A candidate for Bentonville School Board has spent more than twice as much on his campaign as his two opponents combined, according to pre-election campaign finance reports filed within the past week.
School board elections will be held Tuesday. Early voting is available through Monday. There are races for seats in the Bentonville, Rogers, Fayetteville and Farmington school districts.
Northwest Arkansas school board races
Here are the candidates in each school board race in Benton and Washington counties.
Bentonville, Zone 3
• Beth Haney
• Grant Lightle*
• Eric White
Farmington, Position 4
• Amy Hill*
• Jay Moore
Fayetteville, Zone 1
• Farla Steele-Treat
• Nika Waitsman*
Fayetteville, At-Large, Position 1
• Maria Baez de Hicks
• Megan Hurley
Rogers, At-Large, Position 6
• Mitch Lockhart
• Caley Vo
• Bob White
*- denotes incumbent
Source: Staff Report
Preliminary finance reports were due Tuesday. Candidates are not required to file a pre-election report if they have not received contributions or made expenditures in excess of $500.
As of Wednesday, reports had been filed by the three Bentonville candidates and one Fayetteville candidate.
The leading spender in the Bentonville School Board's Zone 3 race is Eric White, who had spent $3,286 as of Friday, the day he filed his report with the Benton County clerk. White reported contributions of $2,025 and a loan of $1,260 to himself.
White listed donations from six people, all of whom live in Zone 3, which includes parts of north and central Bentonville and east Centerton. White's largest contribution of $1,000 came from W.K. Webb of Bentonville.
White has spent most of his money -- about $2,562 -- on signs and informational cards. He spent another $481 on T-shirts and $176 on radio advertisements, according to his report.
White was unavailable for comment Wednesday.
He is running against incumbent Grant Lightle and former board member Beth Haney. Lightle reported expenditures of $1,090 and Haney reported spending $129 in their reports filed this week.
Lightle, a board member since 2012, said he hopes voters will consider the School District's overall performance the past four years when they decide whether to keep him on the board. His finance report indicates all $1,090 he's spent has gone toward signs. He said he has about 60 signs.
He said he was basing his spending primarily on how much money he received from donors, adding he didn't want to spend a lot of his own money.
Haney, who served on the board from 2000 to 2012, said she's reaching out to friends and family members rather than spending money on traditional campaign items, like signs.
She used signs in her past elections when all seats were voted on by the district as a whole. The dynamics are different now that board members are elected by zone, she said.
"Even in a districtwide campaign, the turnout is extremely low," Haney said. "By targeting people close to me, that's the way I have chosen to pursue this election."
Nika Waitsman, who's running for Fayetteville's Zone 1 seat, reported spending $735. She listed two donations of $100 each, including one from state Rep. Charlie Collins, R-Fayetteville, and his wife. Waitsman also reported a loan of $700 to herself.
Waitsman also listed a nonmonetary contribution of $450 in the form of design work for posters and cards from Smack Agency of Bentonville.
Waitsman, a homemaker, was appointed to the board's at-large, position 1 seat last year. Her opponent in the Zone 1 race is Farla Steele-Treat, an education administrator for the Northwest Arkansas Children's Shelter. The two women are vying to replace Steve Percival, who decided not to run for re-election after 21 years on the board.
Of the $735 Waitsman has spent, $335 has gone toward signs and $130 has been on stickers. Another $130 has gone toward mailings, according to her report.
Mitch Lockhart, Caley Vo and Bob White are running for the at-large, position 6 seat on the Rogers School Board. None of them had filed a finance report as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Benton County clerk's office.
Also appearing on Rogers ballots will be a choice for the at-large, position 7 seat. Nathan Gairhan and Mark Sparks will appear as the candidates, though Sparks announced late last month he was dropping out of the race. Ballots already had been printed by the time Sparks made his decision.
Farmington's position 4 race is between incumbent Amy Hill and Jay Moore. Neither candidate has filed a campaign finance report, according to the Washington County clerk's office.
NW News on 09/15/2016