Dan Ruby for Ashland City Council
About Dan
Educator. School board member. Housing advocate. Nonprofit leader.
A Neighbor Who Shows Up
Dan Ruby has called Ashland home for over eight years. In that time, he's continued a career as a science educator, served on the Ashland School Board, co-founded a housing nonprofit, and led community organizations focused on making the Rogue Valley a better place to live. He's a neighbor — someone who attends meetings, has hard conversations, listens and learns, and asks questions about what's working, what's not, and why.
Dan brings something rare to local government: real experience managing budgets, building coalitions, and navigating the messy, nuanced work of making institutions function well. He knows how to stay focused on practical results even when the politics get complicated. He's running for City Council because he believes Ashland can do better — for the families being priced out, for the students and seniors who depend on city services, and for the community that makes this place worth working for.
"I know how to work with people, ask good questions, manage budgets, and stay focused on practical results. Ashland deserves that on City Council."
Background
Experience That Matters for Ashland
Educator
K-12 & Higher Education
Dan has spent his career as an educator — teaching, mentoring, and building programs that help young people thrive. He understands the connection between strong schools and strong communities.
View professional & educational record →School Board Member
Ashland School District
Currently serving on the Ashland School Board, Dan has hands-on experience navigating budgets, policy, and difficult public decisions. His experience on an elected board has reinforced the importance of setting clear priorities, respecting the line between governance and day-to-day management, measuring results, and holding the chief executive accountable for carrying out the board’s direction.
Housing Advocate & Co-Founder
Sunstone Housing Collaborative
Dan helped co-found Sunstone Housing Collaborative, serving originally as an unpaid advisory liaison from the School Board during the 2024–25 school year. He has since done separate, paid consulting work for Sunstone on its ADU initiative.
Nonprofit Leader
Community Organizations
Dan has led and served on boards of many nonprofit organizations, overseeing budgets from small to city-sized and building coalitions across sectors to address community needs.
Community Service & Professional Experience
School Board Record
Governing Experience That Translates
Dan's most consequential School Board work has centered on financial stabilization, housing, and long-term community challenges. These accomplishments reflect the work of the Board and district during his service, shaped by his research, collaboration, and partnership-building — the same approach he'll bring to City Council.
Stabilized a District in Crisis
Moved adoption of the 2025–26 district budget, approved audit corrective-action plans, and supported emergency financing — treating the deficit as a systems problem, not just an accounting one.
Read how I would apply those lessons to the City budget →Connected Housing to Schools
Identified that Ashland's loss of 461 students since 2016 represented nearly $5M in annual revenue — and helped establish Sunstone Housing Collaborative out of the School Board's work exploring housing as one response to declining enrollment.
Conducted Original Research
Organized 20 volunteers to interview homeschooling families, corrected widely repeated enrollment figures, and brought data-backed findings back to the board to shape policy.
Protected Vulnerable Students
Consistently supported school-based health centers, mental-health services, LGBTQ2SIA+ protections, climate literacy, and services for students experiencing homelessness.
Built Regional Partnerships
Coordinated advocacy with Ashland, Grants Pass, Three Rivers, and SOESD to protect education funding, and introduced district support for Ashland's Census Tract 19 Opportunity Zone application.
Governed with Transparency
Publicly disclosed his Sunstone involvement, sought ethics guidance, and abstained from School Board decisions when appropriate under that guidance.
"A budget shortfall isn't just an accounting problem — it's a housing problem, an enrollment problem, a staffing problem. You have to address the system, not just the symptom."
Motivation
Why Dan Is Running
Ashland is becoming unaffordable
The people who make Ashland work — teachers, service workers, artists, students, seniors — are being priced out. Dan believes the city must be proactive, not just reactive, in addressing affordability.
Housing needs real solutions
Through his work with Sunstone Housing Collaborative and other housing initiatives, Dan has seen both the opportunities and challenges involved in turning housing policy into actual projects. He's ready to bring that experience to Council and pursue practical policy reforms, partnerships, and homelessness responses.
City government can work better
Ashland has good people and good plans — but execution matters. Dan's background in education, nonprofit management, and the School Board has taught him how to build consensus, manage budgets, and stay focused on results.
The next generation deserves investment
Dan cares deeply about Ashland's schools, its university, and the young people who call this place home. He wants to ensure the city actively supports the institutions and programs that make Ashland worth staying in.
How Dan Governs
Values That Guide Every Decision
"I want Ashland to be a place where people belong and can flourish throughout their lives."
Dan's decisions are guided by belonging, dignity, equity, curiosity, stewardship, and integrity.
He puts those values into practice by strengthening the vital conditions people need: health and safety, humane housing, meaningful work and financial security, lifelong learning, reliable transportation, a thriving natural world, and civic muscle.
Decision-making lens
What will improve?
For whom?
Who might be left behind?
Can we deliver it responsibly?
Ashland School Board Member
Currently serving — Ashland School District
Co-Founder, Sunstone Housing Collaborative
Affordable housing development, Rogue Valley
Educator — K–12 & Higher Education
25+ years in education, STEM, and nonprofit leadership
Ready to Join Dan's Campaign?
Whether you volunteer, donate, or simply spread the word — every action helps build an Ashland that works for everyone.