4-year term, limited to two consecutive terms, $12,000Members of the country’s only unicameral legislative body create laws and make the rules for Nebraskans under certain constitutional limitations. This body also oversees many health care services and decides how much money public schools (from kindergartens to colleges) receive each year. If you are concerned about who pays how much in taxes and how those funds get spent, this is a very important election.
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Education
BS Special Education k-12, MSJ Social Justice, MA (ABT) Leadership and Innovation, MACEF Christian Education with certificates in women/gender and ecology. MDiv with emphasis in political theology and ethics.
Current Public Office, dates held
Lower Elkhorn NRD director, subdistrict 3. Elected in 2022
Volunteer experience
Co-founded an anti human trafficking 501c3, Young life, Bible teacher at a special needs camp, project homelessness, board of the Connection Project (recovery support), Nebraska Organizing Project, VP of Norfolk Parks board, Mayors diversity council
We need to retain and support our teachers! As a fellow educator I understand that teachers are experiencing burnout, low pay, and lack of support. Turnover and staffing shortages impede learning, so retaining veteran teachers is imperative! We need to keep our public schools locally funded and increase pay for educators and paraprofessionals to keep up with inflation and rising housing prices. I am also interested in increasing access to mental health services and counseling in our k-12 schools to keep up with student needs. Lastly, I'd like to address our special education programs and look at increasing access to services until age 23 so students have more time in transition programs to work on vocational and independent living skills.
Access to clean water and addressing our nitrate issues is my number one priority. I serve as an elected official on the NRD and see firsthand the detrimental consequences of contaminated wells, particularly for children. Our district has very high pediatric brain cancer and birth defect rates that are well above the national averages, which public health officials believe is associated with nitrate levels. We need to continue our cost share programs for reverse osmosis systems, lower the MCL, and do a better job of encouraging domestic well testing. We also must partner with farmers to provide tax credit incentives for adopting regenerative agriculture practices that will reduce fertilizer inputs and prevent leaching into the groundwater.
One of the most difficult challenges in our state is access to housing. Rising home prices and lack of inventory are causing people to leave the state or preventing them from moving back after college. A lack of workforce housing is also causing a labor shortage in many communities. I would like to confront this crisis by using a multi-faceted approach. We should incentivize and streamline new development that focuses on lower cost/higher density units. Promoting zoning changes to permit tiny home developments and manufactured housing, as well as mixed income neighborhoods, can increase accessibility. Encouraging the creation of more land banks for the purpose of expanding affordable housing options will also help address this issue.
