Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 5; Republican Party

Mike Edwards has lived in the Central Valley of California for the past 14 years. Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio to the parents of an entrepreneur and a public school teacher, Mike learned the value of hard work and the importance of a good education to being successful.

Mike attended Ohio State University for three-years before transferring to the University of Cincinnati in an effort to move closer to home following the death of his father. He finished with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, graduating with honors (Cum Laude), while working part-time for SDRC, a local software company.

Mike's 12-year career with General Electric's Healthcare division has taught him the in's and out's of healthcare finance in both the public and private sectors. He has an in-depth understanding of how Government manipulation of the Healthcare System causes inefficiency and how we can use the free market and patient choice to improve our Healthcare system.

Mike began his career in public service when he ran for the Loomis Union School Board and defeated the incumbent. During his seven year tenure, Mike has been instrumental in protecting the values and integrity of the District, which is actively achieving it's goal of becoming a "Premier"-level school district. Some examples of things Mike directly impacted include:

• Standing up to the unions, making tough decisions and insisting that Administration continually investigate new ways to make cuts and increase efficiencies in order to keep the District solvent, while maintaining educational excellence;
• Creation of the Loomis Basin Charter School;
• Raising the bar for granting tenure to probationary teachers;
• Establishment of the Loomis Basin Education Foundation;
• Wrote Patriotism Policy to ensure "under God" was preserved in the Pledge of Allegiance and requiring installation of "In God We Trust" in granite underneath each school site flag pole;
• Insisted District not allow students to leave campus for "confidential medical services" without parental permission;
• Introduced Spanish program into District;
• Developed PE and Music Program improvement from state minimum standards to "Premier"-level programs.

Mike and his wife, Jennifer have been married 18 years and are raising their two children in Loomis. Andrew, 14, and Grace, 12 both attend Loomis schools.