| Sharon Steckman is serving her 8th term in the Iowa House of Representatives. She holds the position of Ranking Member on the Education Committee. She also serves on the Administrations and Regulations Budget Subcommittee, State Government, Natural Resources, Administration and Rules, and Environmental Protection Standing Committees.
She is currently serving on the Iowa Commission for MHEC Executive Committee (Midwest Higher Education Compact), the Mason City I-CAN Board, iJAG State Board, and PEOLB. She also served on the Interim Legislative Tax Expenditure Commission.
Sharon is a longtime resident of Mason City. She was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in Arizona, Colorado, and Nebraska. As an adult, before choosing to settle in Mason City, she lived in Ithaca, New York; Detroit, Michigan and Marion, Iowa. In Marion, she was a member of the Marion Planning and Zoning Commission and was President of the Cedar Rapids Welcome Wagon Club.
While living in Mason City, Sharon decided to complete the degree she had started at Kearney State College in Kearney, Nebraska. To accomplish this, she began a two-year, three-day-a-week commute to Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. She graduated in 1980 with honors and was the first in the education department at ISU to student teach in Mason City. She achieved this by working out an agreement with ISU and the University of Northern Iowa.
In 1980, Sharon began working for the Mason City Community School District. During her career, she taught second grade, fourth grade, and fifth grade and worked as a Title I reading specialist. During that time, she also went on to earn her Master's degree in education and reading endorsement from Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. She was a member of the Mason City Education Association, serving as president and later, seven years as chief negotiator. During her tenure in Mason City, she took a leave of absence from the district for two years to teach overseas in Portugal, returning to Mason City to finish her career.
While her children were growing up, Sharon served on the Mason City Youth Hockey Board (during the years the arena was built) and the Youth Swim Club board; she also volunteered at Opportunity Village.
After retiring from teaching, Sharon decided to continue her passion for education and community affairs by running for a seat in the Iowa House of Representatives in 2008. She took her seat in January 2009, serving on the Education, Economic Growth, Human Resources, Environmental Protection, Natural Resources, and Ways and Means Standing Committee. She also served as Vice-Chair of the Education Appropriations Subcommittee. At the beginning of the second year of her first term, she was elected to the position of Assistant Majority Leader.
During the first year of her second term, Sharon served as an Assistant Minority Leader. She gave up her caucus leadership role to take on the duties of Ranking Member of the Education Committee, where she served for six years. In 2019, she returned to the Assistant Minority Leader position and in 2020 began again serving as Ranking Member on Education. In this 90th Assembly, she holds both positions.
Sharon and Alan, her husband of 30 years, have four children, eight grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. She is a member of Trinity Lutheran Church. |