Nystrom, Erik

Meet the Candidate

Running For:

School Board

District:

Tanque Verde Unified School District

Age:

Occupation:

Finance Professional

Education:

Bachelor of Science

Family:

Wife, Son age 12, Daughter age 9

Religion:

Christian

Biographical Info:

Currently, Erik is the Chief Financial Officer for an Arizona based higher education trade school. Erik holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering with a focus on aeronautics. Erik and his wife, are the proud parents of two children and have lived in Tucson since 2023.

Before moving to Tucson, Erik served seven years on active duty in the US Army as an intelligence officer. He served multiple combat deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan, and achieved the rank of Major. After his service he joined Columbia Pipeline Group where he worked as a strategic planner. Given his ability to strategically plan, Erik joined an upstream oilfield materials company in 2015 as their VP of strategic marketing. There, he established an internal market analytics group and has presented at a number oilfield conferences.

Later, Erik switched industries to the medical field and was hired as the senior finance executive for an investment group specializing in physical therapy. There, he brought big data principles to small clinics and established financial and clinical operational models to better predict overall performance.

Statement:

Education has become a passion of mine. I work professionally in higher education, and want to bring my skill set to help improve educational outcomes in the community I live in. I am running for a seat on the Tanque Verde School Board to one, better understand the issues educators, parents and children are facing and two, to be of service to the community my wife and I hold dear.

Survey

Response Legend

SSupports
OOpposes
*Comment
−Declined to respond
†Declined to respond, Position based on citation

Question	Response	Comments/Notes
1. Requiring district and charter school officials, including teachers, to inform parents about their child’s social, mental, emotional, or physical health.	S*	Parents and teachers should be partners in ensuring our children grow to be healthy adults. Not being transparent with parents can inhibit doing what is best for the child.
2. Allowing parents to opt their children out of activities or lessons that offend their personal, moral, or religious beliefs.	S*	Religious freedom is a foundation our country is built upon. Parents should have the final say in what their children are exposed to.
3. Increasing state and local taxes to provide more funding for schools and school facility projects.	O*	Currently around half of every dollar allocated to education in the state budget goes into the classroom. There are a lot of state resources appropriated to education which do not go toward education. We should fund the classroom first, with the resources we have, then we can discuss other things.
4. Requiring signed permission from a parent before a student may participate in any sexuality related instruction, activities, or clubs.	S*	Parents should be aware of, and able to opt out of having any of these materials presented to their children. They are the ultimate protectors of their minor children.
5. Allowing all parents to use tax credits and publicly funded empowerment scholarship accounts to enable their children to attend any private, homeschool, or online academy of their choice.	S*	Children learn differently. Some kids require other means to educate outside of the traditional pathways. As funding follows the child in Arizona, we should all commit to providing the resources necessary to achieve positive educational outcomes. As we are all tax payers, this ensures that parents who homeschool or send their kids to private school receive similar resources. When you do the math statewide, children on ESA cost taxpayers 50% to 60% to educate as compared to public school children. Said another way, ESA receives roughly 5% of the educational appropriation, but funds nearly 10% of K-12 age children.
6. Making available books and instructional materials that include sexually explicit images and themes in school classrooms and libraries.	O*	Generally oppose, but understood that this definition can cover biology textbooks in high school. At the end of the day, I want a solution that allows parents to be able to protect their children.
7. Acquiring parental consent for school faculty and staff to refer to students by pronouns that do not align with the student’s birth sex.	S*	Parents and teachers should be a team. Educating children is hard, and all parties involved (which includes parents) need to be transparent with eachother. Not seeking parental consent drives a wedge between home and classroom which further harms a fragile child.
8. Allocating teacher pay raises based upon merit rather than providing uniform salary schedule increases based upon years of teaching or additional credentialing (e.g. master’s degrees).	S*	Generally support. Cost of living adjustments regardless of merit are necessary. However, exemplary teachers should be recognized, and that includes monetarily. When math proficiency sits at 34% statewide and reading proficiency is 36% for third graders state wide, we should take a look at all facets of education. Curriculum, testing, and even the teachers.
9. Implementing policies to allow students and faculty to use the restroom, locker room, and shower room based on self-identification rather than biological sex.	O*	No young girl should have to deal with a male in her restroom be it a student or faculty member. The state board identified 570 cases of faculty misconduct which included some form of sexual assault. Avenues for this to occur to any other children should be cut off.
10. Teaching what is known as diversity, equity, inclusion (DEI); social, emotional learning (SEL); or critical race theory (CRT) in public schools.	O*	These initiatives caused more division than any of them solved.
11. Requiring each district and charter school to post online a list of all curriculum and instructional materials being used in the classroom.	S*	Parents have the right to know what their children are learning. Many families are choosing to take their kids out of public school in favor of private or homeschooling options. If the schools were more transparent with curriculum and instructional materials, fewer families may choose to leave the public education system.