Christine Jax was a commissioner of the

Minnesota Department of Education Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is a state agency of Minnesota. Its headquarters are in Roseville. Commissioners 2021 – Present Heather Mueller (appointed by Governor Tim Walz) 2019 - 2021 Mary Cathryn Ricker (appointed by Governor Tim ...

(then known as the Department of Children, Families and Learning) from 1999 to 2003. In 2012 she ran for a

school board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

position in

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

, and in 2015 she became the dean and chief academic officer for

Digital Media Arts College Digital Media Arts College (DMAC) was a private for-profit art and design college in Boca Raton, Florida. DMAC was founded in 2002 to offer bachelor's degrees in 3D animation and graphic design. It was acquired by Lynn University in 2017 and ...

, an art and design college in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

Career and writing

Jax founded and managed a school for homeless children in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the early 1990's. In 1996, Jax received a Bush Foundation grant to conduct a study concerning educational policy pertaining to urban high school students. For the past 25 years Jax has taught and held administrative positions at various higher education institutions, including

Ashworth College Ashworth College is a private for-profit online college based in Peachtree Corners, Georgia. It operates subsidiary schools Madison School of Healthcare, PCDI Canada, and James Madison High School. History Since its founding in 1987, Profes ...

Capella University Capella University is a private for-profit, online university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school is owned by the publicly traded Strategic Education, Inc. and delivers most of its education online. Capella has 52 degree progr ...

, and

Walden University Walden University is a private online for-profit university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It offers Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, Master of Business Administration, Master of Public Administration, Master of Public Health, E ...

, as well as Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In 2015 she accepted the position of chief academic officer at Digital Media Arts College. In 2021 Jax became the CEO of International Accreditation Association. From 1999 to 2003 she served the state of Minnesota as Commissioner of Education (Education Chief) as a member of Governor Jesse Ventura's appointed cabinet. During her tenure, the budget of the department she led (the Minnesota Department of Children, Families, and Learning, which was the state's

state education agency A state education agency or state department of education is the state-level government organization within each U.S. state or territory responsible for education, including providing information, resources, and technical assistance on educationa ...

) was cut by $8.5 million (more than 10 percent). As a result, according to ''

Education Week ''Education Week'' is an independent news organization that has covered K–12 education since 1981. It is owned by Editorial Projects in Education (EPE), a nonprofit organization, and headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland in Greater Washington ...

'', Jax "cut one-quarter of the department's staff, to 183 positions, and restricted agency spending on travel, hiring, and contracting." Jax has authored three non-fiction books: ''The Seven Stages of an Enlightened Teacher''; ''Who's Building the Ark: How to Manage Through Hell and High Water''; and ''Rolling in Their Graves: Trump Versus Great Minds'' (the latter under the pseudonym C.J. Castle).

Electoral politics

In 2012, Jax was briefly a candidate for

governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

, running as an

Independence Party of Minnesota The Independence Party of Minnesota (often abbreviated IPM, MNIP or IP), formerly the Reform Party of Minnesota, is a political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was the party of former Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura (1999–2003). ...

candidate. Jax dropped out of the race and endorsed congressman

Tim Penny Timothy Joseph Penny (born November 19, 1951) is an American author, musician, and former politician from Minnesota. Penny was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor member of the United States House of Representatives, 1983–1995, representing Minnesota's ...

, who was defeated by Republican

Tim Pawlenty Timothy James Pawlenty (; born November 27, 1960) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 39th governor of Minnesota from 2003 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, Pawlenty served in the Minnesota House o ...

in a three-way race.Megan Boldt
Former state ed commissioner Christine Jax running for Palm Beach school board
''St. Paul Pioneer Press'' (May 24, 2012). Jax subsequently moved from Minnesota to South Florida. Jax ran for the Palm Beach County School Board in 2012. In a five-candidate race, Jax advanced to a

runoff election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

, but was defeated by Michael Murgio.

Personal

Jax is married to Jesus "Zeus" Castillo, a Miami-Dade Firefighter/paramedic. The couple has seven children and seven grandchildren.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jax, Christine Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American educators State cabinet secretaries of Minnesota Women in Minnesota politics 21st-century American women