D3C Candidate ISD Candidate Questionnaire

I submitted the following responses on March 17th to the request I received from the Denton County Conservative Coalition.

Unless otherwise noted (like masking email addresses), what follows is what I submitted to them, word for word.

What do you see as the primary work of the Board of Education?

If the question is about the U.S. Department of Education. Its primary work is administering federal education funding, enforcing federal civil rights laws in schools, collecting national education data, and ensuring compliance with federal requirements. It does not set curriculum, run schools, or govern local districts. Whether it should continue to exist in its current form is an active debate right now at the federal level.

If the question is about the Texas State Board of Education,  they are an elected body that sets statewide curriculum standards (the TEKS), directs investment of the Permanent School Fund (which is the state's public education endowment), and approves instructional materials for Texas public schools. It is the policy-setting body for the Texas Education Agency (no elected officials). Its primary work should be ensuring that curriculum standards are rigorous, that instructional materials are high quality, and that the Permanent School Fund is managed responsibly for the long-term benefit of Texas students.

If the question is about the CFBISD Board of Trustees, the work of the Board of Trustees is setting the strategic direction for the district, approving the budget, hiring and evaluating the superintendent, and holding administration accountable for results. The Board must focus all of this work on student outcomes and financial stewardship. The board governs. It does not manage.

What is a school board member's role and responsibility?

School Board Trustees represent the ENTIRE community by making data-driven governance decisions, ensuring fiscal responsibility, and demanding transparency. That community includes students, families, teachers, and taxpayers. A trustee's responsibility is to ask the hard questions, make sure the answers are backed by data as evidence, and ensure every decision serves students first.

How does that role differ from the role of the superintendent or administration?

The board sets the vision and the guardrails. The superintendent executes. The board approves the budget; the superintendent manages spending. The board sets student outcome goals and the superintendent delivers results. When trustees start directing curriculum, managing campuses, or overriding staffing decisions, they undermine the leadership structure the district depends on. The board governs. The superintendent manages. When those lines blur, the district suffers. With that said, the superintendent must make sure that the central office administration staff is serving and supporting the campuses across the district. 

How can the board be accessible to the community? To specific community groups?

Transparency is the foundation. That means financial reporting any taxpayer can understand, community input before major decisions rather than after, and full Open Meetings Act compliance in spirit, not just in letter. Beyond that, trustees should be present, attentive, and reachable. Attend campus events. Respond to emails. Accessibility doesn't mean governing by petition. It means the community never has to wonder what the board is doing or why.

What issues do you believe your district needs to address in its academic program and offerings?

Elementary and Middle school performance. Data across Texas shows student progress stalls around sixth grade, and CFBISD is no exception. Career and technical education needs expansion. The definition of college and career ready is changing rapidly today. Faster than ever before. Not every student is on a four-year college track, and they shouldn't have to be. Students need pathways to industry certifications and marketable credentials alongside their diplomas. And early literacy remains foundational. If a child can't read at grade level by third grade, every year after that is an uphill battle.

What changes would you recommend?

Expand CTE pathways and employer partnerships so students graduate with real options. Strengthen middle school intervention programs where achievement gaps widen. Ensure we have access to pre-K across the district. Hold administration accountable for measurable academic progress, not just test scores, but graduation rates, college enrollment, credential attainment, and career readiness.

What should your school district do to better prepare students as citizens?

Teach them core principles of honesty, candor, and respect. Teach them to think critically, communicate clearly, and understand the civic institutions that govern their lives. That includes financial literacy, an understanding of how government works at every level, and the ability to evaluate information and engage in civil discourse. Students should leave CFBISD prepared to participate in their communities as voters, taxpayers, employees, and neighbors. That's not ideological. It's foundational.

What is the role of schools in teaching children about topics such as: sex education, cyber-safety, AIDS, wellness, bullying?

