DECIDION 2026

The Dodge County election series is back. As voters get ready to vote on crucial local races the DCI will be asking candidates for local, county, school district, and state house seats a question each week leading up to the Nov. 3 election. The goal of the series is for voters to understand where candidates stand on various issues. Dodge County Attorney, and County Commissioner candidates will answer questions on opposite weeks to accommodate space. Unopposed candidates will not be participating in the weekly series. Suggestions on questions can be submitted to dcielections@gmail.com

DODGE COUNTY ATTORNEY 

Question of the Week:

Numerous laws will take effect in Minnesota beginning Aug. 1. In your opinion, what piece of legislation will have the biggest impact on Dodge County and why?

Crysta Parkin

As of August 1, children under age 13 cannot be charged with a delinquent act. Previously, this age was 10. If a child under 10 committed a delinquent act, it would be referred to child protection and a Child in Need of Protection or Services Petition could be filed. This was an extremely rare occurrence. However, now that the age of delinquency has been raised, we will likely see a larger number of youth be referred to child protection for delinquent acts and more petitions filed on this basis.
Unfortunately, while the definition of who can be charged for a delinquent act has changed, the reasons child protection can screen in a report for services has not changed. Child protection is focused on whether parents are maltreating children by what they do or by what they do not do versus the child’s actions.
Instead of issuing a citation to a youth under 13, a child protection report will need to be made. We need information to be gathered and reports to be made so that we can track how many youth in Dodge County this change affects, identify gaps in services for these youth, and ultimately address the youth’s behavior appropriately.
While the intent of the change in the age of delinquency is to provide appropriate services to these youth, the actual process to get those services in place is a work in progress and will require ongoing communication between the county attorney’s office, human services, school officials, SRO’s and law enforcement.

Kailee Thompson

The change in age of delinquency is one law change we are talking about a lot right now. On August 1, Minnesota raised the age for a child to be considered a delinquent or petty offender from 10 to 13. This is likely to cause a lot of frustration in schools and with parents. While we typically do not seek to adjudicate children at a young age as delinquent, it allowed for mandatory diversion or restorative justice before rising to the level of a court proceeding. Now, those services would be considered voluntary.
Usually, we see kids between the ages of 10-12 getting into fights at school or petty theft, which means victims in these situations may feel unheard. The goal in these situations is not to just punish kids for their actions, but to direct them to services early enough to help curb the behavior. I think school staff and SROs will see more pushback from parents and we will be relying on the parents of juvenile offenders under the age of 13 to promote participation in services for their child, however, if they do not, then there is very little more we are able to do. While the new law creates some avenues for social services to become involved, that will largely come into play when the offense is greater or other factors exist. For the more common issues, like fights at school or petty thefts, there is not much social services will be able to do either.

LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATES 

Question of the Week:

Kasson-Mantorville is the latest school district that will ask voters to vote yes or no on an operating levy. Is there any legislation you would support to help school districts with funding?

House District 24A
Heather Holmes — DFL
Decades of underfunding by the state and not keeping up with inflation have put so many of our school districts in the difficult position of needing levies and referendums to meet their needs. Ideally, I would like to see levels of funding for public education by the state and federal government that would be sufficient so they would not be necessary. However, there are a few pieces of legislation I would support that would ease this burden for our smaller communities. First, I would support legislation that would increase debt service equalization aid. Debt service equalization is when the state provides aid to communities with a smaller tax base with their debt service for levies and referendums. The equalization factor has stayed stagnant for many years while property values have steadily increased. This shifts more of the cost of those referendums to property owners in our communities. There were bipartisan efforts for this in the last legislative sessions, but unfortunately they were not successful. I would like to see this legislation passed.
Second, I would support legislation that would increase the special education cross-subsidy. It’s currently set at 44%, rising to 50% in 2027. Even with that increase, districts still have to fund the other 50% of those services from their general fund. That’s a cost the state should be covering. The quality of a student’s education shouldn’t depend on their zip code, and our smaller communities shouldn’t have to lean on levies just to keep pace with inflation.

House District 24A
Duane Quam — Republican
When the trifecta pushed through dozens of mandates, our local schools saw millions in deficits. I pushed to exempt schools that were having better success in providing their students the knowledge and skills needed to pursue their dreams and succeed as adults, from them.
I also worked for the bill that would have given schools an additional $140 M, but having families with incomes over $156k annually, to pay for student lunches. That money would be used for the general fund.
We couldn’t get these through the tied house, but I will continue to push for them next January.

SENATE DISTRICT 24
Simon Glaser — DFL
As a teacher of thirty years, making sure education is fully funded is one of my top priorities. I have seen firsthand the impact on students’ lives when education does not get the resources that it needs. Particularly in rural schools there is a need for bold investment and creative solutions.
At a legislative level, I want to make sure resources are actually ending up where they’re meant to go. It is critical that our state government take seriously the threat of fraud, and ensure that people’s tax dollars are funding the services that benefit them like the schools that educate our kids. We also have to take seriously the underinvestment in our educators and work to improve teacher pay and benefits. Nobody becomes a teacher to become rich but our teachers should not be having to decide between taking care of their families or paying the bills, paying their rent or buying groceries.
By ensuring that our government is operating with efficiency and transparency, we can strive to provide our students and teachers alike with the resources they both need and deserve.

SENATE DISTRICT 24
Nels Pierson — Republican
Reducing un-funded mandates on schools is the most important work that needs to be done from the Legislature. Local school districts know best what their schools need. The level of record keeping and bureaucracy that the state requires both increases costs and reduces the funds that should be going to teachers in the classrooms. Some of the best success stories throughout the state of Minnesota have come through the acknowledgement of using classes like the agriculture classes as curriculum for fulfilling math and science requirements. Giving districts flexibility and focusing on core curriculum is the direction the State Education policy should move towards.