Lakers for Love

10/05/2026

🧼 CANDIDATE SPOTLIGHT: AARON PROVANCHA

Last but definitely not least, the P in SOAP: Aaron Provancha!

Aaron brings something to the school board that we think really matters: he’s actually been in the classroom. He’s a PLSAS parent and former teacher who taught science right here at Prior Lake High School. He also has a master’s degree in educational leadership and now works in healthcare education. Aaron understands education from both sides: what happens in a classroom and what it takes to manage bigger systems, priorities, and competing needs.

You can see that teacher brain come through when Aaron talks about schools. When the latest MCA results came out, he didn’t dismiss the scores, but he didn’t pretend one test tells us everything about a kid either. He talked about how standards become curriculum, what students are actually being asked to know, and why MCAs shouldn’t be the only target when we’re deciding whether students are ready for life after K-12. Academic achievement matters. Test scores matter. Data matters. Our kids are also more than one data point.

Aaron has also been really clear about protecting classrooms. Class size is one of his biggest priorities, and he has said increasing class sizes should be a last option, not the first place we look when money gets tight. He wants the district looking at other costs before automatically taking more people out of classrooms. As parents who have watched cuts turn into fewer teachers and bigger classes.. that gets our attention.

PLSEA has endorsed Aaron and he hasn’t been shy about explaining why he respects the role educators have in these conversations. He doesn’t seem to view teachers speaking collectively as some suspicious outside influence. He sees the people actually doing the work every day as having valuable information about what is happening in our schools.

We also appreciate the way Aaron talks about support for students. In one of his recent posts about DEI, he put it pretty simply: support isn’t about lowering expectations or taking something away from one kid to give it to another. It’s about removing barriers so every student has a fair shot at meeting high expectations. That sounds a whole lot closer to what equity work actually looks like in schools than most of the political noise around it.

Aaron has talked about board culture too. He wants board members who can disagree, explain why decisions were made, and continue working together after the vote. In one of his recent posts, he specifically said Jess Olstad’s point about collective accountability resonated with him.

Aaron has been on the teacher side of the classroom, he’s now on the parent side and he’s spent this campaign showing that he understands there are a whole lot of pieces between a school board decision and what actually happens for our kids.

That’s a perspective we think belongs at the board table.

🧼 SMITH • OLSTAD • ANDERSON • PROVANCHA

This is an independent expenditure prepared by Lakers for Love, 4455 Village Lake Drive #215, Prior Lake, MN 55372. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it.

10/01/2026

🧼 CANDIDATE SPOTLIGHT: JENNIFER ANDERSON

Next up, the A in SOAP: Jennifer Anderson for PLSAS!

Jennifer brings a pretty unique mix of experiences to the school board. She’s a PLSAS parent, former Redtail Ridge PTC president, longtime community volunteer, Navy Commander, and chaplain. She’s spent more than two decades in ministry and 18 years as a Navy chaplain, leading and serving people who don’t necessarily share the same backgrounds, experiences, or beliefs. As a Navy chaplain, Jennifer’s job isn’t only to serve people who believe what she believes. She’s spent years supporting and working alongside people with very different beliefs and perspectives. That takes listening, trust, and the ability to meet people where they are.

We heard a lot of that same approach from Jennifer at our candidate forum. Seven board members aren’t going to agree on everything, and frankly, we don’t want seven people who agree on everything. We want people who can listen, ask questions, disagree respectfully, make a decision, and still come back to the table and work together afterward.

Jennifer also has a pretty interesting way of explaining how she approaches hard decisions. She looks at policy and guidance, what can be learned from the past, what the facts and reason tell us, and the experiences of the people who will actually be affected. Her Navy experience gives her another way of looking at it. As Jennifer explained, “In the Navy, we talk about risk to mission and risk to force.” That translates pretty well to public education. Every decision the board makes has to consider both where the district is trying to go and the people who will be affected along the way. Our students, teachers, staff, families, and community aren’t separate from the mission.. they’re the reason for it.