Schools have a role in teaching these topics in age-appropriate ways, in partnership with parents, not as a substitute for them. Parents should know exactly what's being taught, have access to the materials, and have the ability to opt out. Cyber-safety and bullying prevention are essential in today's environment and I don't think there's serious disagreement on that. On topics like sex education, the curriculum should be age-appropriate, biologically AND medically accurate, and fully transparent to parents. No surprises. Parents are the primary authority on how and when these conversations happen with their children. The school's role is to support that, not override it.

What should be taught in schools beyond "reading, writing and arithmetic"?

Sound principles to build character, civics, and financial literacy. Students should understand budgeting, credit, and basic personal finance before they graduate. Civics and government, so they understand how the institutions that affect their lives actually work. Career and technical skills that lead to employable credentials. Critical thinking and communication skills that prepare students to evaluate information, solve problems, and work with people who think differently than they do. Technology literacy, including a practical understanding of AI tools that are already reshaping the workforce. Regarding character... the importance of integrity, personal responsibility, and work ethic. These values are foundational for a productive life.

What are your thoughts on your school district's programs for special education students, English Language Learners (ELL) and gifted programs.

All three are essential and all three are chronically underfunded at the state level. Texas has a well-documented history of underserving special education students. The state operated under a cap that suppressed identification for years, and the funding gap remains over $2 billion statewide. CFBISD is nearly 43% bilingual and ELL students, which means this isn't a niche program. It's core to the district's mission. And gifted students deserve the same attention and investment as every other population. A district that only focuses on struggling students while ignoring high performers isn't serving all kids. It's rationing attention. Every student deserves a program that meets them where they are and pushes them forward. I also think that it is critically important that we leverage our strengths in these areas to invite and welcome in new students into our district, driving higher enrollment and therefore capturing additional funding from the state to pay for them. 

What is your vision for education in this community?

In five years, I want CFBISD to be a district families actively choose. I want CFBISD to be a district that families are drawn to based on the quality of the education that their kids receive.  We need to tell our story better in this district. We need to excite and mobilize the students, parents, teachers, administrators, and staff to tell the real story of CFBISD. We have to give them something to be excited about. We need to give them a reason to be passionate about it enough to mobilize and amplify it. That means a balanced budget with multi-year financial visibility, bond projects delivered on time and on budget, rising enrollment driven by strong academic programs and community confidence, and a board that parents and taxpayers trust because they can see how decisions are made and why. Teachers feel supported enough to stay. Students have clear pathways, whether college, a credential, or a career, when they walk across the stage at graduation. 

What do you see as the major issue(s) facing your school district? Public education?

Locally: financial sustainability, community trust, and declining enrollment. They're directly connected. The district ran consecutive deficit budgets, closed four schools, and is being sued by parents over process. Those are governance problems.

Statewide: Texas didn't increase the basic allotment for six years. The $55 increase we finally got doesn't cover inflation. Meanwhile the state passed a billion-dollar voucher program that funnels public tax dollars to private schools with virtually no accountability. And recapture takes nearly $5 billion from local districts, most of which now effectively funds charter school growth rather than helping underfunded traditional schools. Our local challenges are real, but they exist inside a state system that is structurally working against public education in nearly every way. 

Do you have specific suggestions for improvement?

Transparent multi-year financial planning and publishing it in ways that all stakeholders understand. Benchmarking central administration costs against peer districts. Protecting and prioritizing classroom instruction and teacher pay. "Play offense" to slow the enrollment declines by promoting the district in ways that keep people with us and invite and welcome new families into it when they have that choice to make. Expanding career and technical education that aligns to the demands of the industries and markets that students will go to seek employment. Holding the superintendent accountable against clear, measurable goals. And advocating loudly, alongside every district in the state, for the legislature to meaningfully increase per-pupil funding and stop using recapture as a slush fund.

How does a school board balance the need to provide a quality education with the need to respond to the local taxpayer burden?

