BROCKTON — Last week’s election night ended with many incumbents earning reelection, but one race still remains up in the air as of Thursday — Ward 3’s representative on the Brockton School Committee.
With Ward 3’s current committee member Jared Homer not seeking reelection, candidates Ana C. Oliver and Matthew Stanton battled it out for a position on Brockton Public School’s governing board.
Oliver, a registered nurse, received 750 votes while Stanton received 747 votes — a difference of just three votes or 0.2% of the total count.
The School Committee is currently facing several high-profile issues, from violence in Brockton High School, to a shortage of teaching staff, to the $14.4 million overspending of last year’s budget and an $18 million hit to the current year’s budget.
Will there be a recount?
Despite just three individual voters splitting the difference in the race’s results, there is no automatic recount trigger in Brockton in very close races.
One candidate must appeal for a recount themselves.
According to Cynthia Scrivani, executive director of Brockton’s elections commission, Stanton pulled recount papers Wednesday morning, Nov. 8. He has to get 15 signatures of Ward 3 residents within 10 days from the election – or by Friday, Nov. 17.
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When will results of the recount be announced?
Once Stanton submits the signatures, officials will recount the votes. Officials from Brockton’s election commission said the recount will be completed quickly and results are expected to be released next week.
Stanton declined to comment on the recount and Oliver did not respond to The Enterprise’s requests for comment.
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An embattled school board
The committee has received harsh criticism over the last few months from BPS parents, the Brockton City Council and the public after the school department overspent its Fiscal Year 23 budget by roughly $14.4 million, which was discovered and announced in August.
In the months since then, Brockton’s Chief Financial Officer Troy Clarkson has completely overhauled the school district’s finances, the committee has agreed to make its bi-weekly spending report available publicly on its website and committee members voted to include three independent community members in selecting the audit firm who will conduct an investigation into the deficit.
“If we don’t have the funding then things will not move forward” said Claudio Gomes, the committee’s other new member who was elected to represent Ward 2 last week. “So, we got to make sure our funding is straight, our plans are straight.”