We’ve seen that balance in the issues Jennifer has talked about throughout this campaign too. She supports investing in our schools and the 2026 referendum while also talking about the responsibility to understand the district’s finances and be a good steward of taxpayer dollars. She’s talked about supporting teachers and staff and keeping students at the center of decisions. PLSEA has endorsed Jennifer this year too.

Throughout this campaign and at our forum, we’ve gotten to see more of how she’d bring that experience to PLSAS. She sums it up in four words: “People first. Mission always.” Stay focused on what we’re trying to accomplish for our schools, while never forgetting the students, teachers, staff, and families we’re doing it for. Those two things aren’t competing priorities. They go together.

🧼 SMITH • OLSTAD • ANDERSON • PROVANCHA

This is an independent expenditure prepared by Lakers for Love, 4455 Village Lake Drive #215, Prior Lake, MN 55372. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it.

09/29/2026

🧼 CANDIDATE SPOTLIGHT: JESS OLSTAD

Next up, the O in SOAP: Yes4Jess - Jessica Olstad for PLSAS 🫧

When Jess first ran for PLSAS School Board in 2022, she talked about inclusion and safety for all kids, supporting our educators, listening to families, and bringing people together.

Four years later, we don’t have to wonder what kind of board member Jess will be.. we’ve already seen it.

Jess currently serves as Vice-Chair/Clerk of the PLSAS School Board, sits on the Teaching & Learning Advisory Committee, and represents PLSAS on the Southwest Metro Intermediate District board. She didn’t suddenly discover public education when school boards became politically interesting either. Before she was elected, she was already doing the work as a PTC president, parent volunteer, referendum committee member, and the person behind the Tech Yes campaign.

Throughout her first term, Jess has stood up for making our schools welcoming and safe for all students, even when those conversations have gotten uncomfortable or political. When the board voted to eliminate the district’s Equity & Inclusion Resolution, Jess voted against it. She’s continued to stand behind the idea that every kid should be able to walk into our schools and know they belong there.

She’s been just as clear about supporting our teachers and staff. PLSEA supported Jess when she first ran and has endorsed her again this year. As parents, we know how much the people working directly with our kids matter. Their experience and expertise should matter when decisions are being made too.

Some of the hardest decisions of Jess’s first term have been financial ones. After the 2024 operating levy failed, the district still had a budget to balance. That has meant millions of dollars in cuts, including painful staffing reductions that families are now seeing in our schools.

Jess didn’t hide from those decisions. She helped lead through them. She asked questions, looked at the numbers, listened to staff, and voted for cuts she absolutely didn’t want to make because that’s part of the responsibility that comes with sitting in that seat.

It’s really easy to say you didn’t vote for the cuts. It’s a lot harder to actually govern.

A no vote doesn’t make the budget hole disappear. It doesn’t put a teacher back in our classrooms or create money that isn’t there. Sometimes leadership means putting your name behind a decision you hate because the district still has to move forward.

Our community is being asked again in 2026 to invest in our schools and Jess supports the levy. She’s already seen what years of cuts look like. As parents, we’re seeing it too. Those numbers on a spreadsheet eventually become larger classes, fewer teachers, fewer opportunities, and less support for our kids.

At our candidate forum, Jess talked about how a school board should actually function. Seven people aren’t always going to agree. They’re not supposed to. Board members should listen to the community, listen to staff, look at the information in front of them, ask questions, and make the best decision they can for the district as a whole.

The work doesn’t stop when the vote is over. Those seven people still have to work together and we’ve watched Jess do that. She’s supported decisions and dissented from others. She’s made hard votes and stood firm when she disagreed. Regardless of how a vote goes, she comes back to the table and keeps doing the work with the other six people our community elected.

That’s the kind of leadership Jess talked about four years ago and the kind we want to stay on our board for the next four years.

🧼 SMITH • OLSTAD • ANDERSON • PROVANCHA

This is an independent expenditure prepared by Lakers for Love, 4455 Village Lake Drive #215, Prior Lake, MN 55372. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it.

09/28/2026

🧼 CANDIDATE SPOTLIGHT: DUSTIN SMITH

First up, the S in SOAP: Dustin Smith for PLSAS School Board

Dustin joined the PLSAS School Board last year, and honestly.. one year hasn’t been nearly enough.