Start with the student. That's the filter. Then be honest with taxpayers about trade-offs. The way you balance competing interests is through transparency. When people can see the data, understand the constraints, and trust the process, they may not love every outcome, but they'll accept that it was reached fairly. Taxpayers deserve to know their money is being spent efficiently. Students deserve a district that invests in their future. Those aren't in conflict if the board is disciplined about where dollars go and honest about why. Lastly, we must mobilize our communities and partner with other communities to demand better support from the state. 

As a board member, where would you look to make budget cuts?

Central administration overhead, benchmarked against peer districts. Facility costs in underutilized buildings, which is what the consolidation was designed to address. Contracts and vendor spending that hasn't been competitively bid or reviewed recently. Administrative layers that don't directly support campus-level instruction.

Are there any areas you would not consider cutting? How would you determine your budget priorities?

Classroom instruction and teacher compensation must be protected. Full stop. Teachers, counselors, campus-level support staff: the people who are in front of students every day are the last place you cut, not the first. Budget priorities should be determined by a simple test. Does this expenditure directly improve outcomes for students? If yes, protect it. If the connection is indirect or unclear, scrutinize it hard.

What changes should be made on the state and local level regarding public education?

State level: Meaningfully increase the basic allotment and tie it to an annual inflation adjustment so public education isn't held hostage every legislative session. Reform recapture so that local tax dollars collected from property-wealthy districts actually go to underfunded schools instead of subsidizing charter expansion and balancing the state budget. Hold ESA-funded private schools to the same accountability standards we require of public schools. If you take public money, you should meet public standards.

Local level: Multi-year financial transparency. Superintendent accountability tied to measurable outcomes. Community engagement before major decisions, not after. And a board that understands its role is governance, not management.

Please discuss the pros and cons of school choice in light of the controversy surrounding it. 

I'll be direct and candid, because this group deserves a straight answer. Texas has had school choice for decades. Parents have been choosing how their children get their education for a very long time. What has been in the balance for the last several legislative sessions in our state is not school choice, it's tapping taxpayer funds to subsidize alternatives to public education while underfunding public education in our state. Providing quality public education is a requirement in the Texas Constitution. We do not have a choice but to provide QUALITY public education without amending the Texas Constitution. 

The case for school choice is rooted in a legitimate principle: parents should have options, especially when their local school cannot legitimately meet their child's needs. For families with children with disabilities whose needs can't be legitimately met by their campus, or families trapped in a chronically underperforming school with no realistic alternative, the desire for choice is understandable and valid. Competition can also push institutions to improve.

Here is where I have serious concerns. The Texas ESA program passed under Senate Bill 2 allocates over a billion dollars in public tax money to private schools that are not required to administer standardized tests, hire certified teachers, accept all students, or meet the accountability standards we impose on every public school in the state. Public schools must accept every child who walks through the door. Private schools receiving ESA funds can turn students away, including the low-income and special needs students the program claims to prioritize. I am submitting this on March 17, 2026 and within the last two weeks it has been reported that over 70% of the families requesting ESAs in Texas are families that have had children in private schools. This was predictable. Think about that. When this was being debated, those in favor of ESAs declared loudly that this would not be happening. 

The fiscal impact is real and measurable. Every student who leaves a traditional district takes per-pupil funding with them, but the district's fixed costs (buildings, utilities, base staffing) don't shrink proportionally. In districts already dealing with declining enrollment, like CFBISD, this accelerates the deficit spiral. Due to how recapture works, when students leave, the district's recapture liability can actually increase. The district loses the student, loses the funding, and pays more to the state.

The basic allotment for public schools was increased by $55 in the last legislative session, the first increase since 2019. Meanwhile, the ESA provides over $10,000 per student to private schools. That's not parental empowerment. That's a policy choice to invest in a parallel system while starving the one that serves 5.4 million Texas children. The one that is legally obligated by our constitution.

I believe in parental choice. I also believe that we have had parental choice. What we didn't have is a subsidy and now we do. I believe that if you take public money, you should meet public standards. I believe that the current program was designed to benefit private schools and the interests that lobbied for it, not to improve outcomes for the students who need help most. I'll always be honest about that, even in rooms where that is not the thing that folks want to hear.