Meet East Lansing City Council Candidate Kath Edsall
This is part four of ELi’s City Council candidate series. Over three days, ELi will publish articles introducing each of the six candidates in this November’s election.
After more than a decade of advocating for equity and inclusion on the East Lansing school board, Kath Edsall is running for City Council.
“Over my last 11 years on the school board, we changed the course of the ship, and headed more towards that ultimate goal of a fair and equitable school district that respects and treats every student and staff member equitably, and welcomes them,” Edsall said. “I don’t think we always honor that at the city level.”
Edsall’s top priorities include balancing the city’s budget, increasing city-wide equity and adding affordable housing.
Edsall has been an East Lansing resident since 1978, when she attended Michigan State University for veterinary medicine, and currently works as a veterinarian. Edsall and her wife have raised eight adopted children in the city, all still live nearby.
Candidate background
When her eldest children started school in the 1990s, Edsall became interested in school board politics. She served on the school board from 2013 to 2017 and from 2019 to today. Edsall said she would resign from the school board if elected to City Council.
Edsall is the treasurer of the school board, and served briefly as president. She currently chairs the finance and policy committees. She is also the vice chair of the city’s Independent Police Oversight Commission. In 2024, Edsall was awarded with a Crystal Award for her work in the schools and community.
On the school board, Edsall has prioritized making the district more equitable and accessible, including expanding the reproductive health curriculum to include information relevant to LGBTQ and disabled students. Edsall served on the board in 2023, helping ELPS usher through a large voter-approved school bond to increase security and accessibility in the district.
Edsall said she believes her time on the school board has prepared her for a potential council seat. She compared the role of school board member and council member, noting that both involve hiring and supervising one employee (the superintendent and city manager, respectively).
“I have been chair of the policy committee for the school board, as well as on the policy committee for a number of years,” Edsall said. “There’s public hearings, something I’m very experienced with. I’ve certainly, in passing policy, worked with attorneys on making sure the language is right. I do think that I will bring that experience with me to the City Council.”
Top priorities
As the current school board treasurer and chair of the finance committee, Edsall said she has experience managing and balancing large budgets.
“I know what a structurally balanced budget looks like for the school district,” Edsall said. “I was in the room where it happened, and I’ve seen the decisions that need to be made to have a structurally balanced budget and a really healthy fund balance.”
More than 60% of the city’s general fund is spent on public safety most years, and Edsall suggested funding crime prevention methods, like increased mental health and school support, to address some root causes.
“There’s been communities that have put the money into engaging the community in positive ways, and can put less money into arresting people,” Edsall said. “We’re actually seeing crime coming down to 1960s levels, and the explanations I’m reading is there have been more resources made available following the pandemic to help people who might otherwise commit crimes.”
Edsall said she is against the proposed parks and recreation millage, which would increase property taxes to replace the general fund’s contribution to the parks fund.
“There needs to be overarching goals on how you look at and address these financial questions without harming the safety of the community,” Esdall said.
Diverse and affordable housing is another issue Edsall wants to address if elected to council.
“Everybody’s going to talk about affordable housing,” Esdall said. “What does that exactly mean? Affordable to who? In my neighborhood alone, housing values have probably doubled, and we’re probably one of the inexpensive neighborhoods in East Lansing. If we continue to balance our budget by hitting the community for more taxes, it’s not just the cost of the house, it’s the price of the house. It’s the additional cost of property taxes or income taxes to live here that make it unaffordable.”
Edsall suggested more government supported low-income housing like Edgewood Village, and gathering community data to find what the city lacks in terms of housing diversity, making sure to include all residents.
“We’re very diverse, not just racially or economically, but we wouldn’t be here without the university,” Edsall said. “We have students, and people that don’t want to be around students. I don’t understand that, but we need to meet the needs of the students and the people who don’t necessarily want to have students around. It’s not one or the other. It’s got to be all.”
Other priorities
As is her focus on the school board, Edsall said she wants to encourage and preserve diversity of all kinds at the city level.
“I see this community as a fair and just community,” Edsall said. “I’ve spoken to many people door to door, and they like the diversity of East Lansing. When you have that diversity, you have to support that diversity, you have to involve that diversity.”