Posted: 2/19/03

Ottoís House victory opens seat on school board

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

ISD 831 in Forest Lake will be looking for a new school board member following Rebecca Otto's victory in the House District 52B special election on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

Otto, a DFL candidate from May Township, received 54 percent of the vote to best Republican Matt Dean who received 43 percent.

She took office in St. Paul on Monday and cast her first vote on the House floor in support of a repeal of the Profile of Learning. Otto resigned from the school board last Friday.

ìWe are in tough times right now,î Otto said, looking at the budget decisions and a $4.2 billion shortfall facing the Legislature this session. As lawmakers go about the process of making cuts, she said she wants to gather community input on the state budget and make sure the public is aware of the ramifications of budget cuts.

The lawmaker said she would go to St. Paul with a careful eye on public education. ìI loved my position on the school board and I am very proud of our school district,î Otto said.

ìOur deficit is very worrisome for our schools,î she said.

Election facts

Otto won the election with 3233 votes while Dean picked up 2588 votes. Green and Independence Party candidates in the race were non-factors with a combined vote total of 109 votes.

Otto, 39, was elected to the Forest Lake school board in November of 2001 and is serving in the second year of her board term. She carried a successful operating levy campaign that same fall.

In the Minnesota House of Representatives, she replaces former Rep. Mark Holsten, a Stillwater Republican, who was appointed deputy commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

Holsten had won re-election to a two-year term in the House last fall with a victory over Otto.

Dean, a campaign worker for District 52 Sen. Michelle Bachmann, R-Stillwater, last fall, won the Republican primary before moving on to the special election on Feb. 11.

What is next?

Ottoís departure from the school board marks the second time in less than a year that the board must find a replacement.

Clyde Boyer resigned from the board last June after a job transfer required his relocation to Florida. Karen Morehead, Forest Lake, a past veteran of the board, was appointed to fill the balance of Boyerís term.

When Boyer announced his resignation, the school board sought applications from throughout the school district.

The board conducted interviews before agreeing on Morehead as the replacement.

The board is expected to take up the topic of finding a replacement for Otto when it meets in regular session on Monday, March 3.

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