who won a four-way GOP primary in May with 28.7 percent of the vote. Four-year term. Position pays $101,150 a year.
The Candidates
Sherri Ybarra
- Party:
- Republican
- City:
- Mountain Home, Idaho
- Occupation:
- Mountain Home School District school administrator
Curriculum director and federal programs director for the Mountain Home School District. She has a master’s and is working toward a doctorate in education. Ybarra taught school in Mountain Home for 11 years before becoming a vice principal and then a principal; she’s in her second year in her current administrative position with the district. Has struggled with a series of gaffes during the campaign, from a campaign website that copied Jones’ to mistakenly identifying a former primary rival as a backer; she says she’s “not a polished politician.”
Jana Jones
- Party:
- Democratic
- City:
- Idaho Falls, Idaho
- Occupation:
- Former chief deputy state school superintendent
Vice president for K-12 education practice at Maximus, a national consulting firm. She has a doctorate in education, taught school in Idaho Falls for 10 years, and operated a private school that was the state’s first to fully integrate children with disabilities, before she joined the state Department of Education, serving under three superintendents and rising to chief deputy under Superintendent Marilyn Howard. She also headed Gov. Cecil Andrus’ Office for Children.
Complete Coverage
Ybarra unclear on budget figures in public instruction presentation to legislators
BOISE – Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Sherri Ybarra wants local school officials to decide how money should be spent in the classroom. During her first budget presentation to the Legislature on Thursday morning, Ybarra said she hadn’t yet determined how funds for some of her biggest policy initiatives would be spent. Instead, Ybarra said, she wanted to determine those details once she saw how much money the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee budgets for each line item.
Ybarra’s first school budget pitch is brief, short on details
New state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra gave an unusually brief public school budget pitch to the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee this morning, calling for a 6.4 percent increase in state funding for schools next year – well under Gov. Butch Otter’s proposed 7.4 percent increase. “I…
Ybarra addresses school choice rally, backs charter schools as part of system
Sherri Ybarra More than 500 people, including hundreds of Idaho charter school students wearing bright-yellow fleece scarves, gathered on the state Capitol steps today for a rally celebration National School Choice Week, and state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra offered supportive words. “Instead of pitting charter…
Ybarra hires her local newspaper editor as new spokesman
Idaho state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra, who is from Mountain Home, has hired Kelly Everitt, who was managing editor of the Mountain Home News for the past 26 years, as her communications specialist, Idaho Education News reports. Reporter Kevin Richert writes that Everitt had announced in a newspaper column last…
Eye on Boise: Otter names Field to head correction board
Gov. Butch Otter has named Debbie Field, former chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee, former state drug czar and former chairman of Otter’s re-election campaign, as the new chair of the state Board of Correction. That’s the board that oversees Idaho’s prison system; former chair Robin Sandy retired from the post a week ago. “Debbie has had a distinguished career as a first-rate lawmaker and member of my Cabinet. I am pleased she is joining the board and I have no doubt she will make a meaningful contribution in her new role,” Otter said.
Eye on Boise: ‘Instant racing’ terminals concern some lawmakers
Idaho legislative leaders say they’re concerned about the slot machine-like “instant racing” terminals that are cropping up around the state, including at the Greyhound Park in Post Falls. The machines were authorized under a 2013 law aimed at allowing pari-mutuel betting on past horse races. “I think the extent of it maybe is a surprise, how fast it’s growing, and exactly what they’re doing,” said Senate President Pro-Tem Brent Hill, R-Rexburg. “The machines have been upgraded a lot since what we saw.”
Ybarra: State ed department will be the ‘go-to place’
New state schools Superintendent Sherri Ybarra is holding her first press conference today, at which she introduced her executive staff. In addition to interim Chief Deputy Pete Koehler, Special Assistant to the Superintendent Tim Corder, and Special Education Director Charlotte “Charlie” Silva, she introduced Will…
Eye on Boise: Correction officials considered firing squad
Bring back the firing squad as a means of execution in Idaho? That’s something the state Department of Correction has been exploring, as states continue to struggle to obtain drugs for executions by lethal injection.
Eye on Boise: Ysursa advises successor Denney to ‘stay the course’
Idaho Secretary of State Ben Ysursa, as he accepted a major civic engagement award from the City Club of Boise last week, had this message for his successor, Secretary of State-elect Lawerence Denney: “Folks will be watching.” Ysursa said, “My advice to him is stay the course” when it comes to Idaho elections. He noted that Denney already has decided to keep Ysursa’s current chief deputy, Tim Hurst, and as much of the current staff in the office as possible.
Eye on Boise: Capitol seeks to meet disabilities act with upgrades
Idaho’s state Capitol is due for $400,000 in accessibility upgrades, to bring the renovated historic structure in line with requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. They range from new wheelchair-accessible seating areas in the fourth-floor public galleries of the House and Senate, to improved ramps and handrails in various locations, to new signs.
Idaho Republican candidates sweep all statewide offices
BOISE – It took until Wednesday morning at 7, but GOP newcomer Sherri Ybarra eked out a slim win in the race for Idaho state schools chief, completing a Republican sweep of all statewide offices that echoed results in Idaho elections since 2006. Democrats picked up one seat in the state Legislature thanks to upsets in Moscow and Lewiston, but GOP dominance of the Idaho Statehouse remained otherwise unchanged: 80 percent of seats went to Republicans, down from 81 percent.