Matt Audette

Matt Audette

Nonpartisan

Candidate, Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4

Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4

Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

3

Predecessor

Anna Dirkswager

Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 2, 2021

Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

High school

Saint Francis High School

Bachelor's

University of Notre Dame, 1997

Graduate

University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management, 2005

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Years of service

1997 - 2001

Personal

Birthplace

Minneapolis, Minn.

Religion

Roman Catholic

Profession

Business Management

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Matt Audette is a member of the Anoka-Hennepin School District school board in Minnesota, representing District 4. He assumed office on January 3, 2022. His current term ends on January 5, 2026.

Audette is running for re-election to the Anoka-Hennepin School District school board to represent District 4 in Minnesota. He declared candidacy for the general election scheduled on November 4, 2025.

Audette completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Matt Audette was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He served in the U.S. Army from 1997 to 2001. He earned a high school diploma from Saint Francis High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1997, and a graduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management in 2005. Audette's career experience includes working in business management.

Elections

2025

See also: Anoka-Hennepin School District, Minnesota, elections (2025)

General election

The general election will occur on November 4, 2025.

General election for Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4

Incumbent Matt Audette is running in the general election for Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4 on November 4, 2025.

		Candidate
		Matt Audette (Nonpartisan)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Audette received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

• Anoka-Hennepin Parents Alliance

2021

See also: Anoka-Hennepin School District, Minnesota, elections (2021)

General election

General election for Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4

Matt Audette defeated Dave Dirkswager in the general election for Anoka-Hennepin Board of Education District 4 on November 2, 2021.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Audette (Nonpartisan)	67.1	5,371
	Submit photo	Dave Dirkswager (Nonpartisan)	32.7	2,620
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	14

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,005
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Derek Judkins (Nonpartisan)

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Matt Audette completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Audette's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Community Leader * Veteran * Conservative I am a father of two sons, a husband of 26 years, and a lifelong resident of Andover, MN. I'm a veteran of the United State Army, where I served four years on active duty as an officer attaining the rank of captain. In 2000, I deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina in support of the NATO peace-keeping mission there. I've made my career in leadership and business management. I've had the privilege to lead people nearly continuously for 28 years in the Army, the Fortune 50, and privately held companies. I have served in many capacities in the community, including volunteer sports coach, Cub Scout cubmaster, confirmation teacher at my church, and as the Community Board Chair at the Emma B. Howe YMCA in Coon Rapids. Since 2022, I have served as a Director on the Anoka-Hennepin School Board.

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?

• Putting Our Kids First. What's best for kids is the priority. Other interests in the schools are secondary. When I make a decision on the School Board I always use what's best for kids as my guiding principle. It has been the right guide.
• School Safety is paramount. Our schools are experiencing serious behavioral issues that are making it unsafe for students and staff. Poor decision-making at the legislative level (state law), coupled with bad policy and practice at the school district, has created an environment that isn't working for our kids or our educators. We need a school culture where consequences are consistent and fair for behaviors that disrupt learning, threaten safety, or undermine school order.
• Strong Academics. We must raise academic expectations with effective, unbased curriculum and restore merit-based achievement. Statistically, half our students are unable to read or do math at grade level. Precious class time is being wasted on politically charged social issues and failed behavioral strategies (social-emotional learning curriculum). Inquiry-based instructional practices have replaced direct instruction in many of our classrooms and the results have not been good. We need to return our focus on academic excellence so we can prepare our children for college, trades, and careers.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Education, Fiscal responsibility, Local control of government

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

No. I look to our U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and our Declaration of Independence as a guiding light.

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

Honesty and integrity. Being open about positions on issues, political leanings, and other factors that influence how a person thinks or approaches the job. People have a right to know who they are electing.

Continuous learning. Elected officials should take a genuine interest in the issues impacting the office they hold. Study the issues. Ask the hard questions. Seek input from many. Be curious.

Availability. Local elected officials need to be available and accessible to the community.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The School Board is charged with overseeing all aspects of the school district. This includes a massive taxpayer funded budget - the current Anoka-Hennepin School District budget approached $750M during the 2024-25 school year. School board members must ensure the product - learning - is a good product. Our community schools have a history of excellence and our citizens want and expect that to continue. A board member must be able to stand up to the ever-increasing influence of federal and state government, and other interests that seek to influence the operation of our local schools.

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

I was in kindergarten at Cedar Elementary School (Cedar / Oak Grove, MN) when President Reagan was shot. Our teacher brought all of us together to share the news. It was a sad time.

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

The primary job is to make sure the school district provides an excellent education for the community's children.

Who are your constituents?

