Jodi Rollins

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Jodi Rollins

Republican Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

October 14, 2023

Education

Bachelor's

LSU, 1996

Personal

Birthplace

Baton Rouge, LA

Religion

Catholic

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Personal Facebook

Jodi Rollins (Republican Party) ran for election to the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education to represent District 6. She lost in the primary on October 14, 2023.

Rollins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jodi Rollins was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and lives in Prairieville, Louisiana. Rollins graduated from St. Michael High School. She earned a B.S. in marketing from Louisiana State University in 1996. Rollins' career experience includes owning a business and working as a business executive.

Elections

2023

See also: Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education election, 2023

Louisiana elections use the majority-vote system. All candidates compete in the same primary, and a candidate can win the election outright by receiving more than 50 percent of the vote. If no candidate does, the top two vote recipients from the primary advance to the general election, regardless of their partisan affiliation.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 6

Incumbent Ronnie Morris won election outright against Jodi Rollins in the primary for Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 6 on October 14, 2023.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Ronnie Morris (R)	69.3	89,479
		Jodi Rollins (R)	30.7	39,713

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 129,192
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Rollins in this election.

Campaign themes

2023

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jodi Rollins completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Rollins' 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, mother and business owner. I care about all children and their right to be education in a safe environment. I also believe that complete transparency is critical to parents knowing both what their children are being taught and how funding is being spent. I think choice for ALL is important and that the parents should be able to decide what works best for their children.

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?

• Transparency
• Accountability
• Choice for ALL students

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I believe in the potential of Louisiana and its children. In my view, education is the backbone of a prosperous state that attracts investments, resources, and jobs. Louisiana needs a cohesive vision, free from divisive politics, to reform its educational system. The goal is clear, we all must be TEAM LOUISIANA CHILDREN.

Louisiana has been my home all my life and I love it. I am a firm believer that education is the key to ensuring a successful future for our children and the state. A solid education system is needed to attract businesses that will invest in our communities and Louisiana. With investments comes jobs, resources, and a community where our children want to live and grow their families
.

I believes in taking action, budgeting efficiently, valuing teachers and ensuring every child has access to quality education.

What qualities does this office possess that makes it a unique and important part of the state government and legal system?

This office is in charge of hiring the state superintendent of education, making policies that act as laws and preparing the MFP to present to legislature. They can also approve teaching licenses and deny them.

It is a more important office than most people realize. They could create policies that assist with transparency, but they haven't done that. They could do a LOT of work to help our state, but I do not see that happening currently.

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

In general being a leader who can make a declarative sentence seems important to me. Someone who is willing to ask questions and get actual answers would be wonderful. I can do those things and have done those things for years at the state department of education as a volunteer. I have been so frustrated that no one on BESE is asking real questions or demanding answers from the LDOE. Also, someone able to hold people accountable from the top down. Teachers can't be the only people we make "demands" of. Our state and local administrations must do the right things always for ALL children.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

My very first "real" job was with the Louisiana Association of Business & Industry as a marketing manager. I left to work for my family business after three years. I loved working with business owners and watching how well the lobbyists with LABI handled issues that affect both large and small businesses. It was also during this time that I learned how education systems affect the prosperity of a state. We need a better system not just to serve our children but to attract new investments to Louisiana.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

Sherlock Holmes and then I could find out where all of the state funding went that could have gone to actually improve education here.

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

To obtain a free and appropriate education for my son who is disabled. I had no idea no one oversaw our local systems until I saw violations of laws left and right and no one would do anything. I then started working with local and state leaders trying to figure out why we were struggling so much. That is when I realized we are not doing all we can across the board to fix our education system. I want to help. I believe I can because I have already made them better just because I was willing to stand up for all children's rights to be taught and go to meeting after meeting to work towards that. I also believe that competition does make people better, and me running at the very least will maybe encourage others to do more.

What responsibilities of this office do you personally consider the most important?

Hiring a superintendent who will assure that all children have access to a quality education in a safe environment. Being able to question things is also important. Rubber stamping everything that comes across your desk is bad for our children and our state.

Are there any little-known powers or responsibilities held by this office that you believe more people should be aware of?

BESE has a lot of power, but doesn't seem to be exercising it in the best way possible. Now they have the authority to approve Felon's teaching licenses. SB 197 gave them that authority. NO felon should be in a school with our children. Parents should be aware of the billions being spent on our failing education system and that the state department of education is doing very little to oversee anything in our local systems.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for holders of this office to have previous experience in government or politics?

I actually think that politics should never come before what's right for children. This office is not about politics per say but it SHOULD be based on what's best for our children and the future of our state.

What kind of skills or expertise do you believe would be the most helpful for the holders of this office to possess?

1. Budgeting experience: As a business owner If I overspend/misspend it affects MY bottom line. I will treat taxpayer money the same and be responsible with budgets.

2. Honesty: We have to be real about where we are to know how to move forward as a state.
3. Independent/Fair: You can't just rubber stamp something because someone tells you too. You have to listen to the people and look at things from all sides.
4. Efficient: We have to actually get things done in real time. We have waited long enough for change.

5. CHILDREN OVER POLITICS

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.

Campaign website

Rollins' campaign website stated the following:

“	Jodi’s vision for BESE includes: Accountability– Every child should receive a quality education. Our accountability system must give an accurate representation of each school system’s performance for all students. Improved Monitoring- Enhance our current system to verify that our state department of education is assuring we are meeting the needs of all students. Transparency– Ensure transparency and access to information for parents and stakeholders. Parental input on curriculum and how taxpayer’s funds are being spent. Safe Schools- Every child and teacher deserves to feel safe at school. Educational Choice- Enable all parents to choose the education that best meets their child’s needs.	”
—Jodi Rollins' campaign website (2023)

See also

2023 Elections

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Candidate

Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education District 6

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