VOTE411 Voter Guide

I currently am a Special Education Teacher with a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling. I am also the parent of students in CCISD. I believe I understand both sides of the coin being an educator and parent of students. I have served on the Teacher Advisory Committee for HISD and understand the concerns of fellow educators when it comes to our schools and educator/student retention. I believe that by working with our communities we can improve CCISD and all school districts in Texas.

I think the first step is to be completely transparent with any safety issues schools may be facing. We should again reach out to parents and encourage us to help in this process. I think by encouraging and fostering student-staff trust, we can eliminate the smaller issues. Students today refer to reporting issues as "snitching". If we can also include students in on the safety process we can build a culture of safety by helping them understand that they are helping to build a supportive environment. Lets encourage educators and district personnel who may visit schools to be more friendly and nurturing. Sometimes a simple Hello, to any and all students, can have a monumental affect on building rapport with students. Lets establish threat assessment teams and conduct the needed emergency planning and training to be proactive instead of reactive.

This is a question that is difficult for me to answer only because I am new to this dilemma. There is no one solution to this issue and the straight forward answer would be to adopt strategic, performance-based budgeting rather than incremental, historical spending. Key strategies include aligning expenditures directly with educational goals, enhancing operational efficiency through automation and cooperative purchasing, diversifying revenue sources, and implementing equity-driven, data-informed resource allocation to ensure high-needs areas are supported. But the next question is how do we do these things. As a member of the Board I am prepared to ask the hard questions and to listen to the people I represent rather that just hearing them. Managing the school districts funding will require more than several people sitting at a table making decisions for thousands. I thinks to resolve this issue there needs to be a collective effort from EVERYONE in the district.

It's no secret that Clear Creek Independent School District is facing a projected $27 million budget shortfall for the 2026-27 fiscal year, driven largely by declining student enrollment since 2020. To combat these, the district is focusing on optimizing staff efficiency, expanding early education, and exploring potential school consolidations. I personally believe that we should take a look at how other districts and maybe even states have handled similar situations. I believe that educators and parents need feel heard or appreciated and included in our struggles so they understand that we are all in this together. Lets hold ourselves accountable to make what changes we can and hold our state Legislature accountable for doing more to combat these challenges.

Prior to joining the CCISD school board, I gained extensive governance experience serving on boards for education-related nonprofit organizations, including the Clear Creek Education Foundation, the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, and Communities In Schools–Bay Area, where I held leadership roles. I currently serve as a board member of Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and as an executive officer on the Pasadena ISD Education Foundation.

School safety is a never ending job. I currently serve on the school safety committee which is made up of district personnel, public safety officials and community members. This committee must remain ever vigilant to the changing threats to our schools. The most important thing we have to do is to make sure everyone has a role to play in school safety.

We need to be able to show how each dollar spent affects student outcomes. We must remain nimble and react quickly to trends that are counter to improving student outcomes.

The two most pressing issues facing CCISD are declining enrollment and the resulting revenue challenges. These issues are further compounded by an outdated state funding model. While we have limited control over state funding, we do have more influence over enrollment. I believe we must continue educating our community about school finance and encourage their engagement with state legislators. At the district level, we should focus on retaining current students and strategically using open enrollment to stabilize enrollment at an agreed-upon level. The most effective way to do this is by continuing to develop engaging, high-quality programs that attract and retain students and families.