One of the things that stood out about Dustin from the beginning was that he actually does his homework. When claims were being made about district spending and resources supposedly moving away from classrooms, he didn’t just repeat what someone else said. He pulled the state data, tried to recreate the numbers himself, compared it to district data, asked questions when things didn’t match, and went looking for an explanation. One of the things he found was that teacher prep time was being classified as “administrative/non-instructional” in the data being used to make those claims.

We’ve seen the same approach with the district’s finances and the referendum. Dustin supports the levy, but he’s also taken the time to explain what the projections actually say, what statutory operating debt means, what continued cuts could look like, and what the levy will and won’t fix. He’s willing to acknowledge when something is a projection and not a guarantee, which matters when there’s already plenty of fear-based information floating around.

Dustin has also been very clear about supporting our teachers. That support goes both ways as PLSEA endorsed him again this year. He’s pushed back when claims about teachers and PLSEA haven’t matched the facts, while also being clear that an endorsement doesn’t mean he works for PLSEA - he represents the entire district.

His recent post about DEI is also worth reading, especially with how much that conversation has been twisted into something it doesn’t need to be. Dustin’s explanation is pretty simple: “For me, DEI equals access.” Can a kid get into the building? Can they use the playground? Can they learn in the classroom? Can they actually participate? If something is getting in the way, what can be done to remove that barrier?

That isn’t something Dustin just talks about during an election. He works in HR leadership for a nonprofit focused on supporting and advocating for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families. He’s also written openly about his family’s experience with early intervention and special education. He understands this work personally and professionally.

His first year on the board hasn’t exactly been an easy one. He’s had to make decisions about millions in budget cuts, staff reductions, the referendum, the Achievement & Integration grant, and plenty of other issues where there wasn’t an easy answer or one that would make everyone happy.

Something Dustin wrote recently sums up his approach pretty well. Our values and experiences are going to affect how we weigh the facts, but they shouldn’t decide what the facts are. Ask questions. Look at the information. Listen to the people who know the work. Make the best decision you can.. then remember you’re still one of seven people.

Dustin talked about that at our candidate forum too. He didn’t vote for Dr. Wagner’s contract. The board approved it anyway. He’s still working with Dr. Wagner and trying to move the district forward because disagreeing with a board decision doesn’t mean spending the next six months trying to undo it or attacking everyone who voted differently.

When we asked what he’d want PLSAS to look like four years from now, Dustin talked about a district that’s thriving. One families want to be part of, where teachers and staff want to work, students are getting what they need, and the community is proud of its schools.

During his closing remarks, he summed up why he’s doing this pretty simply: “I’m just a dad who said I want to help.”

We’ve had almost a year to see what that looks like & want to give him four more.

🧼 SMITH • OLSTAD • ANDERSON • PROVANCHA 🫧

This is an independent expenditure prepared by Lakers for Love, 4455 Village Lake Drive #215, Prior Lake, MN 55372. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it.

09/19/2026

Lakers for Love is proud to announce that we are supporting Jennifer Anderson, Jessica Olstad, Aaron Provancha, and Dustin Smith for Prior Lake-Savage Area School Board.

We didn’t make this decision based on one answer or one night. We considered what candidates shared during our forum, watched other candidate forums, reviewed their campaign pages, and looked at their experience, public records, priorities, and what they’ve said they want for PLSAS. Our board and a core group of Lakers for Love volunteers weighed in as we considered the candidates.

There were thoughtful answers from candidates we are not supporting, too. Supporting these four doesn’t mean we agreed with every answer they gave or disagreed with every answer from everyone else. Looking at the whole picture, these are the four candidates who most closely align with the mission and values of Lakers for Love.

If you’d like to order yard signs or window clings to support these four candidates, please see our order form here:

Show your support for Lakers for Love supported candidates with signage. This form helps us organize printing and distribution. Suggested donation per sign is…

09/12/2026

PLSAS School Board Candidate Forum

Join us online Thursday, September 17 at 7:00pm for the 2026 Lakers for Love PLSAS School Board Candidate Forum.

