Louise Hinz (South Washington County Schools, At-large, Minnesota, candidate 2025)
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Louise Hinz is running for election for an at-large seat of the South Washington County Schools. She is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025.[source]
Hinz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Louise Hinz provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on September 3, 2025:
- Birth date: May 21, 1957
- Birth place: Cumberland, Wisconsin
- High school: Cumberland High School - Cumberland, WI
- Bachelor's: University of Wisconsin - River Falls, 1995
- Graduate: Winona State University - Winona, Minnesota, 1998
- Gender: Female
- Religion: Christian
- Profession: Teacher
- Prior offices held:
- School Board Director (2020-Prsnt)
- Incumbent officeholder: Yes
- Campaign slogan: Dedicated to excellence in education
- Campaign website
Elections
General election
The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.
General election for South Washington County Schools, At-large (4 seats)
The following candidates are running in the general election for South Washington County Schools, At-large on November 4, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| Chad Borseth (Nonpartisan) | ||
 | Travis Dahle (Nonpartisan)  | |
| Elizabeth Bockman Eckberg (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Bryn Forstner (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Louise Hinz (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Juan Huerta (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Lori Pecchia Michalski (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Katie Schwartz (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Sharon H. Van Leer (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. | ||||
Endorsements
Hinz received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.
Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Louise Hinz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hinz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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As a lifelong learner, I am passionate about educational excellence for all. I appreciate the excellence provided by SoWashCo schools to the community as a whole and to my family. My husband is a Park High School graduate, our two (adult) children attended SoWashCo from kindergarten through graduation from Woodbury High School, and I was fortunate to teach in our district for 22 years, surrounded by dedicated professionals.
After retirement, I continued teaching in the district as a substitute, and in 2019 was elected to serve on the school board. I am currently an instructor for the University of Wisconsin - River Falls, where I teach two math courses for students seeking teacher licensure.
- Expertise in Education: I have more than 30 years experience as a professional educator in elementary and middle school classrooms, as a leader/facilitator for teacher professional development, and as a university instructor. I continue to renew my teaching license by participating in continuing education courses.
- Commitment to Students: The mission of SoWashCo Schools is to educate students for success. In order to be successful, students need excellent academics and more. They need highly trained, caring professionals who see them as individuals and attend to the whole person.
- Broad Perspective In order to maintain strong public schools, all citizens and businesses need to be a part of the conversation. I have held the roles of parent, educator, tax payer, community member, and school board director. Being able to think about and discuss issues from multiple, sometimes opposing, perspectives is critical to good decision making.
I am passionate about spending our time and money wisely in order to secure high quality, inclusive and equitable education for all our students.
I have recently read about Mary McLeod Bethune and admire her greatly as someone who did not take no for an answer and got done what needed to be done.
All elected official must be able to set aside any personal agenda in order to best serve the public they represent.
The core responsibility is to make decisions based on what is good for our students, teachers and community. To do this well, board members must be able to listen to varying points of view with an open mind.
I hope to be remembered as someone who brought out the best in people.
I was in second grade when President Kennedy was assassinated.
My first job was babysitting for my neighbors. I babysat from age 12 through high school.
I am an avid reader (43 books this year so far), so it is difficult for me to choose a favorite. One book a highly recommend is This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel. The book is about a modern, unconventional family and it underscores how, in the big picture, every family faces the same challenges.
I have a two-year old grandson who is in love with Bluey. So, today, I choose to be Bluey.
I am a cancer survivor.
The primary job of a school board member is to advocate for every student in the district while staying fiscally responsible and accountable to community taxpayers. This can only be done by ensuring that teachers and all other staff are adequately supported.
My constituents are students, district employees, community members and community businesses. Public education is provided for the public good, so all need to be included.
The first thing that needs to be done to support the diverse needs of our community is to listen to our community. SoWashCo schools currently surveys students on an annual basis via the Minnesota survey and is committed to surveying the community every three years.
To build relationships with the broader community, I intend to be present at various community events.
Good teaching is built around caring for the whole child . . . academically, physically, socially and emotionally.
SoWashCo Schools has a large budget. The challenge to make sure the budget is being spent wisely.
It is a basic human need to feel safe. Unless our students feel safe, there can be no learning.
United Teachers of South Washington County
Students learn best in a safe and comfortable environment that has a focus not only on state standards, but also has room for exploration of individual interests.
To build relationships with parents in the district, I intend to be present in the schools and at various school events.
SoWashCo Schools is a sought after employer; however, we need to focus on attracting teachers of color to better represent our student body. I believe we should be recruiting from historically black colleges.
Artificial intelligence cannot be ignored. Used well, it can help create personalized learning.
I am very proud of my teaching career.
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
