Meet Monica Byron, Education Minnesota’s new president.
Richfield educator Monica Byron is Education Minnesota’s new president Byron, a 24-year educator, is the first person of color to serve as Education Minnesota president
On July 1, Education Minnesota welcomed a new president for the first time since 2013. Vice President Monica Byron ran unopposed for president and was elected by delegates at the 2025 Representative Convention.
Byron has served in many roles over her 24 years as a Richfield educator, but she began as an education support professional. She started her classroom career as a homeschool liaison in Richfield Public Schools until she got her teaching license in 1998. She then worked as an elementary classroom teacher, an instructional coach for her school, and, most recently, an elementary math coach for the district.
Byron comes from a strong union family. “My grandpa was a postal worker and my mom was a Hennepin County social worker, and they were both very active in their unions,” she said. Her mother would take Byron to meetings and explain what the union was doing and how their work benefited the broader community, including the families she worked with as a Child Protective Services social worker.
When Byron was looking for a job as a young adult, her grandfather encouraged her to look for a union job. “When I was growing up, people would always tell me I should be a teacher. My grandfather also told me I should be a teacher because the unions are strong,” she said. He touted the benefits of a union job: a steady pension, stronger worker protections and more stable benefits than many private-sector options.
Taking her grandfather’s advice to heart, Byron jumped into leadership in her local affiliate. She held numerous positions within Education Richfield, including building representative, treasurer, membership chair, government relations chair and more. “I’ve always believed in the power of the union to help support educators,” she said.
Byron got involved in statewide union leadership after a call from Judy Schaubach, who was president of Education Minnesota at the time. “She asked me to attend a training on women and minority leadership,” Byron said. “In that training, I heard about a program out in California called the Ethnic Minority Affairs Committee, so I came back and asked to start an EMAC in Minnesota.” EMAC began as a task force in 2003, and in 2010 it became a standing committee.
Throughout her tenure in statewide union work, Byron has consistently expanded representation within the union and brought voices to the table that have not traditionally been represented. Through her work with EMAC, she saw a need for historically marginalized members to have a stronger voice within their locals, so she worked to create Education Minnesota’s affinity spaces and ethnic forums. “We wanted to make sure that members had a voice throughout the state, not just through a single committee,” she said.
Byron said her decision to run for vice president in 2022 was partly due to encouragement from members and partly from watching former vice presidents Bernie Burnham and Paul Mueller. “I was always in awe of our leadership and all the work they did,” she said.
Although she never aspired to serve as an Education Minnesota officer, EMAC members encouraged her to run for the position, which she eventually won.
Byron said she wants to be a leader who centers member voices. “I’m excited to represent members across our state,” she said, “and I will do the best I can every day to make sure our members’ voices are heard.”
