Simaran Bakshi

Simaran’s professional journey started 20+ years ago in India teaching at the K-12 International Baccalaureate schools. Migrating to the United States on a work visa as a 6th grade teacher, and then moving to Jacksonville as a 4th grade math and science teacher in an Urban Title I school. Simaran has served Jacksonville students for the last 16 years in a variety of roles, consistently moving the career graph upwards. Her drive for excellence led to turning around three underperforming schools to achieving an “A” ranking. This led to her being the recipient of Florida TaxWatch Principal Leadership Award for 2020. She has been successfully leading IDEA Jax since October, 2020 as the VP of Schools.

Simaran is published by the John Hopkins Institute of Education Policy and Fordham B. Institute, and has received other media accolades. She holds two master’s degrees in the fields of Business Administration, and Educational Leadership from Saint Leo University. She is a proud mother of two: daughter a producer at CNN/HLN, and son a Mechanical Engineer and budding entrepreneur. Simaran and her husband call Jacksonville their home, along with their feather baby, Yoshi.