Results of the 11 August 2026 Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Primary
Consider
first, as given in other articles as you scroll down this blog, that the results
of the 11 August 2026 Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education primary
were as follows:
At-Large
Christin
Crabtree 45,254 (38.6%)
Collin
Beachy 43,276 (34.0%)
Michael
Baskins 18,797 (14.7%)
Stephanie
Johnson 9,578
( 7.5%)
Clifton
CJ Henderson 6,551
( 5.1%)
Since
more than four candidates filed for the two available seats, these candidates
participated in the primary to be held on 11 August 2026; the four top vote-getters now will proceed to
the general election on 3 November 2026.
Thus,
these four candidates will now vie for two at-large positions on the
Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education
>>>>>
Michael
Baskins
Collin
Beachy
Christin
Crabtree
Stephanie
Johnson
District
1
Abdul
Abdi
Ben
Lattimore
Since
only two candidates filed for the available seat, these candidates will proceed
to the general election on 3 November 2026.
District
3
Shannon
Gibney
Since
only one candidate filed for the available seat, this candidate will proceed to
the general election on 3 November 2026 and, barring an unusually successful
write-in candidacy, will in all likelihood be the next representative for
District 3.
District
5
Becca
Dryden
Molly
Chase
Since
only two candidates filed for the available seat, these candidates will proceed
to the general election on 3 November 2026.
Of the
above candidates, Collin Beachy (At-Large) and Abdul Abdi (District 1) are
incumbents.
Current
Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education members Joyner Emerick
(At-Large), Lisa Skjefte (District 3), and Norvell (District 5) decided not to
run for re-election.
Seats for
District 2, District 4, and District 6 are not up for election this cycle; those districts will be contested in November
2028.
..........................................................................
Observations on the Results of the 11 August 2026 Minneapolis Public Schools Board of Education Primary--- and on the Matter of Poor Quality Candidates and Board of Education Members
One would
have looked in vain to find the above information in the Star Tribune or
to hear the results broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio. I found the information on government
websites, but even then had to scroll on down past the many races deemed more important.
My mantra
is that elections for school boards are actually the most important of races if
we consider that the public schools produce the quality of citizenry that we
have--- a citizenry that at present
reads on average at a grade 7 level and has twice elected Donald Trump as
president.
..........................................................................
Among the
many aspects of the public school dilemma that have become clear in the course
of my now 12-year investigation into the inner workings of the Minneapolis
Public Schools is the poor quality of membership on boards of education.
One
problem is the overweening power of the teacher unions and other educational
and political establishment entities with the money and political heft to hold
sway in school board elections.
Another
vexation is the lack of knowledge on the part of school board candidates as to
the history and philosophy of education---
and information base that would contextualize the key dilemmas of low
teacher quality and knowledge-deficient curriculum as actually delivered.
Neither
board of education candidates nor the general public has the capacity to read
works of relevance--- or to even
comprehend explanations of the contextualizing information.
Thus, put
starkly, candidates for membership on boards of education are inevitably
inadequate.
..........................................................................
In the
case of the candidates listed above, Christin Crabtree and Collin Beachy
(at-large) are the typical creatures of the education establishment; Abdul Abdi
(District 1) is a current member in whom I once invested some hope but who has been
corrupted by the system; and Shannon
Gibney (District 3) and Becca Dryden (District 5) are backed by the same
establishment entities as in the case of Crabtree, Beachy, and Abdi.
As you
see, these are the top vote-getters and the most likely to prevail in the
Tuesday, 3 November election.
My
initial investigation indicates some hope that Michael Baskins (at-large) and
Molly Chase (District 5) could offer some independence--- and, notably, intelligence--- that is a cut above the ordinary. Baskins is a mechanical engineer. Chase also has held impressive professional positions; and she has served on other boards and been
very active in political campaigns and on social issues.
I most
likely will be in touch with Baskins and Chase to offer my mentorship and
support; they are a very long shot and
even if they were to win and gains seats on the Minneapolis Public Schools
Board of Education would have to contend with the seven other low-quality and
establishment-backed members.
..........................................................................
If I slim
down the key point to be made regarding school board elections, there is
similarity with that to be made in the case of selecting superintendents >>>>>
>>>>> Chances of electing high-quality school board
candidates (as with the selection of a high-quality superintendent) approach
zero.
>>>>> A decision to retrain teachers to attain
suitable quality (and positioned as subject area experts to implement
knowledge-intensive curriculum) will have to be made jointly by boards of
education and superintendents.
>>>>> The long-term effort must be made, therefore,
to recruit and train highly-quality school board candidates and create powerful
backing organizations to contend with education establishment entities; once elected, such candidates would then
become board members capable of circumventing current ineffective selection
processes to locate and hire the necessary academic scholars as
superintendents.
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