Donna Johnson Geist

From Delaware Department of Elections official results. A year with no row means we found no result for this member that year.

• May 13, 2025

  At-large seat

  Won with 494 votes. Also on the ballot: Mozella Richardson Kamara (308).

  Four-year term; the results do not give the end date.

  Official results (PDF file)

From the roll call in each set of public minutes AskDover has read. A member who arrived after roll call is counted as attending.

25 of 28 meetings attended (89%), July 7, 2025 to August 24, 2026.

• August 24, 2026Present
• August 19, 2026Arrived after roll call. Arrived at 5:34 p.m.
• August 18, 2026Arrived after roll call. Arrived at 5:40 p.m.
• July 29, 2026Absent
• July 28, 2026Arrived after roll call. Arrived at 6:04 p.m.
• July 1, 2026Present
• June 17, 2026Absent
• June 16, 2026Present
• June 15, 2026Present
• May 26, 2026Arrived after roll call. Arrived at 5:38 p.m.
• May 6, 2026Present
• April 20, 2026Present
• March 25, 2026Present
• March 12, 2026Present
• February 26, 2026Present
• February 18, 2026Present
• February 17, 2026Present
• January 21, 2026Present
• December 10, 2025Present
• December 3, 2025Present
• November 19, 2025Present
• September 17, 2025Absent
• August 28, 2025Present
• August 20, 2025Present
• August 12, 2025Arrived after roll call. Arrived at 8:45 a.m.
• August 11, 2025Present
• July 16, 2025Present
• July 7, 2025Present

Named roll calls from the public minutes. Unanimous votes do not list names, so they are counted separately. Procedural motions are left out.

Named roll calls: 20 (16 yes, 4 no). Unanimous votes while present: 69.

• August 24, 2026Yes on Revisions 2026-2027 Student Success Guide (Resolution No. 27-027. Passed. Minutes
• August 19, 2026Yes on Personnel – Appointment of Associate Principal, South Dover Elementary School (Resolution No. 27-014). Passed. Minutes
• July 1, 2026Yes on Consent items. Passed. Minutes
• July 1, 2026Yes on Collective Bargaining Agreements between Board of Education and Capital Educators Association, Capital Educational Secretaries Association and Capital Constable Association (Resolution No. 27-009). Passed. Minutes
• July 1, 2026No on Proposed District Closure on July 2, 2026 (Resolution No. 27-010). Did not pass. Minutes
• June 17, 2026Yes on Delaware School Boards Association Membership (Resolution No. 26-135). Passed. Minutes
• May 26, 2026Yes on Personnel (Resolution No. 26-103). Passed. Minutes
• March 25, 2026Yes on Personnel (Resolution No. 26-103). Passed. Minutes
• February 26, 2026No on Dover High School Delaware Financial Literacy Graduation Requirement for Incoming Freshmen 2026-2027 School Year (Resolution No. 26-077). Passed, 3 to 2. Minutes
• February 18, 2026Yes on New Delaware Financial Literacy Requirement Dover High School for Incoming Freshmen 2026- 2027 School Year (Resolution No. 26-077). Did not pass, 2 to 3. Minutes
• February 18, 2026Yes on Attendance Board Member National School Boards Association Conference April 10-12, 2026 (Resolution No. 26-089). Passed. Minutes
• February 18, 2026No on Certified Personnel III. Leaves E-1 Leaves – Sabbatical (Resolution No. 26-092). Passed. Minutes
• January 21, 2026Yes on Dover High School Theatre Arts Pathway Proposal (Resolution No. 26-078). Passed. Minutes
• December 10, 2025Yes on Revisions Policy #500-26 Donated Leave Policy (First Reading) (Resolution No. 26-066). Passed. Minutes
• December 3, 2025Yes on Appointment of Principal, Kent County Secondary Intensive Learning Center (Resolution No. 26-057). Did not pass, 2 to 3. Minutes
• December 3, 2025No on Appointment of Principal, Kent County Secondary Intensive Learning Center (Resolution No. 26-057). Passed, 3 to 2. Minutes
• August 28, 2025Yes on Personnel (Certified – Termination Recommendation) (Resolution No. 26-028). Passed. Minutes
• August 20, 2025Yes on Attendance of Board Members to National School Boards Association CUBE Annual Conference September 11, 2025-September 13, 2025, Los Angeles, CA (Resolution No. 26-026). Passed. Minutes
• July 16, 2025Yes on Appointment of Associate Principal, Secondary (Resolution No. 26-011). Passed. Minutes
• July 16, 2025Yes on Approval of Superintendent’s Contract (Resolution No. 26-012). Passed. Minutes

Delaware lets school board candidates who plan to raise or spend less than $5,000 file a Certificate of Intention instead of forming a campaign committee. They do not file campaign finance reports unless they go over $5,000.

