Julie Madsen

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Julie Madsen

Prior offices

West Ada School District school board Zone 4

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Education

Bachelor's

Stanford University

Medical

University of Arizona, College of Medicine

Personal

Profession

Doctor

Contact

Personal website

Julie Madsen was the Zone 4 representative of the West Ada Board of Trustees in Idaho. She was first elected to the board in the general election on May 19, 2015, after defeating incumbent Anne Ritter. Madsen decided to resign from her position on February 19, 2016, rather than face a recall election.

Madsen, along with Zone 1 Trustee Tina Dean, Zone 3 Trustee Carol Sayles and Zone 5 Trustee Russell Joki, was the target of a recall effort. The group Concerned Citizens of West Ada School District for Trustee Recall submitted initial recall paperwork with the Ada County Clerk's Office on November 16, 2015. Supporters of the recall questioned the board's transparency and how members treated former Superintendent Linda Clark, who resigned from her position on October 23, 2015. Zone 2 Trustee Mike Vuittonet was also targeted for recall, though from a different group. He was accused of violating the Idaho Open Meeting Law, voting in favor of increased administration costs and for contracting inefficient student transportation services. The group trying to recall him dropped the recall effort in January 2016.

See also: West Ada School District recall, Idaho (2016)

Biography

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Madsen obtained her bachelor's degree in biology from Stanford University. She went on to obtain her medical degree from the University of Arizona, College of Medicine. She works as a physician at the Boise VA Medical Center.

Elections

2015

See also: West Ada School District elections (2015)

Three of the five seats on the West Ada Board of Trustees were up for election in the general election on May 19, 2015. The seats represent five geographical zones.

In Zone 2, incumbent Mike Vuittonet faced challenger Christine Bitler Whited. Zone 4 incumbent Anne Ritter faced challenger Julie Madsen. The Zone 5 incumbent, Janet Calinsky, did not file for re-election. The candidates for the open Zone 5 seat were Gregory Deitchler, Rosemary Demond, Russell Joki and Louis Pifher.

Results

Zone 4

West Ada School District, Zone 4 General Election, 4-year term, 2015
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Nonpartisan	Julie Madsen	57.6%	522
	Nonpartisan	Anne Ritter Incumbent	42.4%	385
Total Votes				907
Source: Ada County, Idaho, "Consolidated Election May 19, 2015,," accessed June 2, 2015

Funding

School board candidates in this election were not required to file any campaign finance reports, but the election in May 2015 was the last election for which there were no reporting requirements. On April 3, 2015, Gov. Butch Otter (R) signed SB 1072 into law which requires school board candidates in districts with an enrollment of 500 students or more to comply with campaign finance reporting requirements. A majority of Idaho's school districts have an enrollment below this threshold. Of the 149 districts in the state tracked by the National Center for Education Statistics, 74 had an enrollment of 500 or greater in the 2012-2013 school year. The law took effect on July 1, 2015.

Endorsements

Madsen received an endorsement from the Idaho Public Employees Association.

Campaign themes

2015

Candidate website

Madsen highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:

“	Campaign Issues: We Have Lost Local Control of Schools It is has been well-established that local control of education leads to better educational outcomes in a more cost-efficient manner. Our local control has been lost to top-down mandates at both the state and national level. The effect is to put less dollars in the classroom and more dollars into bloated contracts or administrative budgets. As taxpayers, we saw how this sort of model led to millions of dollars in waste when the Idaho Education Networks contract was declared illegal. We also saw that individual districts were able to contract for better services at a lower price than those mandated by the state contract. Unfortunately, it is students and taxayers who will pay the price, which is now tens of millions of dollars We have seen similar results with the implementation of Schoolnet, which is a product used by the West Ada School District. A recent investigation by the State of Idaho showed, "The Director’s Note summed up the evaluation with a conclusion that “poor management, poor decisions, and poor system functionality compounded themselves” and ultimately “prevented the goals for a statewide instructional management system from being realized.” The net cost of the project? About $61 million. We Still Have Many Overcrowded Schools Despite taxpayers passing a $96 Million levy in March of 2015 to alleviate overcrowded classrooms, we will still have schools that are significantly over capacity already. The West Ada District and its Trustees need to actively manage and plan for the growth that is occurring, which has now reached pre-recession levels. This will prevent schools reaching crisis level enrollment numbers and will decrease our dependence upon constant levies and bonds. Idaho Has a Teacher Shortage! In a study earlier this year performed by the Idaho State University's College of Education, the teacher shortage in Idaho was determined to be critical. Idaho school districts are facing a serious teacher shortage. The shortage is serious enough that districts are struggling to find qualified staff. Of 65 districts surveyed in Idaho, only 10 districts were able to hire fully qualified or certified teachers for positions, said Patti Mortensen, an assistant professor at Idaho State University’s College of Education. It’s an “alarming” statistic, Mortensen told senators. We simply cannot provide our children with an excellent education if we cannot recruit and retain excellent teachers. In the West Ada District, we must be aware of the fact that our teachers can drive to nearby cities or states and have significantly greater salaries. We must continue to work to ensure our teachers are paid fairly. Equally importantly, the West Ada District needs to demonstrate to its teachers and paraprofessionals that we support their work, respect their professional expertise, and deeply value their commitment to the education of our children. As your trustee, I will build bridges with educators and work side-by-side with them to improve our schools.	”
—Julie Madsen's campaign website (2015)

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Julie Madsen West Ada School District. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Julie Madsen - Google News

See also

• West Ada School District, Idaho
• West Ada School District elections (2015)
• Embroiled incumbents see differing outcomes in May 19 school board elections across five states (May 21, 2015)

External links

Suggest a link

• West Ada School District
• Office website
• Campaign website
• Campaign Facebook page
• LinkeIn page