Charlotta "Lotta" Kristina Johansdotter Edholm (born 8 February 1965) is a Swedish politician for the Liberals. She has been Minister for Upper Secondary School, Higher Education and Research since June 2025, having previously been Minister for Schools from 2022 to 2025, in the Ulf Kristersson cabinet.

Early life, education and career

Edholm was born in

Västerås Västerås () is a city in central Sweden on the shore of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in the province of Västmanland, west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 127,799 at the end of 2019, out of the municipal total of 158,653, over 100,000 mo ...

, and has a BA in political sciences from

Stockholm University Stockholm University (SU) () is a public university, public research university in Stockholm, Sweden, founded as a college in 1878, with university status since 1960. With over 33,000 students at four different faculties: law, humanities, social ...

. She served as a member of the

Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...

() from 1992 to 1994. She was municipal commissioner () for schools in Stockholm from 2006 to 2014, and 2018 to 2020 as well as in opposition from 2014 to 2018. She has been on the board of the freeschool group Tellusgruppen.

Minister for Schools

On 18 October 2022 she was appointed the minister for schools in the Ulf Kristersson cabinet. In 2023, she launched an investigation into state-supported friskolor (Free Schools), after calling into question its profit-making model. In recent years there had been a drop in educational standards with inequality rising. 15% of primary pupils (up to 16-year-old) and 30% of all upper school pupils went to friskolor. One major issue was the claim that some friskolor awarded pupils grades that were too high, distorting the grading system.

Personal life

She was married to former Liberal party leader,

Lars Leijonborg Lars Erik Ansgar Leijonborg (born 21 November 1949) is a Swedish politician, Minister for Higher Education and Research 2006-2009 and Head of the Ministry of Education and Research 2006–2007. During a ten-year period from 1997 to 2007, he ser ...

, with whom she has one son.

References

1965 births Living people Members of the Riksdag from the Liberals (Sweden) Women government ministers of Sweden Ministers for schools of Sweden Women members of the Riksdag People from Västerås {{Sweden-politician-stub