Name: Stephanie Anderson
Age: 44
Neighborhood: Summit Hill
Stephanie Anderson is a parent of students in St. Paul Public Schools, and a doctoral student in literacy education at the University of Minnesota.
Anderson’s goals for the district include shifting toward community schools with wraparound services to meet the needs of students, their families, and the community; addressing declining enrollment and potential school closures, supporting ELL students and the Hmong community; strengthening immersion programs, and addressing technology concerns.
Anderson hopes to advocate for increased state funding, to work with organized labor groups such as the St. Paul Federation of Educators and AFSCME, to develop goals for the administration and hold them accountable for those goals.
“The main priority that will frame the work I do on the board is moving St. Paul Public Schools toward a full-service community school district,” Anderson said. “This isn’t something brand new to schools, and I think given the community investment coming on the heels of Metro Surge, now is the time to have more of those conversations about how we could move towards this type of district.”
The candidates are competing for three at-large positions on the school board, which represent voters in every part of the city.
Anderson spoke with Sahan Journal on Oct. 2. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Why do you want to be on the St. Paul school board?
I believe in public education, and I believe in St. Paul Public Schools. I have two kids who go to St. Paul schools, so I have a real personal connection and a real personal stake in the success of St. Paul schools. I have been very involved in my kids’ schools since my oldest started pre-K. I’ve been on the PTAs at all of my kids’ schools. I worked to start a nonprofit at my son’s middle school last year in response to Operation Metro Surge. I was a leader in the St. Paul Public Schools Parent Solidarity Network, and we provided a lot of mutual aid. I set up a fundraiser that eventually raised over $400,000 and was able to help over 300 families with housing assistance. In 2021, I was part of the movement that saved Wellstone Elementary in the North End of St. Paul. That’s where I lived for 10 years. That was my kids’ school, and we went up against the district, but their plan was not very thoughtful, and so we fought back and we won.
All of my experiences, my belief in the public schools, and what really made me decide now is the time, is just seeing the community’s response to Operation Metro Surge and seeing the community so invested in our schools. You had people out patrolling that weren’t even parents or grandparents of kids at a particular school, but just the fact that the school was in their community mattered. So I’m super excited about that community momentum and want to be on the board to be in a policy role to keep that momentum moving.
St. Paul, like many districts, has seen a decline in English language learners since Trump’s second term began, and lost nearly 500 students following Operation Metro Surge. What impact does that have and how should the district respond?
Losing 500 kids is trying on multiple levels, right? We’re losing these kids because of the terror inflicted by the Trump administration, and we’re losing these kids in a district that is already, like most other or many other urban districts, struggling with enrollment.
What should the district do? I think we need to continue to stand up, and I think St. Paul Public Schools and the board has been doing a good job with this. Stand up against the right-wing attacks on public education, on our families, on our students. There’s signs on every school in St. Paul that say [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is not permitted in this building without a warrant. I support that 100%. We need to remain vigilant about ICE in our communities because we know they’re still here. They may have changed their tactics, but they’re not gone. So I think the school district plays a role as part of the St. Paul community. The school district plays a role in protecting the kids and the families in the greater community.
We’re a district that has more seats than the number of students that we have. Currently there is a facility survey happening, and it’s pretty common knowledge that the results of the survey will include the recommendation for school closure and consolidation for different sites. Our district is too big for our population, but we know that schools are incredibly personal. We have a visceral connection to the schools we send our kids to. Even if you ask someone, “What’s your opinion of public education in the United States?” “Oh, it’s awful.” “Well, what do you think about your kid’s school?” “I love it.” Schools mean so much to us, and they should. Any type of closure/consolidation is going to be incredibly painful. Having gone through the Envision plan in 2021, which included the proposal to close Wellstone, I learned a lot about how not to go about a school closure consolidation, and if elected, this is likely one of the first big decisions that is going to face the new board.
While I can’t sit here today and promise you I will never vote to close schools, I can commit to full transparency. I can commit to a process that is slow and thoughtful and done with community at every step of the way, including after a school is closed. We can’t just close a community school and say, “Good luck.” We have to be with them throughout the whole process. In a lot of ways, it just starts with the closure of a school. Those are all commitments I can make, and at the end of the day, I will be with you. I will be transparent with you. I will have to make a hard decision. Sitting with those things, it’s uncomfortable, but we have to be realistic. A school district needs to protect its community, and it also has to face realities of declining enrollment.
Last year St. Paul cut ELL funding after a decline in ELL students. How can St. Paul best support those remaining students?
The cuts were incredibly unfortunate. You’ve got teachers who are 0.2, so one day out of five at a particular school. None of that is ideal, and I believe a budget is a moral document that needs to reflect our priorities. To my understanding, the cuts still allow for all of the numbers to be met. If an ELL student needs X amount of minutes a week of ELL support, to my knowledge, that is still happening even with these cuts. But that support has changed. Maybe a teacher is not as available because the teacher is only at their school one day or part of two days.
So I guess the responsibility that the district has is to continue to solicit feedback from educators, many of whom have had a real change in the way their job looks. We need to be in close contact with families to make sure they are feeling that they’re supported. We need to make sure that we’re reaching out and communicating with families in the language that they feel most comfortable speaking. Overall, it is making sure we’re fulfilling the legal obligations of giving them a certain whatever number of minutes, right? But also going beyond that because they are a very important part of our St. Paul Public Schools community. Also being sure that we’re providing support to the educators, because I think St. Paul educators are the best you’ll find, and I know that a lot of them are experiencing hardships because of these ELL cuts.
