Ken McClure yesterday defeated fellow council member Kristi Fulnecky by a wide margin in the Queen City mayoral race, while voters narrowly decided against Proposition SPS.
McClure, the city’s current mayor pro tem, won 68 percent of the 21,909 votes cast in the mayoral election. Fulnecky brought in 6,951 votes.
In the
days leading up to election, Fulnecky faced a tax lien notice later withdrawn by the IRS, and McClure was accused by the Springfield Police Officers Association of using city funds to advance his candidacy.
Other members of council up for re-election won their bids. The incumbents were Jan Fisk, Craig Hosmer, Phyllis Ferguson, Craig Fishel and Tom Prater.
While a majority of voters supported Proposition SPS, the $189 million bond proposal by Springfield Public Schools fell short of the supermajority needed to pass it. Of the 27,481 votes collected, 51 percent were in favor of the proposal. It needed 57 percent under Missouri law governing bond elections.
The proposal — which
faced organized opposition from the Save R-12 Schools Committee — would have phased in a 24-cent increase to the debt-service levy to fund construction of several new elementary and middle schools.
“This is an unexpectedly joyous occasion for the children and struggling neighborhoods of this community. It is a vindication of the power of truth over propaganda,” committee Chairman Virgil Hill said in a statement. “There is now an obligation for SPS leadership to develop, with real input from throughout the district, a serious academic plan and to commit to a building standards plan that utilizes existing neighborhood schools, facilities and locations in support of improved student proficiency.”
In an email sent to SPS parents this morning, Superintendent John Jungmann said the district would continue to work to improve learning environments for children.
“As we move forward with the important work of serving our 25,000 students, we will consider other options for how we can execute our long-range facility master plan, which was developed through a yearlong process with significant input from our employees, parents, students and community members,” he said. “We remain committed to addressing the facility needs identified in the plan in order to provide learning environments for all students that facilitate engaging, relevant and personal learning experiences.”
The Greene County voter turnout yesterday was 18.6 percent, above the 10.4 percent turnout a year ago during the last countywide municipal election, according to the unofficial election results posted at
GreeneCountyMo.gov. Multiple voter campaigns encouraged participation, including those by the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce and The Network, as well as the “
SGF’ing Vote” initiative that went viral locally on Facebook.
