I’ve been on the school board for four years, and I know public education is facing an uphill battle as budgets continue to get tighter and tighter. I’m a data analyst, I’ve crunched the numbers, and I know we cannot tax our way out of this. The reality is that Fargo needs dedicated, knowledgeable leaders on the school board who understand how to make every single tax dollar count. The budget must be balanced, but it cannot be at the cost of students or teachers. I want to put my skills to work and be part of the solution.

My personal life honestly revolves around public education. My wife is an elementary school librarian. Many of my friends and neighbors are teachers. I spent years studying education policy while earning my Master’s Degree. I love helping out at Scholastic book fairs, attending school events, and serving on the FPS Foundation board. I witness the daily triumphs and challenges happening in our public schools.

Professionally, I’m a data analyst with a decade of experience across multiple industries including education, healthcare, and finance. I work with stakeholders every day to provide data-driven insights and navigate complex datasets with multi-million dollar budgets.

1) Improving Student Attendance. Students cannot learn if they aren’t in school. Yet 1 in 4 Fargo students are absent more than 10% of the school year.

2) Addressing Teacher Recruitment and Retention. According to a 2024 survey of North Dakota teachers, only 40% say they plan to retire as teachers. This is a sign that teachers are overburdened, underpaid, and they’re burning out.

3) Revitalizing the School District’s Strategic Plan. It is essential that every dollar spent and every decision made is strategically focused on what’s best for our students, staff, and community.

We need to increase wages. I’m not happy with the 1-2% raises FPS has given for the last few years, and neither are staff. If funding from the state continues to lag, I don’t believe increasing tax rates is the answer. The board will have to reduce spending elsewhere in order to pay our educators what they deserve.

But not every solution requires a financial investment. We need to think outside the box and get creative with the ways we try to relieve the burden on our educators. Can we reduce the amount of paperwork teachers fill out? Can we reduce the hours of professional development we require, or at least make it more flexible and relevant? These time consuming administrative tasks are even more crushing when educators are already stretched thin due to staffing shortages.

The biggest challenge we face is maintaining financial stability. I’m opposed to increasing the mill levy. We simply have to do more with less. As the school board’s Planning Committee chairman, I spent the last year leading the district’s effort to reduce spending and bring the budget back into balance. That said, I believe the budget represents an investment in our young people and Fargo’s future, so we can’t slash spending year after year. In order to invest in things that directly impact student achievement, we must rein in spending on less impactful things like runaway administrative and transportation costs.

It’s a matter of redirecting our existing resources. Fargo’s administrative costs are the highest in North Dakota. We spend an additional $400 per pupil than the next highest district. Multiply that by 11,500 students, and the potential savings are $4.6million per year. If other districts can operate without being so top-heavy, I believe Fargo can too.

It all begins with developing a strategic plan where the school board, with community input, identifies which academic outcomes are the most essential for the education of our students. To achieve those outcomes, the board then directs its resources into the educators and programs necessary for success.

The board must plan for the future. But it must also monitor progress towards achieving outcomes and be willing to adapt. Continuous improvement demands continuously vigilant board members.