Elizabeth Tegtmeier

Elizabeth Tegtmeier

Nonpartisan

Nebraska State Board of Education District 7

Tenure

2023 - Present

Term ends

2027

Years in position

2

Predecessor

Robin Stevens

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Personal

Birthplace

North Platte, Neb.

Religion

Conservative Christian

Profession

Teacher

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Personal Twitter

Elizabeth Tegtmeier is a member of the Nebraska State Board of Education, representing District 7. She assumed office on January 5, 2023. Her current term ends on January 7, 2027.

Tegtmeier ran for election to the Nebraska State Board of Education to represent District 7. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Tegtmeier completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Elizabeth Tegtmeier was born in North Platte, Nebraska. Tegtmeier graduated from North Platte High School. She earned a degree from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a master's degree in education. Tegtmeier's career experience includes working as a teacher with the North Platte School District.

Elections

2022

See also: Nebraska State Board of Education election, 2022

General election

General election for Nebraska State Board of Education District 7

Elizabeth Tegtmeier defeated incumbent Robin Stevens in the general election for Nebraska State Board of Education District 7 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elizabeth Tegtmeier (Nonpartisan)	70.5	53,088
		Robin Stevens (Nonpartisan)	29.5	22,195

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,283
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Nebraska State Board of Education District 7

Elizabeth Tegtmeier and incumbent Robin Stevens defeated Pat Moore in the primary for Nebraska State Board of Education District 7 on May 10, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Elizabeth Tegtmeier (Nonpartisan)	62.7	33,304
✔		Robin Stevens (Nonpartisan)	20.1	10,698
		Pat Moore (Nonpartisan)	17.2	9,149

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 53,151
= 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.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Elizabeth Tegtmeier completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Tegtmeier's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a wife, a mom of five college and school age children, and an educator. I hold a current Nebraska teaching certificate for English grades 7-12 and have a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I have taught in all three areas of education that the state board sits in jurisdiction over --public, private, and homeschool. I was born and raised in Western Nebraska and we have chosen to raise our family here as well.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Protect students and teachers from sexually explicit material and political ideologies being taught in the classrooms
• Address academic proficiency rates and the teacher shortage
• Hold the NDE accountable and support increased local control of school districts

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am passionate about providing our students and teachers with a learning environment that allows children to learn and develop in ways that will benefit the students in the future and are aligned with the values and direction of the parents. Education should equip our children with valuable thinking and evaluating skills (how to think rather than merely tell our students what to think).

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

An elected official should be a person of moral integrity who will not be compromised by special interest groups. In our representative style of government, officials must be out in their districts listening to constituents throughout their tenure in office and not merely right before an election.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

The biggest event I recall was when the Challenger Space Shuttle exploded in January of 1986. I was ten at the time. My classmates and I were so excited that a teacher was going to outer space. Our teacher turned on the live broadcast and we were shocked and scared to watch the space shuttle explode live before our eyes. The rest of the day was spent watching replays of the explosion as our juvenile minds tried to process the death of the seven crew members that occurred on live television. Shortly after that event, my grandfather died. I learned about the fragility and preciousness of life that year.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

The primary job of the State Board of Education is to direct the focus of education in our state and hire a competent commissioner who will oversee the day to day operations that must occur for that focus to be achieved. The board has a duty to the students of the state, their parents, teachers, administrators, and taxpayers to ensure that the focus will result in the best opportunity for Nebraska children to grow up to be responsible citizens who understand their Constitutional freedoms and capitalize on the opportunities presented to them.

In what areas would you like to expand curriculum? For example, do you see a need for advanced technical training or apprenticeships? What sort of innovative programming would you advance if given the opportunity?

As a lifelong resident of the western end of the state, I would like to see an increase in the opportunities for students to study the ag and industrial areas that are the lifeblood of our rural communities. I would like to increase the Career Pathways and Pathways to Success in our local districts thus creating partnerships between the schools and local businesses and industries where students can learn about the anticipated needs in a variety of fields and begin internships in those fields. We must offer our students a vision of the future in Western Nebraska where they can work in a skilled field and provide for themselves and their future families in rural Nebraska.

What strategies or plans would you advance to ensure the schools are properly funded?

School funding has become a primary issue in the western end of Nebraska where our schools are primarily funded by local property taxes. As the rural areas as extensively composed of farms and ranches, the burden often falls the heaviest on these land owners.

The current school funding program called TEEOSA is confusing and complicated and disadvantages our rural school districts who often are not able to employ a person with extensive understanding of the formula. This has resulted in an imbalance in between rural and urban education.

We must begin to actively work with the Nebraska Legislature to examine how schools are funded. The TEEOSA formula is no longer working and must be completely rewritten. The State Board of Education liaison to the unicameral must push hard for a new method of school funding.

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.

External links

Search Google News for this topic

Candidate

Nebraska State Board of Education District 7

Website

Facebook

Officeholder

Nebraska State Board of Education District 7

Website

Facebook

Personal

Facebook

Twitter

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Robin Stevens	Nebraska State Board of Education District 7 2023-Present	Succeeded by -