Teachers Running for Office in 2022 - Meet the Educators Who Want Your Vote
Education, says Jeanie Smith, is "dramatically underrepresented in our legislature."
That's one reason why Smith, a seventh grade social studies teacher, is running for part.
She's not lone, either. Across the land, teachers are stepping into the political ring. Some are distressed by the current state of politics in America. Some are sick of attacks on teachers by elected officials. And some are seizing the opportunity to abet for students and families.
Meet eight teachers running for role in 2018:
one. Tom Niermann
Educational activity Experience
26 years; high schoolhouse social studies
Office Sought
U.Southward. Congress, tertiary Congressional Commune, Kansas
Why He's Running
At 1 indicate, Niermann worked three jobs to pay the bills.
During the day, he taught American and world history to high school students. After schoolhouse, he hauled piece of furniture. Nights and weekends, he taught at a local community higher.
"I don't remember I saw my oldest son awake during the week in his starting time twelvemonth," Niermann says. "Sunday was the only twenty-four hours that I wasn't working anywhere."
That experience resonates with the voters of Kansas' third congressional commune. "People often say information technology'due south so refreshing to accept someone run for office who knows what it's similar for working families, people who are working as hard every bit they tin can, following the rules and still finding information technology really hard to make ends come across," says Niermann, who is hoping to be the Democratic candidate to unseat Republican Kevin Yoder.
Despite a swell interest in politics, Niermann has never before run for public office. "The timing was never quite right," he says. "Only now we've got an incumbent who is vulnerable." The current political climate likewise inspired his run. "I've always told my students that our freedoms come at a cost, and that price is participation. If we don't participate, we witness the wearisome erosion of our democracy," Niermann says.
More than one thousand of Niermann's one-time students take already volunteered to help with his campaign.
2. Carri Hicks
Teaching Experience
seven years; fourth grade teacher
Part Sought
Oklahoma State Senator, District twoscore
Why She'southward Running
Teaching is a second (or third) career for Hicks. She spent the early part of her professional life working for nonprofit agencies, including the United Style, and transitioned to teaching at the beginning of Oklahoma's current teacher shortage.
"We didn't have enough certified professionals to fill our classrooms and I truly just wanted to help," Hicks says. "I fabricated the conclusion to go after my teaching credentials and can say that didactics has been the well-nigh rewarding and difficult career imaginable."
During Hicks' fourth dimension in the classroom, public funding for education continued to decline. "We experienced a 28% budget cutting over the grade of the last 10 years," Hicks says. "I've but ever taught in a classroom that was never fully funded."
Like many Oklahoma educators, Hicks traveled to the state upper-case letter and regularly shared her concerns with state legislators over the last few years, merely her input, she says, "savage on deaf ears."
"1 of our state senators called me a liar," Hicks says. "That underlined the fact that our electric current lawmakers are not only out of touch with what's actually happening in public education, just too unwilling to hear how out of touch they are."
Hicks won the Autonomous primary in late June, and will face Joe Howell, who defeated the District xl Republican incumbent, in the general election on November half dozen.
iii. Aimy Steele
Education Feel
xvi years; elementary–high school Castilian teacher; unproblematic–high school main
Office Sought
Due north Carolina Firm of Representatives, District 82
Why She's Running
"Information technology's not okay to sit down back and wait for Superman to save us," says Steele, a instructor-turned-administrator who was inspired to step later on the 2022 ballot.
"I spent years thinking, 'If there was a teacher or principal at the decision-making tabular array—someone who could actually inform lawmakers about how proposed laws would actually impact students and teachers – perhaps they would make unlike decisions.'" Steele says. At present, she's taking action. She's connecting with customs members, studying the issues and hoping to use the advocacy skills she honed as a teacher and administrator to represent the interests and concerns of Commune 82 residents.
The but Democrat to run for her district's House of Representative seat, Steele is running confronting incumbent Republican Linda Johnson, who currently serves as a chairman of the North Carolina Business firm Didactics committee.
4. Christine Marsh
Teaching Feel
26 years; high school English
Role Sought
Arizona Land Senator, 28th District
Why She's Running
Arizona's 2022 Teacher of the Year wants to exist a voice for educators and students.
"I've seen the impact systematic cuts to teaching take had on teachers and students," says Marsh, noting that Arizona currently ranks 49th in the nation for high school teacher pay and lthursday for elementary instructor salaries. "We lose a lot of teachers considering of that, including really good ones who go out the profession and go do something that's more than lucrative, so they can sustain a family unit."
