ABOUT TANIA
Tania grew up in New Orleans and early in life learned about the importance of racial equality, labor organizing, and public education. Her parents relocated from Mississippi to New Orleans in the early 1960s so her father could become a teacher in the newly integrated public schools. The Orleans Parish School System had lost a significant portion of its teaching force after many white teachers resigned following integration. A supporter of racial equality, her father welcomed the opportunity to teach in an integrated school. He also helped integrate the teachers' union and served as a union rep while working a second job to provide for the family.
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Tania attended New Orleans public schools from kindergarten through 12th grade, graduating from Ben Franklin High School, a nationally-ranked public high school, in 1986. TOPS, Louisiana’s college scholarship program, did not exist at the time and there was no college fund. Tania waited tables to support herself while she pursued her degree at the University of New Orleans. She met her future husband just before she graduated from UNO in 1992 with a BA in English Literature.
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Tania went on to earn a graduate degree in creative writing from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. While a graduate student, she taught with DC WritersCorps, an AmeriCorps program that sponsored writing workshops in “traditionally underserved communities.” Tania taught in centers serving individuals who were homeless as well as in DC public schools.​​
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In 1999, Tania and her husband returned to Louisiana when she accepted a position as an instructor in the Department of English at Louisiana State University. A few years later, she and her husband started a family, becoming the proud parents of two children. Although most of her salary went toward childcare costs, Tania continued to teach. Her first involvement with advocacy occurred when Governor Bobby Jindal proposed devastating cuts to LSU and all of Louisiana’s public colleges to address a shortfall in the state budget caused by his repeal of a portion of the Stelly Plan. Tania helped organize a protest to oppose the budget cuts and to call for a constitutional amendment to protect healthcare and higher education, the only two areas unprotected by the state constitution.
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THE FIGHT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION
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At the end of 2010, Tania resigned from LSU to focus on her children and her own writing. In 2012, both of her children were enrolled in public schools when a state senator introduced a bill to create yet another breakaway school district in the parish. She attended meetings by both proponents and opponents, and quickly understood that if created, the new district would exacerbate racial segregation, cause profound economic harm to the existing school system, and set a dangerous precedent that would threaten public education across the state.
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Tania was called to act. She joined with others at the state Capitol to oppose the breakaway bills. They attended committee meetings and testified at hearings. When those efforts seemed ineffective, Tania created a petition to organize parents and other concerned citizens to write emails, make phone calls, and to show up at the Capitol. She joined other parents to form One Community One School District, a parent-led organization that advocates for a democratically-controlled, unified school district. Together, they continued to fight against the breakaway school district and to advocate for a public school system that would provide all children, regardless of race, socioeconomic background, and ability, with access to a free and appropriate education.
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THE FIGHT FOR A HEALTHY DEMOCRACY
Tania has also volunteered her time to advocate on various issues in the fight for a functional democracy. She fought against unconstitutional legislation backed by the business community, which would have surreptitiously privatized the East Baton Rouge Public School System.
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She served as one of the first spokespersons for Residents Against the Breakaway/Better Together, the primary community group that opposed the creation of the City of St. George, another breakaway city in the parish. She helped research and write a presentation to document how the new city, if created, would economically harm the entire parish. Unfortunately, those predictions are proving true after the Louisiana Supreme Court, in a controversial split decision, allowed the City of St. George to incorporate in 2024.
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She fought against the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board’s decision in 2014 to undergo unnecessary redistricting following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Shelby County v. Holder decision. No longer subjected to Department of Justice oversight, the school board adopted a racially-imbalanced map that downsized the board and reconfigured districts in a manner that allowed unlimited campaign contributions from out-of-state billionaires to exercise undue influence in the outcome of the upcoming elections.
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Tania’s experience pushing back against the unjust redistricting instilled in her a deep commitment to overturn Citizens United and to defend the Voting Rights Act.
That is why she ran for office in 2018 for the EBR School Board and in 2020 for the Baton Rouge Metro Council. On both occasions, Republican candidates were poised to win the seats due to a lack of opposition. While she was unsuccessful in both races, Tania believes our democracy is strengthened when there are genuine choices on the ballot.
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THE FIGHT CONTINUES
In 2021, she started the Restore the EBR School Board effort in an attempt to compel the school board to adopt a fair map and reverse the harm caused by the unjust 2014 reapportionment.
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She raised the alarm when a state representative quietly attempted to pass legislation which would have allowed the St. George school district to be created without a vote of the people.
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She explained the harmful implications of proposed amendments to the Plan of Government in her parish.
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She opposed ill-advised Industrial Tax Exemption Program applications, which allow corporations to avoid paying a fair share of their profits to benefit the people who live and work in her parish.
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She maintains a website to provide her community with the information she has gleaned from her research and advocacy, and she continues to publish pieces on her free newsletter on Substack.
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Tania and her husband, Rob Johnson, are now empty nesters. She continues to fight for justice, equity, and a fully functional democracy. If elected to Congress, Tania will continue to fight for the people of District 5 and for all of Louisiana in the U.S. House of Representatives.