An Anoka-Hennepin board member is elected by roughly 40,000 voting citizens within one of six voting areas in the district. These residents are the core constituents of every board member. Board members make decisions that impact the nearly 250,000 taxpaying citizens across the district. I serve both of these constituencies at once.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I focus on our kids. We want every child to reach their full potential. I want the system to work for everyone. This means we have to take a broad view to identify the elements that are important to the broadest possible audience. For example - every parent wants their child to learn how to read and write, how to do math, to gain an understanding of science. Like roads and bridges in city government, these are the 'non-political' issues.

To provide a quality education, we need to attract great talent in our teachers and staff. Competitive pay and benefits is essential to attract this kind of talent. To do all of these things requires responsible management of the district's budget. Funds come directly from the community through taxes.

We get politics out of schools by returning our focus on one thing - educating kids.

How will you build relationships with members of the broader community? Which groups, organizations, stakeholders will you specifically target?

During my time on the board, I supported local law enforcement in their effort to keep our School Resource Officers (SROs) in schools after the state legislature passed laws that caused them to leave. I have forged personal relationships with many state representatives and senators who represent the district area. I participate in local parent group meetings, have volunteered with local booster clubs, and have supported local service organizations. I will continue to look for these kinds of opportunities to connect our schools to others around us who do good.

What existing district policies would you like to change, or what new policies would you like to implement?

I support a cell phone ban in our schools. Phones are harming our children and our school board needs to take the lead to make sure parents understand the harm. Phones are a major cause of the mental health issues our children face. They contribute to the student behavior issues in schools. They are a serious distraction to learning.

Our policies and practices related to student discipline are failing. I would update them to restore good order and ensure the safety of students and staff. Where the law needs to be changed, I will use our position as the largest school district in MN to drive the change.

We need policy language to prohibit CRT from being taught in our schools. Beyond its teaching, it is used extensively (much more than most people know) to drive practices in our schools, including grading, discipline, and student support. I will do all that I can to get this nonsense out of our schools.

I will act to end the needless and unwanted sexualization of our children in our schools. Parents want schools to be about academics and universal American values. Politics, morality, and other family values belong in the home so that every family can feel comfortable sending their children to our public schools.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

Anoka-Hennepin Parents Alliance

How do you feel like your school district handled the coronavirus pandemic? What, if anything, would you do differently in the future?

Distance learning and masking were a failure for our kids. Academic performance has yet to recover. I spoke out against masking and distance learning at the time. These were the issues that originally caused me to run for election to the board. On the day I was sworn into office I moved to end masking and distance learning in our district. I will never support distance learning or mandatory masking in our schools.

What will you do to build a relationship with parents in the district?

I have consistently gone where I have been asked to go - to speak, to educate or explain, or to volunteer. Our local schools are the nucleus of activities that attract parents and so being around school activities is the best way.

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Fiscal transparency and government accountability are among the biggest failures of our government at all levels. Our school district has not been immune to it. I have called for zero based budgeting as a mechanism to promote transparency and accountability in the Anoka-Hennepin school district. It's a straightforward idea where the budget would be built from the ground floor up, with each element or 'ingredient' broken down into manageable chunks that can be reviewed to determine what it is, how much money is being spent, how its impact is measured, and whether it is being used effectively. Our administration and half of our board resist this kind of transparency in budgeting, which speaks volumes.

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.

2021

Matt Audette completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Audette's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Andover, MN. My wife and I have lived in Andover since 2007. Our two sons have attended Anoka-Hennepin schools since kindergarten, and are currently enrolled at Andover High School.

I graduated from Saint Francis High School in Anoka county, and attended the University of Notre Dame on an Army ROTC scholarship. I earned a BBA in Finance and Business Economics from Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.

I began my professional career serving on active duty as an officer in the United States Army. In the years since, I have held leadership roles in privately-held business and the Fortune 500.

I have been a community leader for many years, including previous service as the community board chair at the Emma B. Howe YMCA in Coon Rapids. I coached youth football and was the Cubmaster of Pack 414 in Andover. I have volunteered as a confirmation teacher at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Oak Grove, where I have been a parishioner for most of my life.

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?

• My campaign is about Putting Our Kids First, which means focusing on the basics, like reading and writing, science, and math, and removing political agendas from the classroom.
• I support full time, in-person learning, without mandating masks, vaccinations, or quarantines.
• Schools must prioritize excellence, which inspires children from all racial backgrounds to achieve their potential. I oppose Critical Race Theory because I oppose teaching children that they are defined by their race, not as individuals.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Public education issues

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My grandfather. He was a Christian, WWII combat-wounded U.S. Marine, and a self-made businessman. He taught me the importance of faith, family, patriotism, perseverance, and self-reliance.

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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