Candidate Profile: School Board District 5: Julie Aranibar

Manatee County School Board: District 5

Candidate: Julie Aranibar (incumbent)

Residence: East Manatee

Education: Bachelor's degree in business and management, and licenses in three areas by the Association in Science in Clinical Pathology.

Besides volunteering on numerous civic organizations, Aranibar had also served on many school district committees prior to being elected to the board in 2010. She was appointed by three superintendents to sit on the sales tax accountability, budget review and superintendent search committees.

Aranibar is the incumbent in the district 3 school board race. She currently serves as the 5-member board's chair. Aranibar was elected in 2010, when she upset incumbent Jane Pfeilsticker, who was seen as a close ally of then-superintendent Tim McGonegal.

Aranibar's election came amid a wave of intense dissatisfaction with the previous school district administration under McGonegal and the suspected financial problems, which she would help bring to light in her first term.

Aranibar and fellow incumbent Karen Carpenter were often marginalized as a minority voting bloc during the first half of her term; however, with McGonegal's resignation and the fallout from the millions of dollars in misreported budget spending, she was able to become more effective after the 2012 elections.

Aranibar was one of three current board members who voted to hire current Superintendent Rick Mills, whom she says has her full support. Aranibar says she is proud of the huge financial turnaround the district has seen since Mills and his team have come aboard, but still has much she hopes to accomplish should Manatee County voters elect her for another term.

Click here to read an interview with Julie.