People don’t know about the SBOE or what it does. Why should Texans care about the SBOE? What real impact do you have on Texans? 

The SBOE is entrusted to shape the next generation of Texans. Primarily, this comes through setting curriculum standards (TEKS), reviewing instructional materials, establishing graduation requirements, and overseeing the $53B Permanent School Fund. Through these processes, the SBOE is a leverage point for impacting over 5.5 million public school students throughout the state.

When your term is over, what do you hope to have accomplished on the SBOE? 

During my term, I am focused on improving the preparedness of our students for the future. The Legislature gave us some additional authority last session regarding High Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM). We have had a restoration of some authority that was lost in 2011, the execution of which will lead to the creation of a list of instructional materials that are better academically and will better prepare students (and teachers) for success. HQIM can be a game changer for student outcomes if districts make the choice to adopt and implement them. 

Additionally, we are going to work on Social Studies standards soon, which is important for setting the expectation for what students will know about our American and Texas history as well as our governmental system. Furthermore, we know there are deficits in Math and we are working on some tools to assist with that, while continuing to dive deeper in understanding what is going on in this area and how to fix it going forward. 

When I look back on my term, I plan to be able to point to specific accomplishments in these three areas where we helped move the state forward.

What do you think is the biggest misconception about the SBOE?

Many think the SBOE has direct oversight of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). While that was true at times throughout the SBOE’s history, it is no longer so. We have a power-sharing relationship with TEA, where we each have responsibilities and rely on each other for various approvals.

The SBOE districts are HUGE, largest districts other than statewide. What kind of budget and resource do you have? 

Each SBOE district covers around 2 million people. For perspective, each US Congressman in Texas represents about 770,000 people. It’s a massive responsibility to represent this many Texans and what they desire out of the state’s public school system. At the same time, we receive no pay or benefits, our budget is minimal (a few thousand dollars a year for travel) and members receive no staff. As a result of this structure, we rely heavily on volunteers in our communities to help us make informed decisions.

Over the last number of years we have seen an uprising of parents getting involved in their schools in a way never seen before. How has that affected the SBOE? What are your thoughts on that development – parents engaging – do you see that as a net positive or negative? (Many educational organizations see it as a negative as the parents are not professional educators.) 

To put it simply, no one knows a child and is more vested in his or her best interest than parents. As a result, parental engagement must be a priority. One good change in that area is the new parent portal, created by HB1605, which will give parents access to all their child’s curriculum. Professional educators are certainly important, but I believe the best results can be achieved when parents and professionals work together. Many SBOE members are parents ourselves and we strive to understand the concerns of parents at large. The entire parental engagement movement is a huge positive for education! We need more parents involved!