Jennifer Zerba (Republican)

304 Robing St.
CASPER, Wyoming 82609
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Jennifer is a Casper, WY native, attended K-12 in Casper, and graduated from Kelly Walsh High School, as did her mother and her mother’s siblings. She is a wife to Jason and mother of two daughters, Gabrielle and Isabel, who graduated from Natrona County High School. Jennifer is the author of “Healing Humanity from Behind the Shears.” She owned Club Jenerize in Casper and has been in marketing, public relations, accounts payable/receivable, customer service, sales, management, leadership, and communication for over 17 years. Her greatest leadership achievement was her team earning the President’s Distinguished District from Toastmasters International 2016-2017. Out of 108 districts in the world, Jennifer and her team achieved number 10. Just as Jennifer has worked together to achieve success in her life and the lives of her team, she is committed to working with the education department, educators, and parents to prepare Wyoming students for Wyoming!

Jennifer has taught in Wyoming as a board-certified substitute teacher for the Natrona County School District over the last three years. She has her Wyoming Professional Instructor Certification (PIC) to teach business, business administration, business management, and human service. She understands first-hand the effects of millions of dollars in budget cuts over the last several years.

She has been a cosmetologist for over 30 years. Jennifer graduated from Casper College with her associate’s in business administration. She has her bachelor’s in business administration and her master’s in public administration from the University of Wyoming. Jennifer will start her 3rd-semester fall of 2022 in the Education Doctorate in Learning, Design, and Technology program at the University of Wyoming.

Toastmasters International: Member since 2004. Jennifer has served as club Seargent at Arms, Secretary, Membership, Public Relations, Vice President of Education, and President. As a district officer, She has served as Area Governor, Division Governor, and Lieutenant Governor of Business Development in Wyoming, Colorado, and Western Nebraska. Jennifer served as Program Quality Director/Chief Training & District Director/Chief Executive Officer in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon.

Jennifer is running because it is time for the Superintendent of Public Instruction to have taught in Wyoming public schools. Far too often, policies and initiatives are implemented without educator input. Every fall, there is something new. The previous year’s new program was not evaluated or followed through. The strain on our educators has put our state with 500 job openings for the fall of 2022. 65% of educators would quit if they could. The attack on teachers defeats the purpose of education, and Jennifer is here to stand up for every educator! In Wyoming, all educators are board-certified. As a parent, when her daughters were in school, she knew their teachers were qualified to teach. “I didn’t have the education to teach chemistry! I would never tell my electrician, plumber, or doctor how to do their job!” She sees how our teachers are burned out, leaving the profession, and moving out of state to teach.
In many cases, those out-of-state teaching jobs pay significantly less. “They are Wyoming’s greatest resource and need to get away from having to “teach to the test.” Jennifer feels there is a dire need to fill educator positions across the state.
The other main reason Jennifer is running is her concern that our Wyoming Constitution will be run over. The Wyoming Constitution Article 7 clearly defines how education funding is to be spent, and there is to be no discrimination regarding sex, color, or race.

Jennifer is committed to responsible financial spending, supporting educators, and a skilled workforce while upholding our Wyoming Constitution. As State Superintendent of Public Instruction:
● She will work with the department and Wyoming educators to involve classroom educators in improving the allocation of our state
resources and how, together, we can better serve the needs of our students.
● Together, we will encourage policy and procedure makers to volunteer in their local schools to better understand how financial
decisions affect students and educators.
● We will create better financial transparency by having all districts publish their budgets on their district website. “Currently,
only a few budgets are published, such as Natrona County School District budget and Laramie County School District budget.”
● We will work closely with legislat
● She will work tirelessly with my team and educators to reinvent how high schoolers earn their credits for graduation.
● Some students are university-bound, some are community college certificate-bound, and many are trade school-bound.
● She will increase working with Wyoming stakeholders, including parents and business owners.
● Not every student should go to college, and the drive for educators, guidance counselors, and administrators to push a 4-year
degree with the financial burden must be re-examined.
● Going into a trade should no longer be shameful. They are essential!