Seven candidates will be answering questions about school funding, academics, inclusion, board governance, community input, and what they’d like to accomplish if elected.

Every question was directly influenced by questions and concerns submitted by members of our community.

Participating candidates:
• Jennifer Anderson
• Nancy Dager
• Jessica Olstad
• Aaron Provancha
• Dustin Smith
• Rick Storlie
• Dillon Ziegler

Watch live on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/

Four School Board seats are on the ballot this November, so this is a good chance to hear directly from some of the candidates and learn more about how they would approach issues facing Prior Lake Savage Area Schools.

Can’t watch live? The recording will be available afterward too. ❤️

06/02/2026

What is a Capital Projects Levy?

You've probably heard this term come up lately in discussions about potential November ballot questions in PLSAS.

A capital projects levy is voter-approved funding for things like building repairs, buses, textbooks, library resources, technology, software, and other long-term school needs. It's different from an operating levy, which pays for teachers, paras, student support services, programs, and day-to-day school operations.

Technology is just one of more than two dozen uses allowed under Minnesota law. That's why a capital projects levy is much broader than the technology levy voters considered in 2021.

Unlike many neighboring districts, PLSAS currently receives $0 per pupil through a voter-approved capital projects levy. Shakopee, Burnsville, Lakeville, and Bloomington all have one. The Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Plan presented to the board this past winter identified $26.9 million in facility needs across our schools.

The board is still deciding whether to place a capital projects levy on the November ballot. If it does, voters will have the final say. A capital projects levy cannot be extended or renewed by the school board without voter approval. According to financial analysis presented to the board on May 18, the first year of a capital projects levy could result in no net change to what property owners are currently paying.

A capital projects levy helps pay for the buildings, equipment, technology, and resources our schools rely on. A strong operating levy helps pay for the people and programs that make those schools successful.

If we want schools that are thriving instead of barely surviving, we need both. 💙💛

Sign the petition to ask the PLSAS School Board to support the $46 Levy Option and the Capital Projects Levy:
https://www.change.org/PLSASLevy2026

Sources: Minnesota Statute 126C.10 Subd. 14, AMSD 2025-26 Levy Data, PLSAS Long-Term Facilities Maintenance Plan, Ehlers Financial Analysis presented to the board May 18, 2026.

PLSAS School Board - Support the $46 Levy Option and the Capital Projects Levy

05/31/2026

This is important to be aware of this fall. We will likely have multiple school funding questions on our ballot this fall, and not voting on this question will count as a “no” vote. This is a no tax change increase in funding for our schools, so should be an easy vote YES! While this wouldn’t solve our funding issues here in PLSAS, it would help our exacerbated funding problems.

UPDATE: More school funding WITHOUT increasing taxes — this just got a lot closer to reality. 🎉

A few weeks ago I shared information about House File 3900 and its Senate companion SF 3593 — a proposed constitutional amendment to modernize how Minnesota distributes money from the Permanent School Fund. I'm happy to report some significant progress.

This week, the bill passed a legislative conference committee with strong bipartisan support, and final votes in the full House and Senate are expected imminently. Once that happens, the measure heads to Minnesota voters as a constitutional amendment on the November 2026 ballot.

A quick refresher on why this matters: The Permanent School Fund is a dedicated endowment — built from state land leases, mining royalties, and timber sales, not taxes — that sends per-pupil dollars to every public school district in Minnesota. Right now, distributions are limited in a way that hasn't kept pace with the fund's growth. HF 3900 would fix that by switching to a modern endowment model, distributing 4.5% of the fund's rolling three-year average value each year.
The updated numbers from the conference committee: districts would receive approximately $95.53 per student, up from the current $68.24 — roughly a 40% increase in per-pupil funding, with no new taxes required. If voters approve it in November, additional funding would begin flowing to schools in Fiscal Year 2028.

One important note for voters: if you go to the polls in November and do not cast a vote on the constitutional amendment question, it counts as a no vote. So please share - awareness and education will be key between now and Election Day.

I'll keep sharing updates as this moves forward. This is exactly the kind of fiscally responsible, broadly supported approach to public education funding our communities deserve to know about. 📚