Several weeks ago, in the August 2026 edition of Journal of the K-12 Revolution: Essays and Research from Minneapolis, Minnesota, I gave a comprehensive account of the candidates vying for seats on the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) Board of Education, much of the information taken from the candidate’s websites.
Readers
seeking that volume of information for making their own decisions as to the
candidates whom they view most favorably should scroll on down this blog to
read the August 2026 Journal of reference.
In this
article I make recommendations for the looming Tuesday, 3 November 2026,
General Election as to candidates vying
for seats on the MPS Board of Education.
At-Large
Seats
>>>>> Two
at-large seats are available.
Vote
for two candidates, as follows:
Michael
Baskins
Stephanie
Johnson
Baskins
is an engineer who would bring analytical reasoning ability to the Board.
Stephanie
Johnson is the most open to school closings and repurposing; she has the keenest sense of the fiscal
crisis looming for the Minneapolis Public schools if action is not taken.
……………………………………………
Voters by
all means should not cast their ballots for Collin Beachy or Christin Crabtree.
Beachy is
current Chair of the MPS Board of Education, the entity that along with
Superintendent Lisa Sayles-Adams retreated from a plan to close or repurpose 16
schools, an action that over time would have saved the district millions of
dollars in maintenance and cleaning costs and would have garnered precious
revenue through sale or rental.
Christin
Crabtree would be another functionary of the Minneapolis Federation of
Educators. She is also backed by the
Minnesota Families for Public Education, which lobbied vigorously against
school closures.
District
1
>>>>> One
seat is available.
Vote
for Ben Lattimore.
Lattimore
is a University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management graduate who will
bring youthful energy to the MPS Board of Education. He would not be a functionary of the union and
would be likely to favor disciplined policies for confronting the fiscal crisis
of the district.
……………………………………………
Voters
should not cast their ballots for incumbent Abdul Abdi, who has been an
uncourageous and ineffective Chair of the MPS Board of Education Finance
Committee.
District
3
Shannon
Gibney will be another functionary of the Minneapolis Federation of Educators
in the Chirstin Crabtree mold (in sync also, therefore, with current District 6
member Greta Callahan, who led the backlash against school closure and
repurposing). She is backed by the
Minnesota Families for Public Education, which is closely tied to the teachers
union and lobbied vigorously against school closures.
Unfortunately,
Gibney is the only candidate for District 3 and will therefore take this seat
in January 2027. This underscores the
importance of voting for Michael Baskins and Stephanie Johnson to take the two
available at-large seats, and voting for Molly Chase to take the District 5
seat (considered immediately below).
.
District
5
District
1
>>>>> One
seat is available.
Vote
for Molly Chase.
Chase has
experience in the sphere of business and has been involved in numerous
community organizations. She is not
solidly behind school closure/repurposing, but she does comprehend the fiscal
crisis facing the district and will not be a functionary of the teachers union
or their organizational allies resisting change.
……………………………………………
Voters
should not cast their ballots for Becca Dryden, very much in cahoots
with candidates Christin Crabtree and Shannon Gibney (as well as current Board member
Greta Callahan), a cohort that would stand against assertive policies for
addressing the fiscal crisis and also changes necessary to improve academics at
the Minneapolis Public Schools.
