Kari Nessa Nordtun

Kari Nessa Nordtun (born 7 June 1986) is a Norwegian lawyer and politician for the Labour Party. She currently serves as minister of education since 2023 and was mayor of Stavanger from 2019 to 2023.

Local politics and mayoralty
Nordtun was elected to the Stavanger Municipal Council in 2011. She became mayor following the 2019 local elections, in which the Labour Party secured a majority with the Socialist Left Party, Centre Party, Red Party, Green Party and People's Action No to More Road Tolls. Alongside Nordtun, the Centre Party's Dagny Sunnanå Hausken became deputy mayor. Both formally stepped into their roles on 21 October 2019. Nordtun sought re-election in the 2023 local elections, but ultimately her coalition lost to the Conservative one, led by Sissel Knutsen Hegdal. Despite this, the Labour Party in Stavanger achieved their best result in over 40 years and became the municipality's largest party. Hegdal succeeded her when the municipal council was constituted on 23 October.

Party politics
In 2022, Nordtun was appointed chair of the Labour Party's energy commission.

Ahead of the 2023 Labour Party convention, Nessa Nordtun was nominated to become a member of the party's central board. She formally stepped into the role in May.

Following the 2023 local elections and her imminent departure as mayor of Stavanger, Nordtun was seen as a strong candidate for a ministerial job in Jonas Gahr Støre's cabinet at the next reshuffle. Nordtun herself has been hesitant to outright confirm if she would accept a ministerial appointment, citing she would rather spend time with her family. However, the weekend before the reshuffle, media sources confirmed that Nordtun had undergone a vetting process with the Office of the Prime Minister, implying she likely would enter government after all.

Minister of Education
Nordtun was appointed minister of education on 16 October 2023, following a cabinet reshuffle.

2023
Early into her tenure, Nordtun announced that the government would be changing the rules and terms for private owned kindergartens. She argued that this was to secure higher quality and more equal economic terms as public kindergartens. She also announced that the government would recommend schools to forbid phones to be used in classrooms with the exception of extraordinary circumstances. Additionally she announced that the government would backtrack on scrapping state funding for charter schools, with the intention to make a new arrangement to ensure financial support.

In December, the government announced that they would crack down on Russ celebrations. Nordtun elaborated that they would be aiming to have celebrations take place after exams rather than before, in addition to possibly banning Russ clothing, which she and the government argued could be grounds for social exclusion. She also urged municipalities, schools and parents to work together to ensure more inclusion in celebrations.

2024
Nordtun and her local chapter announced in late January that they would desire to implement mandatory community service and conscription for youths. The current scheme allows for exceptions for those who wanted to be conscripted or not, and she also specified that community service could be done in any field one would desire. The reasoning was said to be about youths "doing their duty" and to get more young people into work. The reception to the proposal were mixed. The Progress Party's Youth drew comparisons to slavery, while the Norwegian Young Conservatives expressed support for the proposal. Their leader, Ola Svenneby, went as far as to say that the Young Conservatives should adopt a similar policy. The Workers' Youth League didn't outright support the proposal, but called it a refreshing policy proposal.

Nordtun announced in March that the government would be seeking to amend previously proposed legislation about teacher intervention, which would allow teachers to intervene in psychical altercations between students. Previous legislation had been criticised for being to vague in this area by the Union of Education. The amendment would more broadly define how teachers can intervene in student altercations.

Nordtun announced in April that government would be working across five ministries in order to secure a national scheme for school meals, which would go through state funding and be available to all students. She emphasised that local schools would be able to decide themselves if they would want to implement the scheme and receive extra resources so that it won't effect the teachers' jobs.

Civic career
After her formal education to become a lawyer, Nordtun worked for the law firm Sjødin, Meling & Co. and then for Elden DA. She notably served as an assistant attorney for victims and survivors of the 22 July attack. She is on leave from her profession as a lawyer to focus on political work.

Personal life and education
Nordtun is the daughter of former Stavanger mayor and member of parliament Tore Nordtun and Solveig Nessa. She also has a sister, Eli Nessa. She is married to Espen Ertzeid, with whom she has three sons.

Nordtun attended Stavanger Cathedral School and went on to become a lawyer through studying at the University of Bergen.