As part of our 2024 election coverage, we are conducting interviews with Minneapolis Public Schools school board candidates. I talked with at-large school board candidate Shayla Owodunni on Oct. 4. We talked about a range of topics from her work helping young students read at Pillsbury Elementary School to how she would approach the district's finances. The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

Melissa Whitler: You're running for an at-large seat. Why do you want to run for that seat and why do you want to join a board with these budget challenges ahead of it?

Shayla Owodunni: I'm the type of person that if I see a problem, I think in problem solving terms. I had always told myself that once I have children and a family that I'll get plugged into schools and school board and see what's going on. Then I started volunteering last year in MPS at Pillsbury Elementary. I'm a High Five volunteer tutor there this year as well.

I started to ask questions, as far as teachers who were burnt out, or saying “this might be my last year.” One of the ESPs, it was her last year. She was like, I can't do this anymore and was considering becoming an Amazon delivery driver.

I'm essentially an interventionist, a volunteer interventionist.

MW: Through AmeriCorps?

SO: Yeah. They have early learning corps. I was working with children who were not able to count to three.

MW: The students are four and five?

‍SO: Four and five. At times they were disinterested. I even had one student where she was like “Miss Shayla, am I not getting it.” I was like, “why do you think this?” Because we keep doing the same thing. I was like, “Huh, how can I make children excited to come to school?” And interested in what we're doing and also get their parents to tie in.

As I was doing these interventions of the children that I could tell were working with their parents at home, their level of understanding and capacity and excitement for learning was skyrocketing. Whereas the children who I would ask them what they did at home, their parents were either working, or watching videos or TikTok, they were disinterested. So it's like, how can I make them excited about learning?

I looked at the winter assessments scores and saw that only 44% are reading at grade level and only 39% in math. And I was seeing in the class the same thing of a slow learning trajectory. There is the Americorps Early Learning Corp curriculum that we have to cover. But instead of calling it an assessment, I was like “we're going to play math games.” Instead of it being interventions, I called it Math Masters and Reading Masters. The children were like going home saying “I'm in a group called Math Masters.” And then they started learning how to count with money. I made them wallets. Each time they played math games–the interventions–they were able to earn dollars. At the end of each month, we have a school store and then they could use their money. And so these are children that early on were just getting to count to three. Now I had children where they were doing multiplication and subtraction because they were tangibly seeing authentic assessments. And so that got me looking at, how do we look at assessments? How are teachers leaving the district? How are children not coming to school? What are our solutions?

My background is in accounting and internal audit. The teacher that I was volunteering with, it was April and she didn't know if she was going to have a job next year. Is this unique? And she was like, “this is not.”

Then I started digging into all of this and I was like, OK, I've seen what goes on in the schools. I've asked questions. I've seen an improvement in the children that I was working with just by changing terminology and things. For example, parents would be like, “my child doesn't need an intervention.” I see where again how it's phrased, how the letters, how it's worded, when it's sent home. All of these things contribute to distrust, a lack of transparency.

I was seeing these things with my own two eyes and then looking at the budget. I was also feeling like it felt very mystical and this is coming from someone who has a background in internal audit, so I can only imagine if there's a parent who has like 10 minutes to check in on what's going on. If they go to that [district] website, you are not going to know where to start as far as what questions to ask or how to look at these things. Then I was frustrated and I was like, “who handles all of this?Who's the governing body?” And then learned the school board does this. And I was like, “Well, looks like I’m running for school board then.” And that was how we got to the journey of school board.

MW: You are running for the at-large seat, which means that you will represent the entire city. When you have been out on the campaign trail–maybe we could do quadrants–what do you hear from the families and community in North versus what you hear in Northeast versus Southwest and South? Could you talk about what you see as the unique issue in each part of the city.

SO: Yes, I think one thing that has been interesting that I've noticed is how people communicate and how they want to be communicated to. For example, who's in my inbox is not representative of all of Minneapolis. I've learned that, as a school board member, if I was just going to wait to receive phone calls or emails or anything, it is such a small percentage of the thoughts and ideas and concerns of the greater district.

When I go from, whether it's like Nicollet Open Streets, or going to We Win Institute or going to the Native American Center and going to their powwows–so many families don't know who their school board representative is. They're like, “what does the school board do?” There's a disconnect between the constituents that are being represented and also how are their concerns being heard?

The biggest from North was talking about assessments and how are we best preparing our children for the real world. One thing that I learned this year is that when you look at high school graduation rates and the direct correlation to life expectancy, Minneapolis, we are in the bottom five in the nation for graduation rates of black men.

You hear that Minnesota is one of the best places to live in America. There were so many things I was taking at face. Even now I was looking at this and I'm like, “guys the house is on fire. What are we going to do about this?” That is the genuine concern that I've seen, especially amongst black families or families of color that I've talked to. What is the plan that's going to help my child succeed after high school because so many students aren't graduating.

MW: Can you give an example of the concerns you hear from families in Southwest?

SO: School closures, in Southwest, that's a primary concern. I've heard we need schools to close. I went to a harvest last week at We Win Institute and the topic did not even come up. It was how do we get our students to read? How do we get them excited about learning? And so it's just interesting how depending on where you are, who you're talking to, what is the first thing they want to talk to you about when you engage in conversation.

