Letter: State school board leader backs McCarvel

Talk about it

The voters in State House District 22A have a great opportunity to elect Mike McCarvel, a candidate with an impressive track record of solving problems by working across party and geographic lines.

I know this because I served for four years with Mike on the Board of Directors of the Minnesota School Boards Association, comprised of school board members from all areas of the state. He consistently demonstrated a clear understanding of finance and budgets and was a strong, effective advocate for public education. But what was most impressive was Mike’s ability to develop relationships with colleagues — rural, suburban and urban. Through these relationships, we all learned about each other’s problems and concerns, and developed strategies to meet these challenges.

I’m from Minneapolis, but Mike and I found out that our school districts were both concerned with many of the same issues: possible declining enrollment, immigrant students whose home language was not English, state funding that wasn’t keeping pace with inflation or with federal and state mandates.

Mike McCarvel is smart, calm, steady and wise. He is exactly the kind of leader we all need in St. Paul, a bridge builder. I hope you will elect him on Nov. 4.

Tags: opinion, mikemccarvel, mike, mccarvel, education