Mike Belz
for School Board

A school board can't provide meaningful oversight if it isn't independent. That seems pretty fundamental to me, and it's the thing I keep coming back to.

Everyone involved has a legitimate role. Our teachers union represents and advocates for its members. Administration operates the district. The elected school board has a different responsibility: represent the entire community, students and parents and teachers and staff and taxpayers and residents alike, and govern the district on their behalf. Those roles matter.

I don't want a teachers-union board. I don't want an administration board. I don't want a political-party board. I want an independent school board.

I have no problem with unions. That's not what this is about. The teachers union has an important job to do, and I respect that job.

But the union negotiates contracts with the school board and advocates for its members. I believe the people on the other side of that table, the elected board, should be chosen independently and answer to the whole community. That's not anti-union. To me, it's basic governance.

That's also why I'm not accepting contributions from the teachers union or its PACs. Support from individual teachers is a different thing, and it's welcome.

In practice, independence isn't complicated. Ask hard questions. Understand the data. Set clear expectations. Protect taxpayer dollars. Hold leadership accountable for results. Understand the difference between governing the district and trying to run it.

Healthy boards will disagree. I expect that. Disagree. Debate. Decide. Then commit. I've used that philosophy in leadership for years. Once the decision is made, we move forward together.

That's what an independent school board is supposed to do.

I believe a classroom should belong to the students and to the work of education, not to the personal beliefs or causes of the adult leading it.

Teachers have tremendous influence, and that's part of what makes great teachers so important. Students should feel challenged, supported, free to ask questions, and able to form their own conclusions without first trying to figure out what the teacher believes. They should never wonder whether agreeing with an adult's politics, religion, or worldview will help their grade, or whether disagreeing could hurt it.

Teach the subject. Teach the facts. Teach students how to question, reason, read, write, calculate, investigate, debate, and think. Then let them reach their own conclusions.

Classrooms should still have personality. Make them fun. Celebrate student work. Show some Ranger pride. Put up the funny sign. Make kids laugh. Great teachers build relationships and make students want to learn.

Kids should know their teacher cares about them. They just shouldn't have to know how their teacher votes.

The line for me is pretty simple: is this helping students learn and feel welcome, or is it communicating something the adult wants them to believe? That standard applies to me too. I don't want my personal views promoted in a classroom any more than I want someone else's.

Students should encounter difficult subjects and competing viewpoints. Teaching about an idea is not the same thing as advocating for it. Instruction and classroom displays should serve learning, student work, school identity, encouragement, our shared civic principles, and the subject being taught, not an adult's personal cause.

Our students don't need to leave Forest Lake believing the same things. They need to leave prepared and free to think for themselves.

A high school diploma should mean a student is ready for whatever comes next. For some kids that's a four-year university. For others it's a two-year degree, technical training, the trades, military service, entrepreneurship, or going directly into the workforce.

Our job isn't to push every kid toward the same destination. It's to make sure they understand their options and are prepared to take the next step.

For students considering college, that planning needs to start early.

Forest Lake already offers some really good opportunities to earn college credit while still in high school. I want every family to understand those options early enough to actually use them, ideally before junior year, when many of these decisions become increasingly important.

I mean more than receiving an email or seeing them in a course catalog. Families should understand the options, how they differ, what their child may qualify for, and what each path could mean after graduation. Then let the family decide what's right for their kid.

Three ways to earn college credit in high school

On cost and transfer: CIS generally carries no tuition cost to the student, AP may involve an exam fee, and Minnesota covers tuition and required books and materials for eligible PSEO coursework. Whether a credit transfers and counts toward a particular degree depends on the receiving college and program. Program details from Forest Lake Area High School and the Minnesota Office of Higher Education.

For many families, whatever comes after high school can be one of the biggest investments they make in their child. College credit earned during high school can potentially save meaningful time and money while giving the student a head start.

College credit is only one example. The same thinking should apply to technical education, trades, certifications, work experience, and other opportunities that help students leave high school with something useful already in hand.

Give families the information early. Give students options. Then help them build a path that makes sense for where they want to go.