The district has grappled with some major budget challenges in recent years leading to cuts in 90 school-based positions in the most recent budget. Looking ahead, what challenges do you see in keeping the district on track financially? How do you think the district can address those challenges?
I get asked about the budget a lot, because when I knock doors, people are like, “Why is it that there’s never money? Why are my property taxes going up when there are constant cuts?” Until we live in a country that, on a systemic level, fully funds education, cuts are going to be our reality. Until we have costs per pupil that keep up with inflation, we’re going to have cuts. I really hate that that is our reality, and I commit to doing everything I can to work with my partners at the county, the city, in particular the state, to fully fund education in Minnesota. It goes so much bigger than the school board. The state sets the levy that each school district needs to pass, and if a school district doesn’t pass that levy, then they don’t receive other funding from the state. So in a lot of ways, the school board when they pass a budget is kind of stuck. So we need to be looking to our city and county folks, like what can they do to make life a little bit easier in terms of property taxes on our citizens.
I think relationships are hugely important, and I think that’s one of my big strengths that I bring to the campaign and that I’ll bring to the board. I’ve already been speaking with a lot of our legislators at the state level, working with establishing relationships with the folks on the tax committee to make sure to advocate for taxation that makes the wealthy pay their share. Minnesota has so many big corporations here – making sure that they are paying their share, so that by the time the funding goes to the Education Finance Committee, the pie is bigger.
I think cuts are always going to be the thing until we believe in education. When they make a budget, the budget process needs to be transparent. I think the school board has been doing a good job with making the budget process transparent, inviting community comment, and doing that in a variety of forums, in the language that our families speak, trying to break down barriers like childcare or food, to get people to these meetings or to these places where we can get their feedback. District administration cannot be immune from cuts. We need to make sure that we’re not top-heavy in terms of administration. I think that we have to engage all stakeholders as we’re preparing a budget to vote on. Educators, our organized labor in our schools, our families, our students, our community members, it needs to be a very inclusive, thoughtful, deliberate process done over months.
Last year, parents raised concerns about overcrowding at Txuj Ci Hmong Language and Culture Lower School. The school board rejected their proposal to address the overcrowding, and the parents’ concerns remain. Now there is no Hmong member of the school board. How will you make sure this community feels heard and their needs are met?
I was there in the boardroom the night of that decision. They had person after person, kids, parents, community members, up there giving public comments on how much the school means to them. Jim Vue gave a talk that brought tears to my eyes about how important that school is. There is no doubt in my mind of the value of that school to St. Paul Public Schools and to the community, and we need to support it. I have spoken with families from Txuj Ci. I am concerned that there are no Hmong candidates right now, so there will not be Hmong representation on the board. I’ve thought a lot about how I as a non-Hmong person can support that group. I want to be in that school. I want to see it and talk with folks from both programs at Txuj Ci. They have the language immersion and then the Hmong culture program. I want to hear from both program areas. I think we need to, in general, do a lot more listening than speaking. I want to hear from a lot more folks. I can commit to going to Txuj Ci and being present and listening.
What’s another school board priority of yours we haven’t talked about?
The main priority that will frame the work I do on the board is moving St. Paul Public Schools toward a full-service community school district. Basically these are schools that have wraparound services to meet all of the needs of our students, their families, and the community. I would put it all with sort of an asterisk. I don’t think a school will ever meet every single need of its community, but I think we can move in that direction, and in fact, St. Paul has those elements. For example, we have clinics in all of our high schools, credit unions in some of our schools, we have food pantries and clothing closets and immigration support. There were schools that used to be full-service schools: Bruce Vento Elementary School and St. Paul Music Academy, and those programs have been eroded over time with funding cuts. So this isn’t something brand new to schools, and I think given the community investment coming on the heels of Metro Surge, I think now is the time to have more of those conversations about how we could move towards this type of district. Every school community is different, so every school community’s needs will be different.
We can learn from people who are also doing it. We will lean into community partnerships and build new ones. When a kid’s needs are being met, when they are in class, they are able to learn, and when a student’s needs are being met, that teacher can focus on teaching. That’s kind of my overarching vision for St. Paul Public Schools, and my other priorities sort of all fit into that.
I taught Spanish and Portuguese for 15 years. My son is still in Spanish immersion. I want to strengthen and grow our immersion programs in St. Paul. I have talked with so many parents about concerns around technology use in our schools and iPads and AI, and I support the current board’s BIGG (Board Initiated Goals Governance) goals around tech. I think we need to be more urgent in how we come at this problem or this issue. I’ve been educating myself a lot and attending meetings to talk with parents and educators about their concerns around tech in schools. As a parent myself, I hate fighting with my daughter over her iPad. I’m committed to working with our organized labor groups. I have a great relationship with SPFE (St. Paul Federation of Educators). I’ve also been endorsed by AFSCME (American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees), the clerical workers, and the IT workers in our schools. I believe in organized labor with all my heart. I’m a union member myself, so I’m committed to working and collaborating with our labor groups.
I am committed to that collaboration that I talked about earlier, at different levels of our government, city, county, state, so that we can work together, so that nobody’s duplicating services. I want to know what communities or county services we can bring into our schools that goes to that full service model. I talked about 2021 with Envision — I have witnessed the shift in our district from the administration, from the board basically being a rubber stamp for administration to now the board coming up with goals through outreach with the community and saying, these are the goals, administration, and we’re going to hold you accountable for those. I think that is a tremendous shift, and I want to keep that momentum going.
