Hi, I'm Jessica Mason
A proud resident of the Prior Lake-Savage Areas School district for 16 years. I grew up and graduated from Lakeville, obtained my BBA from the University of Georgia, and MBA in Finance from Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. As a professional in finance and fintech industries for over 20 years, I have overseen financial software implementations for large corporations, banks and investment managers globally and manage large global teams and multimillion dollar budgets. I am passionate about volunteering and charitable giving. In addition to past roles serving Children’s MN Hospital NICU and the Hydrocephalus Association, I've been an active participant in several community organizations including the PLSAS Special Education Advisory Council, youth sports team management, serve on the board of Prior Lake Athletics for Youth Miracle League, and founded a local women’s networking and giving group called Power of 100 Prior Lake. My husband, Pat, and I moved to Savage after carefully searching for an amazing community to call home and in 2014 to Prior Lake. We are blessed with two children who attend elementary school in the district.
Let’s focus on getting back to our mission to educate ALL learners to reach their full potential! We moved to the district because PLSAS was a highly ranked, growing district with great program offerings. Sadly, over the last several years we have seen our rankings and proficiency scores drop at an astonishing rate. The decline in reading, math and science proficiency rates on average is over 17% since 2016. In 2023, less than half of our students were proficient in science and only about 59% of students were proficient in reading and math. We must do better for our students! I support policies and curricula that have a direct impact to improving academic outcomes and restoring excellence in core subjects and that allow students to excel as individuals to prepare them for life after graduation.
Restore Academic Excellence
Fiscal Responsibility
The financial state of our district is concerning. Simply put, our district is spending more than the revenue we receive. This is not sustainable. Recently our board approved another Band-Aid solution to fund annual expenses from our fund balance (i.e. our savings/emergency fund) and a tax levy to appear on our November ballots to increase your taxes. While our district operates slightly leaner than some comparable districts, tax payers deserve transparency, accountability, and measurable educational outcome targets to result from additional funding. We must identify the core reasons for overspending and address factors like declining enrollment, the significant increase in administrative positions added over the last two years, and expenditures that are not directly improving our student’s educational outcomes. It is the duty of elected board members to analyze, question, and provide oversight to all financials proposed by district administrators. As a finance professional, I will add a financially conservative and common-sense voice to the board.
I am fortunate to have amazing parents who taught me the value of hard work, responsibility and accountability. You don’t have to be an academically advanced student in the classroom to be a successful, contributing member of society but with hard work you can accomplish anything! We need policies and processes in place even for our youngest learners to put accountability and responsibility back on the students to encourage a strong work ethic and prepare them for life after graduation. I support policies that will restore accountability and rigor in classrooms. We need to provide additional support for our teachers to provide classrooms without distractions and allow them to focus on teaching and motivating students to learn.
Accountability
I am a mother of a child with complex medical conditions and multiple disabilities. Watching her defy all odds since her unexpected premature birth and her strength through several surgeries and hundreds of days in the hospital has shaped me into the person I am today. I have two students receiving special education (SPED) services in the district and value the support they receive. I understand what it takes to advocate for these students and I will provide a unique perspective to our policies, processes, programs and committees to ensure they are inclusive and have considerations for our special education students.
Our teachers are our district's greatest asset and I fully support all initiatives and policies to make and keep PLSAS a great place to work in order to attract and retain the most talented teachers! As a board member I will listen to and solicit teacher feedback and ensure their classroom needs are met to provide them the best environment to improve educational outcomes.
