Renee and Brent
Renee and Brent married in New Mexico, where Renee was working on her Master’s degree and Brent was an avionics technician for the Air Force’s F-117 stealth fighter. Their careers took them to Texas in 1997. In 2001, they both agreed Iowa was where they really belonged, in a state with good schools — a state which shared their values, and where they could be closer to family.
Renee means to bring back those values the Schultes came home to enjoy as your State Representative.
Who Renee Partners With
Schulte surrounds herself with people who listen, who act, and who don’t know what cannot be done in politics. “They just go ahead and do it!” she declares. Through her many board and professional affiliations, her adjunct professor’s job at Mt. Mercy College and the ministry contacts she and Brent enjoy at Antioch Christian Church in Marion, several hundred people volunteered to help in the 2010 campaign.
Schulte listens carefully to those volunteers’ opinions, a trait she will continue when working with fellow legislators in Des Moines. “I have a mental health background,” she explains. “A therapist listens to people and focuses on what they need. I will work with my colleagues until we reach consensus. The current method in Des Moines is divisive. I mean to make it win-win!”
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
A licensed Mental Health Counselor, Schulte has a Masters in Counseling and Educational Psychology, a job she doesn’t always leave at the office come quitting time. Long-time foster parents, she and her pastor husband Brent agreed to a Contract Foster Parent position which brought two high level treatment children from Four Oaks into their home. For Renee it meant putting her job on hold for a year, a state requirement.
But there’s another side to this articulate therapist. Renee Schulte loves to read. She may turn out to be one of the few legislators who will actually study all of the bills that come across her desk. Put that together with facts she’s learned from a CPA mentor and with her experience in budgeting at a Texas-based Christian children’s home, and you have a savvy dollars and cents State House Representative.
No Labels for Renee
People have a hard time labeling Renee Schulte.That’s because she works tirelessly on issues that transcend party lines. She cares about marginalized children and families, about mental health needs, fiscal integrity and economic development.
But Renee knows the best help doesn’t come from government handouts — it comes from helping people help themselves. “As a mental health professional I’ve worked one on one with kids and families,” Renee says, “and I know that just handing out money doesn’t help. Family members need to make their own choices so they can feel proud of what they do. That’s how they grow as a family.”
Money best spent in Des Moines, she says, is money given back to the taxpayer so economic development can begin at home. And that, she agrees, helps all families.