Marsh is running as a Democrat and hopes to unseat Republican incumbent Kate Brophy McGee. Republicans currently dominate the state Senate by two seats; Marsh hopes to change that equation. "I run across an opportunity to flip the Senate, or at least create a tie," she says.
five. Jeanie Smith
Instruction Feel
5 years; seventh course social studies
Office Sought
Kentucky State Senator, 32nd District
Why She's Running
"Teachers see the realities of our communities. We put food in backpacks to ship dwelling house on weekends. I take students with parents in jail, students with parents working two jobs. And I realized we can exercise better," says Smith, a teacher at Drakes Creek Middle School in Bowling Green. "We demand lawmakers who understand the middle grade and those striving for middle form. Who ameliorate to do that than a instructor?"
Though she's not held part before, Smith has long been engaged politically. "I've written messages to my legislators, and I've lobbied them on various issues," says Smith, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for Kentucky's 32nd district.
Every bit a instructor, Smith learned the value of storytelling and authentic engagement, and she believes those skills will interpret well in the political arena.
"One of my greatest jobs over the next year is to mind to the people in my customs," Smith says. "I want to know what their hopes are and what they think we could do better correct hither in Warren County. And I desire them to feel that their voice is heard."
If elected, Smith vows to "listen to people with varying opinions, with expertise in relevant fields." All too frequently, she says, legislators skip that step—and laissez passer education laws, for example, that fail to address on-the-ground realities.
"If y'all haven't been in a classroom, you don't understand the challenges," Smith says. "We accept to listen to experts."
6. Mark Vancuren
Pedagogy Experience
30 years; loftier schoolhouse biology
Office Sought
Oklahoma House of Representatives, District 74
Why He'due south Running
The 2022 ballot of his colleague, J.J. Dossett, to the Oklahoma Senate "opened my eyes to the fact that classroom teachers could exist feasible candidates and have a positive impact in state regime," says Vancuren.
The long-time high school science teacher and bus (Vancuren has coached golf, rails, basketball and baseball) was also moved to action by his "business organisation and frustration regarding the current state of Oklahoma politics, especially equally it pertains to education," he says.
The Republican won the Republican primary in late June. Because there is no Democratic candidate in his district, Vancuren has already secured his seat in the Oklahoma State Legislature. He is the Representative-elect for District 74.
7. Cathy Myers
Teaching Experience
24 years; loftier school English
Office Sought
U.S. Congress, 1st Congressional District, Wisconsin
Why She's Running
"Resisting and protesting are skilful things to do—and patently an important step—just it's not plenty. We demand teachers stepping up to protect public education," Myers says.
The February 2022 confirmation of Betsy DeVos every bit United States Secretary of Education inspired Myers' run for Congress. She'd been jolted into activeness earlier: after Wisconsin'south Act 10 stripped teachers of their collective bargaining rights and soured communications between district administrators and staff, Myers ran for the Janesville School Board.
"I ran on a platform of being a vocalization for teachers and restarting the communication between the administration, teachers and staff," Myers says. "I was the pinnacle vote getter."
Now, Myer'due south goal is to win a congressional seat and an appointment to the Committee on Education and the Workforce. "I want to brand sure that we stop the expansion of voucher programs in this land and stop the damaging furnishings of policies proposed and enacted by Betsy Devos," says Myers, a Democrat who will face ironworker Randy Bryce in the August fourteen principal ballot.
The winner volition foursquare off against a Republican contender in November.
eight. Jack Reavis
Didactics Feel
24 years; high school history
Part Sought
Oklahoma House of Representatives, District fourteen
Why He'due south Running
"If you're a single mother in northeastern Oklahoma, you shouldn't have to accept a full day off piece of work and lose that day'south pay, simply to accept a ill child with an earache to a clinic," says Reavis, noting that vii hospitals and many healthcare providers accept vacated his part of the land inside the last two years. "If nosotros truly are pro-life—and I am pro-life, not but pro-birth—you lot need to back up the programs that support life after a child is built-in, including public education and healthcare."
A Democrat who lost a bid for Oklahoma state senate in 2016, Reavis won the Commune xiv Democratic primary in June, and volition face a still-to-be-adamant Republican challenger in Nov.
What teacher-turned-politicians do yous have your eye on? Delight let united states know nigh other teachers running for office in the comments.
Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/teachers-running-for-office/
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