MW: Do you hear anything else from Southwest?

SO: I feel like overall it is also the same as far as academics, the budget is a huge aspect. What is the plan going forward? I felt like the Southwest families that I've engaged with were more involved in the details of the school board and knowing what exactly is going on.

MW: You mentioned being at the Native American community center. Was there a particular set of concerns that you heard brought up from that community that you felt was unique to them?

SO: I heard the same themes just presented differently. Community representation, wanting to feel that their voice is heard. As far as transparency, they want to be able to understand what is going on so that they can have an opinion on where do our children fit into this?

I think regardless of what group I talked with, that's ultimately what it boils down to is, where do I as a family fit into this? Where does my child fit into this and how are they seen and represented at school?

MW: You live in Northeast. Is there a Northeast specific issue?

SO: Where I live, there are no children in the building. I hear teachers are overworked. I hear there's issues with the budget. I had a neighbor say, “I see Say Yes to Kids. I want to say yes to kids. What does that mean? What am I saying yes to?”

Editor’s note: Yes for Kids is a current campaign for a $20 million technology levy at Minneapolis Public Schools

MW: Part of your campaign centers around your experience as a reading volunteer at Pillsbury. The board has a governance role. They set the vision and values, but they're not involved in day-to-day operations of school buildings and classrooms. Are there policy or governance things that as a board member you’d like to do around improving reading outcomes for students?

SO: I would like to focus on resourcing that we're able to provide or unite with other organizations outside of the classroom. The classroom, at least in my experience as a reading tutor, it's such a small aspect of these children's day-to-day. Offering opportunities for families to be able to engage in learning outside of the classroom is something that I would like to look into and encourage.

Also amalgamate resources. I really would like to be able to make things easier, to increase accessibility and also transparency. Last year I'd have families where towards the end of the year they're like, “Wow, my student was able to graduate out of my intervention caseload, but also they're like, now summer is coming, now what? What do I do?”

I just assumed that before I got into this programming that everyone knows what to do when they go pick up a book or just teach them how to read. But how many parents feel comfortable going to someone and saying?, “Honestly, I don't know where to start.”

A lot of my students last year, their parents were working night shift. They weren't going to be sitting there and reading book after book after book in the evening. So I recorded myself reading books from the classroom where all they had to do was scan the QR code and then watch the videos. And even from that we saw a significant increase in the children's ability when it came to picture naming or recognizing letters and words, to the point where Americorp now is using the model of reading that I did in the classroom as an example.

Increased transparency with families and allow them to be a part of the journey. While we are governing, not developing curriculum or anything like that, but I want to be able to provide resources, information. There's so many different groups–whether it's Junior Achievement or We Win–they have huge, amazing literacy programs. Even this summer with the Master Gardeners. We were doing gardening and literacy. There's so many different programs.

MW: One of the district’s challenges is its budget deficit. As a board director, you have a responsibility to pass a balanced budget. When I look at the district's budget, I have a really hard time figuring out what happens next year and all the years after that. If you've taken a look, what does the math look like to you?

SO: That was ultimately the final line in the sand for me. I don't have all the answers but I can ask enough questions and connect enough people that we got to figure this out. The biggest thing with the budget is– and I saw this in our school, and obviously this is a different expenditure category. We had painters coming at random times of the year. And we didn't need this area of the hallway repainted. No one in the school knew they were coming that day. And they said, if they don't come, we won't get it for another four years. On every fourth year you get new wood chips or you get your blinds replaced.  

If this is how we treat this area, what are we doing across the scale? What opportunities would we have when you're millions and millions of dollars in deficit . We are approaching statutory operating debt. Before we get to that point, how can we have thoughtful discussions and understanding of where do we go. That's where my idea would be to look at zero-based budgeting. I know we have contracts and all of these things that are seemingly locked in.

MW: By contracts you are talking about labor contracts or external contracts, or both?

SO: I'm talking about primarily external contracts. But to the point of labor, when looking at zero-based budgeting, it's starting with what would be of the best benefit to students. It is looking at our teachers and ESPs.  What do we need from them to represent students? And then going up the rungs of what is most important to least important.

I would like to see different models or examples with the budget that I have yet to see. Even on the topic of, for example, school closures. If we're saying schools need to close, how, where, which ones? And how many?

MW: I believe the last two years the district used priority-based budgeting. Is that different than the zero-based budgeting?

SO: I saw the priority budgeting, but then my question ultimately was – once you have the teachers that went on strike, when teachers came back– even last year with the teachers in my class in the school, in Pillsbury, they didn't know if they would have a contract renewal. By using zero-based, then you would know sooner than April if you were able to keep this group of teachers or what contracts you would look at. You would also recognize that the COVID relief funds are running out this year. What is the plan for the two years after, the five years after? I heard a lot of I don't knows last year and that concerns me.

MW: My understanding of the priority-based budgeting was that it is similar to what you're talking about. But before getting to their priorities, the district has things that they're legally required to provide by the state and federal government, and also their labor contracts which they have to comply with first. That was their baseline, which is maybe a little different than what you're talking about. Then after doing that, there's not a whole lot of wiggle room.  

