Lansing School District makes Benavides superintendent
The Lansing School Board has appointed Jessica Benavides as superintendent.
Benavides has served as interim superintendent since earlier this year. She is a longtime LSD employee and was appointed to the new role of first deputy superintendent about a year ago.
Then-Superintendent Ben Shuldiner announced in November that he was leaving for the same job in Seattle. He departed earlier this year and Benavides was appointed interim.
She was paid around $179,000 previously and in a statement the district said her new salary will be $280,900 and the contract runs through June 30, 2029.
“Jessica Benavides has earned the confidence of the Board of Education through nearly three decades of dedicated service to the Lansing School District and our community,” said Guillermo Lopez, president of the Lansing School District Board of Education, in a statement. “She is a collaborative, student-centered leader who understands our district and our vision for the future.”
Benavides said in a statement that she is honored by the Board’s confidence and eager to continue serving the students, staff, families, and community of Lansing.
“I am deeply honored and grateful to the Board of Education for the trust they have placed in me to serve as Superintendent of the Lansing School District,” Benavides said. “Lansing is my home, and it has been the privilege of my career to serve this
community for nearly three decades.”
As interim superintendent since February 2026, Benavides led the district’s priorities of academic excellence, operational effectiveness, and community engagement. Prior to that role, she served as first deputy superintendent of schools, overseeing curriculum and instruction, assessment, professional development, enrollment, school improvement, technology, athletics, enrichment, and state and federal programs.
Benavides has spent 29 years of experience in public education with the Lansing School District. She began her career as an elementary and middle school teacher before moving into school leadership as a principal. In 2007, she received the Elsie A. Maile Teacher of the Year Award, and while serving as principal of Sheridan Road STEM Magnet School, the school earned two national Magnet School of Distinction awards from Magnet Schools of America. She later served as Executive Director of Improvement and Innovation before being appointed First Deputy Superintendent. She earned both her Bachelor of Arts in Education and Master of Arts in Curriculum Development from Michigan State University and has completed leadership fellowships through the Education Policy Fellowship Program, Teach Michigan! Systems Leader Fellowship, and MASA Horizons.
