Karen Burke

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Karen Burke

Nonpartisan

Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education At-large

Tenure

2021 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

4

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Associate

Indiana Institute of Technology

Personal

Birthplace

Indianapolis, Ind.

Religion

Christian

Karen Burke is an at-large member of the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education in Indiana. She assumed office on January 1, 2021. Her current term ends on December 31, 2028.

Burke ran for re-election for an at-large seat of the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education in Indiana. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Biography

Karen Burke was born in Indianapolis, Indiana. She earned an associate degree from the Indiana Institute of Technology. Burke's career experience includes working with St. Vincent Hospital & Health. Burke served with the Wayne Township Advisory Board from 2008 to 2016. Burke was appointed as a member to the Wayne Township Fire Department Merit Board.

Elections

2024

See also: Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, Indiana, elections (2024)

General election

General election for Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education At-large (3 seats)

Incumbent Susan Graves, incumbent Karen Burke, and Cheri O'Day Marcotte defeated Walter Miller in the general election for Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Susan Graves (Nonpartisan)	30.3	12,250
✔		Karen Burke (Nonpartisan)	29.0	11,719
✔	Submit photo	Cheri O'Day Marcotte (Nonpartisan)	23.5	9,481
	Submit photo	Walter Miller (Nonpartisan)	17.2	6,945

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,395
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Burke in this election.

2020

See also: Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, Indiana, elections (2020)

General election

General election for Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education At-large (3 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township Board of Education At-large on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Karen Burke (Nonpartisan)	20.3	10,069
✔		Susan Graves (Nonpartisan)	14.2	7,019
✔	Submit photo	Shirley Deckard (Nonpartisan)	14.0	6,946
	Submit photo	Melissa Richey (Nonpartisan)	13.0	6,449
		Mikeal Gordon (Nonpartisan)	12.9	6,368
		Audrey Marie Strecker (Nonpartisan)	9.9	4,926
		Lisa G. Schmitz (Nonpartisan)	8.1	3,996
	Submit photo	Brandi London (Nonpartisan)	7.6	3,768

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 49,541
= 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

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Karen Burke did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Karen Burke completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Burke'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.

My name is Karen Burke and I am a candidate for MSD of Wayne Township School Board. As a 50-year resident of the community and former elected Wayne Township Board member, I am excited for the opportunity to serve the students and community again. I am a married mother of three daughters, all graduates of Ben Davis HS. When my children were in school, I was involved with various activities from elementary to high school including: Parent Teacher Organization (PTO), Human Relations Advisory Committee, basketball parent and, the most exciting, being a proud Box Mom for the Ben Davis Marching Giants. I was an elected official of the Wayne Township Board from 2008-2016 and currently, an appointed member of the Wayne Township Fire Dept. Merit Board. By serving on the Wayne Township School Board, I hope to apply my community knowledge and experience, leadership skills, and dedication to students to help establish and maintain a quality educational foundation that leads to the advancement in life for our Wayne Township Students.

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?

• Prioritize what is best for the students
• Ensure educational needs are equitable for all students
• Support school safety and security for students and staff

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Exercising good stewardship of district funding & promoting the hiring of diverse staff, teachers and administration.

• Supporting school safety and security (physical and emotional) for students and staff of Wayne Township
• Advocate the development of more personal educational programs for the students
• Promote the hiring of diverse staff, administration and teachers to ensure all cultures are represented
• Working with other school board members to support and encourage our superintendent and his staff to be the best they can be

• Enhance the educational programs that maintain the current high standards of Wayne Township's graduation rate

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

• Work as a team to establish the goals, vision and safety assurances for students in order to ensure the best possible educational experience

• Represent the concerns of the citizens, taxpayers and parents to the school administrators, and to represent the needs of the students and school district to the citizens, taxpayers and parents of the community
• Create policies and rules for the administration to implement
• Oversee the responsibility of the superintendent
• Responsible for the oversight of the district's fiscal responsibilities and annual operating budget as regulated by the state of Indiana
• Work together with school administrators to evaluate educational and instructional effectiveness

• Communicate with the community on student achievements

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.

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