Minnesota and North Dakota Voter's Guide

Forum Communications Co., in collaboration with the League of Women Voters of Minnesota and of North Dakota, is providing this voter guide to help keep you informed ahead of the 2024 election.

  • Learn where candidates running for office in your community stand on the issues.
  • Build your ballot before voting. Print or email the information to use as a reference when you actually vote.

We do not save your information; it will be lost when you leave this page. Only candidates that appear on your ballot will be listed. Additional information may be available for your area so be sure to scroll to the bottom of the page for other voters’ guides.

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Voter Guide

SSD #1 School Board Member at Large {_getChooseLabel(this.selections.length)}

School board members oversee the care, management, and control of schools. This includes hiring, firing, and overseeing superintendents, who manage the day-to-day affairs of the district. They also set levies to fund the district and create school policies.Learn more here: https://www.lwv.org/blog/voting-local-matters-why-vote-school-boardIf your candidate didn’t fill in the guide below, visit the Secretary of State’s Candidate Filing site to find contact info (https://candidates.sos.mn.gov/). If you reach out, ask candidates to complete their Vote411 Voters Guide from LWVMN!Watch a candidate forum for this race recorded on October 5, 2026.

Click a candidate icon to find more information about the candidate. To compare two candidates, click the "compare" button. To start over, click a candidate icon.

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    Michael Baskins
    (NP)

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    Collin Beachy
    (NP)

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    Christin Crabtree
    (NP)

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    Stephanie Johnson
    (NP)

Biographical Information

Why are you running for the Minneapolis school board and what are your qualifications for this position?

If you are elected, what are your priorities as a school board member?

How would you balance issues concerning school safety, discipline, and student and teacher mental wellness?

The "Reading to Ensure Academic Development Act" is the state’s mandate on how to teach reading. How should the district assess its impact on students’ reading skills across the district? Specifically, what should the indicators of the success of this reading mandate be for Minneapolis students?

Given reduced enrollment and substantial federal funding reductions in education, health, and social protections, how will you fill the funding gap, particularly for disabled and underserved students?

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Our district deserves leaders who believe in our public schools and their importance to a city where every resident can thrive. For over 20 years, I have built relationships with educators, school staff, and administrators as an MPS parent. As a co-founder of Minneapolis Families For Public Schools, I work alongside caregivers across the city to win the schools we deserve; together we have won smaller class sizes, increased funding from the state, and during Metro Surge we organized sanctuary schools across the city. From grassroots organizing to nonprofit board leadership, I have demonstrated my commitment to the people of our city, fostering trust with policymakers at every level and with the people on the ground in our schools every day.
I will champion MPS from the streets to the capitol. Disinvestment in people is not a winning strategy for our future; we must be at the frontline of the legislative battle, building coalitions across geographic & political divides to expand funding. Schools are successful when they center community needs; we must develop people-centered responsive action plans to attract/retain learners to MPS with expertise of students, caregivers, neighbors, and the people working in our schools every day.
Through instability and trauma of the past 6 years schools have been a safety net for families and should be resourced as such. MPS educators and staff are the backbone of our neighborhoods, ensuring needs are met while continuing their day to day obligations. We must take proactive measures to create conditions for well-being; smaller class sizes, safer special education case loads, prioritization of support services, and ensuring counselors and social workers are supported in their roles.
Literacy is liberation, and is a top priority both of mine and in MPS. I am committed to ensuring our students and educators have the resources, interventions, and the instruction needed to thrive. Reading is a collective priority, and we must recognize it has been weaponized to perpetuate a narrative about urban schools and our children. MPS has brilliant students and invested educators; standardized tests are one tool, and alone they do not reflect the full story of our district.
Per pupil funding is MPS’ largest source of revenue. Expanding/retaining learners is key to increasing funding, and is about more than dollars; schools are shared spaces that bring our city together. MPS grows by working arm in arm with families and educators, expanding pre-K/early childhood options, strengthening supports during transitions from elementary to middle/high school, expanding popular programming, and listening to what families say they need to build a stronger MPS for all students.
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The League of Women Voters of Minnesota and North Dakota crafted the questions sent to the candidates in the Spring of 2024. They reached out to candidates based on contact information in their public candidate filings. Candidates with email addresses were invited and reminded with emails. Candidates with only mailing addresses were sent a letter. Candidates with phone numbers received a phone call as well.

Candidate responses are published as they responded and have not been edited, except when responses were longer than the given character limit. In those cases, the responses are truncated.

VOTE411 is brought to you by the League of Women Voters Education Fund and League of Women Voters of Minnesota Education Fund. The League of Women Voters does not support or oppose any political party or candidate for office.