Portland School Board Election 2015: Esparza Brown, Anthony and Kohnstamm Lead

By BETH SLOVIC

Julie Esparza Brown, Paul Anthony and Amy Kohnstamm, candidates for Portland Public Schools' Board of Education, are leading in initial election results from Multnomah County's elections division.

But the race between Kohnstamm and Bobbie Regan, a three-term incumbent, is the closest. Early results put Kohnstamm's lead at 13,536 votes to Regan's 11,527.

Esparza Brown leads with about 22,000 votes compared to opponent Andrew Davidson's 6,000 votes.

Anthony has 15,000 votes, while his closest opponent, José González, has about 8,000.

The new school board members take their seats in July. Their arrival promises to usher in a new period for the Portland Public Schools' board, where a four-person majority has for years supported Superintendent Carole Smith's administration with little questioning. 

Anthony and Kohnstamm have promised to play a stronger role in supervising Smith, now in her eighth year.

A fourth candidate, Mike Rosen, ran unopposed. He has also been a sharp critic of Smith's budget and staffing decisions.

Candidates for the four open seats on the seven-member board of Portland Public Schools together raised more than $340,000.

Most of that went to just two candidates: Regan and Kohnstamm.

Regan, running for her fourth term, raised $130,000, including $20,000 from the Portland Association of Teachers union that endorsed her. (Their donation included an $11,000 in-kind donation for campaign literature.)

Kohnstamm raised about $118,000.

Anthony was the next biggest recipient of campaign cash. He raised $35,000, including about $13,000 in in-kind donations from PAT. His biggest rival, González, raised about $26,000.

Rosen, who had no opponents, nonetheless raised $15,000.

In the relatively low-key race pitting a Portland State University professor against a PSU student, the two candidates together raised about $15,000. Esparza Brown, the professor, raised $9,000, and Davidson, the student, raised $6,000.

Voter turnout was only about 16 percent, according to figures from Multnomah County's election division.

WWeek 2015

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