SO: We have our finance committee and obviously input from that. I went to Carlson and I'm on the board there. And the question I have is how are we engaging the finance community in Minneapolis? We are in the land of the big four [accounting firms]. We have Deloitte, we have KPMG, we have Price Waterhouse. How are we engaging the finance community to help solve the problem? I would love to leverage the community we have to understand.

We have a problem. What is the solution for that? And I would like to bring in as many eyes and ears as we can.

MW: Do you think that part of the math is additional funding?

SO: Yes.

MW: For you, what unit of government do you think that should come?

SO: First, how big is the deficit, how much do we need after everything is settled? Then looking at what are our options to remediate the deficit that we have?

We have to look at, creatively, what are all of the avenues and pockets that we could possibly secure either grants or funding from. How can we chip away at the remaining deficit that we have long term?

MW: One of the things that has come up is this idea of consolidating or closing school buildings as a way to close the budget deficit. Is that something that you would support?

SO: Especially with families leaving the district, my first gut reaction is I don't want to see schools closed because if there's a hole in the cup, you can put more people into it, but it’s still draining. I feel like it is looking district by district, what would closing one school do? Where do those children go if this school closes? How much money are we saving? How much money does it cost for each of these schools?

It's a lot easier to have the conversation when you're like, OK, these are our options that we have. Which option is the best, not only for today for a rush decision, but what does that look like five years from now or 10 years from now for the district when we're looking at enrollment and also class sizes and teachers. There's so many pieces of the equation where I feel like I would like to actually take the time to have individual models of what that looks like from Minneapolis.

MW: Are you saying that you might support closing schools, but you would want more information?

SO: Yes, I would want more information. I feel like my position on the board would be to represent the constituents. I would really want to ensure that the constituents that are being impacted by that decision, that it's not just like Shayla on the board wants to do this, but it actually is representative of that community.

MW: If the administration came back and said that closures are part of a budget solution– and I don't know that they're going to do that– but if they did do that, and constituents were opposed, how would you balance the recommendation of the administration with constituents opposed to closing schools?

SO: I feel like it is a lot of laying out all of the facts and then having that time to educate on both sides. What is that long term solution? Because it saves us money, but then over half of those students are now going to another school district. That speaks to the enrollment problem. It saves us money, but then are they really looking at the entire risk analysis besides that dollar value and what does that look like? Not just for today, but then are we going to have to deal with this again two years from now or four years from now?

MW: If you have been door-knocking, have you talked with families who have left MPS or never enrolled kids in MPS? What have they told you?

SO: One family that I talked to, they didn't feel that their child was getting the attention that they needed due to the class size that their child was in. They enrolled in a private school outside of the city.

I've talked to others that have just gone to other public schools. It seems like those who have left, other schools are giving them a nice marketing campaign essentially. If you look at it from a corporate perspective, if the current employees and buyers are unhappy, others are walking by and they're going to say let's wait for the rebrand.

While we're not a business, but looking at how do we keep our employees and customers, which is like the constituents that we have and are already here and want to be here. What can we do to keep them happy? Class sizes, preparation for life after high school, safety are topics that have come up. I've also heard about the students or parents who had students with disabilities and they weren't able to get the attention in the classroom that they needed.

MW: What is bringing you joy?

SO: What is bringing me joy? Excitement for the future is something that's bringing me joy. Very long story short, I feel like this has been a journey of purpose for me. Last March, my sister and I went on vacation and my sister had a massive stroke while we were on vacation. It had a 99.999999 percent fatality rate. They were talking about long term care facilities. And they said if she ever came around, she might remember us might not, would not be able to walk and talk.

It just made me realize how fleeting life is. And that was when I asked myself, “what am I doing to be involved in the community and give back?” That's how I got involved in Early Learning Corps. Now my sister is fine, doing amazing. But it made me realize how fleeting life is and how we don't know what tomorrow brings. I am genuinely excited for the future, of making every day count.

MW: Is there something I didn't ask you about that you really want voters to know about?

SO: I am excited to bring new ideas. Somebody had asked me, like, oh, you want to bring in all new ideas? No. I really want to leverage what we're already doing, but also wisdom of crowds of what's already been done. An example is Union City, New Jersey as a school district that was in a significant budget deficit. And now they are an example of academic excellence.

MW: How did they do it?

SO: It's a great book. It's called “Disrupting Disruption.” They go through the areas that they focused on, which was teacher support, continuing education opportunities. Opening things up for teachers to feel valued. They focused on how they were leveraging technology, some things they stopped doing, some things they did more of to help promote that idea of individual learning. The first thing they did was a mindset shift. They were facing a significant achievement gap as well. They had decided if we set the bar down here, the kids are going to meet it. And if we set it up here, they're going to meet it.  

They got the children excited about learning by encouraging them that they could achieve. They'd start with mantras in the morning about how they were going to achieve for the day and what they were going to succeed at. And they said that alone changed the entire atmosphere in their schools and amongst their families. It got children and families excited about coming into school because they felt that they like they should be there.