Has a campaign committee, Friends of Donna Johnson Geist (CF ID 01006381), registered March 4, 2025. It has filed 3 reports. AskDover has not copied the amounts: open the reports on the state system (opens another website) and search CF ID 01006381.

• March 4, 2025Candidate committee: Friends of Donna Johnson Geist, CF ID 01006381
• January 19, 2026Report filed: 2025 Annual
• May 5, 2025Report filed: 2025 8 Day, 2025 Capital School Board Election (May 13, 2025)
• April 14, 2025Report filed: 2025 30 Day, 2025 Capital School Board Election (May 13, 2025)

From the Delaware Campaign Finance Reporting System (opens another website), checked November 2, 2026. Rules from the Department of Elections (opens another website). Not every past election has a filing listed.

From machine transcripts of board recordings. The words can be wrong; check the recording.

• October 28, 2026, at 6:36

  If you would like to just answer the questions or if you'd like to present the reports and, however works best for you to explain and address the questions, whether it's embedded in or directly.

• October 28, 2026, at 8:53

  But if we have 8 million difference between the formula salaries and the received salaries...

• October 28, 2026, at 9:09

  ...and then we have received amounts and see that there's 8 million difference there...

• October 28, 2026, at 9:14

  ...and you get down to the total state funds, is the total state funds, because my thought is is if we've got $8 million difference there between those two,

• October 28, 2026, at 9:29

  as I look down across the other columns, we don't have a significant difference in the received amounts versus the budgeted amounts except for those areas where we have no budgeted. Like so we have the zero is budgeted, but we have received moneys?

• October 28, 2026, at 10:12

  Okay. So what we would anticipate then would be that where it says total state funds received, if we were to look at these anticipated receipts coming in, our expectation is is that we would see those moneys coming in to the received, even though they don't show up in the budgeted, because we had some of the areas that were budgeted as zero? So the received could- would be more than what the budgeted was because those three areas didn't have a budget, and so we would receive more than what we had budgeted?

• October 28, 2026, at 11:08

  Okay, and so that received amount should result in more than our budgeted amount.

• October 28, 2026, at 11:24

  Do- and would we then have a document that talks about how we're utilizing those budgeted funds? Because if the budget right now is zero...

• October 28, 2026, at 11:35

  ...do we then have documentation that says, hey, here's our Educational Sustainment Fund for the budget and what we've budgeted to use those funds for?

• October 28, 2026, at 11:54

  Okay. So that's very helpful in understanding. So in looking at it, it would look like they would be totals that should...

• October 28, 2026, at 12:02

  ...that should match. Okay, so I think then that gets to my second question is thinking about how we're utilizing those funds that are in received that did not have a budget. So that gets to that second- so you've addressed that first question as to why they don't match, so thank you very much. But now as we look at that, that's where I would like to think about those other questions.

• October 28, 2026, at 12:31

  And we have a- our technology block grant, we have itemized of where those mon- moneys are spent, and how that's spent and everything that we have available or...

• October 28, 2026, at 12:56

  Okay. That would- that would be helpful. I think that just helps clarify some of the questions, then.

• October 28, 2026, at 14:00

  So that, for example, the technology block grant, because we filed that grant report, we have a budgete- we have a budget for that and that budget matches what we've received?

• October 28, 2026, at 14:36

  And so we have received all of the anticipated educational sustainment funds, technology block grant, and then there's the other state revenue? All of those have been received because I don't see any anticipated receipts pending there?

• October 28, 2026, at 30:28

  And so I'm part of a panel from a two-state presentation to talk about uh board preparation for large policy initiatives. Delaware is going to be featuring their um funding formula change and Michigan had a similar funding formula change, so members from their board association and one of their school board members is also going to be on that panel. We have the Secretary of Education as well as CFO Emily Falcon who leads, is co-chair of the funding formula. And then I was asked to be a part of that as well. So our proposal was accepted and so I need to be able to register to do all of the things as a part of that uh panelist presentation.