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Al Dahlgren (St. Cloud Area School District, At-large, Minnesota, candidate 2025)
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Al Dahlgren ran in a special election for an at-large seat of the St. Cloud Area School District in Minnesota. He was on the ballot in the special general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Dahlgren completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Al Dahlgren provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on September 2, 2025:
- Birth date: April 3, 1959
- Birth place: Cambridge, Minnesota
- High school: Mounds View High School
- Bachelor's: University of Minnesota, 1982
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Christian
- Profession: Small Business Owner
- Incumbent officeholder: Yes
Elections
General election
Special general election for St. Cloud Area School District, At-large
Gina Acevedo, Al Dahlgren, and Peter Hamerlinck ran in the special general election for St. Cloud Area School District, At-large on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
Gina Acevedo (Nonpartisan)  | ||
| Al Dahlgren (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Peter Hamerlinck (Nonpartisan) | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Election results
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Dahlgren in this election.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Al Dahlgren completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dahlgren's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I am a board member since 2012 running for re-election. I am also the owner of the Once Upon a Child retail store in Waite Park, Minnesota. As a small business owner, I bring a strong skillset of financial management as well as general management to the school district.
- As a board member, the most important responsibility I have is hiring the right superintendent. I am proud to have been involved in the hires of Mr. Willie Jett, now Minnesota’s Commissioner of Education, and our current Superintendent, Dr. Laurie Putnam—the 2025 Minnesota Superintendent of the Year and President-elect of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators. These recognitions highlight the quality, leadership, and statewide respect that define our district.
- Another key duty of school board members is maintaining a balanced budget. As a small business owner, budgeting is second nature to me. For 13 years I’ve served on the finance committee, several as chair, and we’ve consistently delivered balanced budgets with healthy reserves—without ever requesting an operating levy from taxpayers. St. Cloud was 1 of just 9 AMSD districts with a balanced 2024–25 budget. Though MPR named us the most underfunded district in Minnesota in 2023, we’ve earned recognition for doing more with less—operating efficiently, innovating, and still providing outstanding opportunities for all students.
- Since joining the board in 2012, I have also had the privilege of helping guide major building projects, including Quarryview Education Center, the new Tech High School, our District Administration offices, the Katherine Johnson Education Center, and the rebuilt Roosevelt Education Center. All were completed on time and under budget. With the passage of a new building referendum and significant projects now planned for Apollo over the next two years, I believe my experience will be an asset in ensuring those are completed successfully as well.
I am passionate about providing a quality education to all of the students who come to District 742. The reality is that our district serves a student population facing challenges not seen in most other districts. Nearly 50% of our students require special services from us. We serve high numbers of students living in poverty and homelessness, students with significant special education needs, and students who are new to the country and still learning English. All of these children deserve dignity, respect, and a high-quality education—and our staff delivers that every day. My job is to be certain we continue to improve at this and that we do it within our budget and in safe and secure spaces that promote educational growth.
Honesty, integrity, and a skill set that enhances the organization. Setting aside political agendas and focusing on education and how we can best deliver it.
Show up, listen, do your homework and vote for the betterment of the children in our schools.
JCPenney 20 years as I moverd up through the ranks.
School board members comprise an outside oversight board. The board directs the operation of the district through the policies it constructs. Policies must comply with the law and should promote a quality educational environment. School board members should be able to step back and not getinvolved in the operation of the schools. That is the job of the administration. Hiring a quality superintendent is of high imporrtance.
The residents of School District 742.
We currently have some of the most talented and experienced teachers in the state, and we’ve proven that we can teach all students—whether they are new to the country or enrolled in Advanced Placement (AP). In fact, we offer more choices from Career and Tech to AP courses than any other district in the area.
We are home to the region’s only elementary Talent Development Program, ensuring identified students are continuously challenged beyond grade level. Our early childhood programs are among the strongest in Minnesota, preparing our youngest learners for success. We also provide some of the most advanced special education programming in the state. Our EL programming supports our students who come speaking 54 different languages, as they become fluent in English. Students also have unique opportunities to develop global skills through our two Spanish immersion programs and our Chinese immersion program.
Being available to respond when they ask. I do not target any specific group of stakeholders.
Test scores alone are not an accurate measure of a school district’s quality. Education is individual, not a “district average”. Our exceptional learners achieve at the highest levels, and our programs ensure they are continuously challenged. At the same time, we provide strong supports for students who need them, meeting each child where they are and helping them grow at an exceptional pace. This is what we do well—and I will always push our staff to keep striving for improvement. Our students deserve nothing less, and our community depends on a well-educated workforce.
We have a very conservative approach to budgeting in our school district. We know it is better to plan low and add on than to budget that which we cannot afford. We have had balanced budgets and maintained healthy fund balance reserves every year I have been on the board.
Making sure we do everything we can to maintain safe and secure schools. Kids do better when they feel safe and have a sense of belonging. We have hardened our physical structures, opened our sight lines, invested in security infrastructure, have a strong school reource officer program, and most of all work to maintain a culture where kids feel safe reporting concerns to adults as well as teach student respect and hold violators accountable.
We have increased the number of mental health proffessionals in our schools. We have regular staff development trainings on behavior and mental health. Our district maintains one of the highest ratings for Positive Behavioral Intevention Strategies in the state.
We have revised our entire policy manual, looking at each and every policy. We now have a schedule for policy review to ensure we review all policies on a biannual rotating basis and those that require annual review or statutory review as required. Our policies are current and up to date.
Summed up well in our District Mission Statement. - Our Mission is to provide a safe and caring climate and culture in which we engage, inspire, educate, prepare and empower all learners in partnership with their surrounding community to be successful in today's and tomorrow's society.
If parents have a question about District policy direct communication is best, but as a board member the relationships to foster are not between me and the parents, but between parents and the teachers and admnistrators who have direct contact with the parents.
We have a Human Resources Department that does our recruiting. As a board member I may suggest policies or goals but the overreaching goal should be to hire the best educators. It is very important that we hire a superintendent that is skilled in this area.
Yes, more emphasis on Career and Tech options in our High Schools. I would also like to ensure that all students are better prepared in life skills education before they graduate.
St. Cloud is a leader in the use and development of guardrails for AI in our public schools. The questions are multifold. How do you use AI in teaching, policymaking and leadership? How should AI NOT be used? We have held 2 statewide Thought Leaders Summits on Artificial intelligence bringing together leaders in Education, Business management, State Legislators to explore how AI could reshape student learning and education policy. This is an everchanging work in progress and quite frankly needs strong direction at the state level. There is no question AI will change things but to blindly dive head first in would be a mistake.
Raising 4 children into wonderful adults. Building a business that is both successful and fulfilling.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
