What do you think the AISD Trustee's role is if the state takes over our school district?

 

I believe that the AISD Board of Trustees has the same role regardless of circumstance: the dutiful service to the constituency in overseeing the best allocation of resources for the educational goals of the District as a whole and students, individually. If TEA were to take over AISD, it would be the role of the elected Trustees, at that point, to advocate for the local control of the District and do everything legally possible to fight the takeover. I have never once gone quietly into the night or backed away from public advocacy and I don’t plan on starting now. My hope is that the rest of my fellow Trustees will stand shoulder to shoulder with me, calling out issues, injustices, and poor outcomes as have transpired in other “taken over,” districts.

 

What do you think the AISD Trustee's role is if the state does NOT take over our school district?

 

Again, I believe the Trustee role is the same in either circumstance, but it looks different if there is a take over, admittedly. Even if there is not a take over, it will definitely not return to “business as usual.” There may be a conservatorship put in place or at the very least a TEA monitor is likely. I am the only candidate who has had experience advising School Board members and members of the public on what can and can’t be done, within legal bounds, in case of a conservatorship. When RRISD was under conservatorship, for almost a year longer than TEA had said, created division within it’s Board then used that division as a reason to keep RRISD in conservatorship, I was proud to offer counsel to individual Board members and local school advocates. I could bring that experience to AISD, which is why I have felt so strongly compelled to run at this time. Lastly, I want to note that even if the state has a vast shift in the political landscape, many of the TEA consequences are regulatory and difficult to immediately overcome by a new executive or TEA Commissioner. As a District, AISD must be prepared to suffer some TEA involvement in the coming months to year.

 

In sum, the role of the Austin ISD Trustees, for the next four years, will be to mitigate the damage of TEA through legal maneuvers and public advocacy regardless of take-over and to lobby for long-term sustainable solutions to deeply imbedded problems.

 

What can the district do to combat declining enrollment?

 

Austin ISD is a tremendous District. The highs are truly high: three of the top high school programs in the nation are within Austin ISD! (LASA, Ann Richards, and IB at Anderson.) This district should not have an enrollment problem. The real problem is that these programs and access to that level of excellence is not universally available. We need to get rid of old mindsets regarding tracking patterns and even vertical teams. People come to AISD (and any District, Manor New Tech High School as an example) for excellent or interesting programming. Programming brings resources, community involvement, excitement, investment, and ultimately enrollment. Austin ISD has long been late to the idea that school choice is not the future, but the current reality. District Leadership was caught unaware and pivoting has been slow. When AISD loses enrollment to charter schools, it’s not because those schools have better teachers or facilities or are in their family’s neighborhood. Parents pick schools on programming, community, and perceived opportunities for their children.

 

But you can not be a programming choice district without strong transportation. Currently, TEA pays 1/8, or $7 a mile, of reimbursement. I have had conversations with the head of transportation in which we have discussed that if only the magnet students who were not socioeconomicly disadvantaged or even at 200% of the poverty line, paid $200 to $300 a year for transportation, the transportation budget would be net positive 7 million dollars. Obviously this is very quick (back of a napkin) math and made no allowance for the administrative costs or the tracking of payments (which Kris and I both thought could be done with the same system that the kids use for lunch money) but the idea is out there and percolating. He’s promised to look into it and occasionally lets me know his progress. I would fully support an idea like this. Today, I drove 60 miles from 6AM to 10:20PM driving my own two children to and from AISD schools and programs. I have a tremendous amount of privilege to be able to do so, but $400 a year for two children seems a very small price to pay to stay off of I-35. And I do think that after a year of no late-bus and diminished activity transportation, parents who can afford to do so, will be more than willing to bolster the AISD transportation budget, creating access to more programing for all. 

 

AISD will likely continue to face budget problems.  What do you think the district should do to move towards a balanced budget?

 

There are short term solutions and long term solutions necessary. Here are some examples of both: 

 

1. In the very short-term, the district needs to look at it’s workforce at HQ. They need to allow more people to work from home, consolidate office space and rent more of that building out to create revenue. Maybe rent the whole building and move HQ employees to closed school sites. The numbers on that would be interesting to consider.

2. Additionally, the District needs to actively pursue private partnerships and develop a system that easily allows AISD to accept more opportunities. When water polo was on the chopping block, USA Water Polo was willing to make a financial contribution to help keep the sport in UIL compliance, but because there was not a system to allocate money to a specific sport, the District was unable to accept that help. It was frustrating to say the least. I often think of the Ann Richards school and lament that every campus does not have a private foundation and endowment to help supplement the education of more students. The District is just not equipped to accept and incorporate medium-sized organizational donations at the District level and that needs attention.

3. Immediately, I think the District should charge the most financially stable households for transportation to magnet or school-choice programs and use the offset to create greater access for more students to said programs, thus creating better access.

 

Longterm: 

1. Stop selling schools. Work on private-public partnerships to get those building retrofitted as subsidized housing for teachers. I know there is a similar program happening currently, and I hope it is wildly successful and can be used as a blueprint for other shuttered campuses.

2. Continue to advocate for a change in the recapture formula to take into account suburban and urban school district needs. An easy fix would be to divide the property tax dollars by enrolled students at any ISD, this would change the formula so that urban school districts (with their large enrollment) would be on more equal footing with rural districts that have a higher land-to-student ratio.

3. Advocate at the state level for better accountability measures. I hate nothing like I hate STAAR testing and now with the addition of all the “benchmark” (MAP) tests, there is no time for actual teaching and learning. Between September 1 and September 11, middle schoolers now have to take at least FOUR full-class periods of MAP tests, for English ALONE. And the truth is that a child with accommodations or one who just wants to take their time on the test, could spend all 11 calendar days testing. Then, the state comes back and blames educators and Districts for “poor” results on their seventh test of the month. This is a system that only enriches the contractors who create these tests and robs professionals of their autonomy and the joy of teaching.

 

What have you done to engage with the community you represent, including teachers and staff at schools and other worksites? What will you do as a trustee to engage with the community?

 

1. Accessibility in a Professional Capacity: I am highly accessible to various communities. In my professional capacity as an attorney, I have a request link on my website that allows anyone with a school-law question to schedule a free one-hour legal consultation. My partner and I provide this as a public service and never charge for it. In 2026 alone, we have done 16 free consultations for teachers with school law questions and 22 for parents and students. I also have a phone that I answer whenever possible and my Facebook messages are open for school or legal questions, as some of you personally know.

 

2. Volunteerism: I volunteer consistently at not only the campuses which my children attend, but campuses throughout the District. In the past, I have been PTA vice-president at various campuses. I currently volunteer as an AP testing monitor for two solid weeks across three campuses at the end of the year because I know that in May, it’s hard to find parent volunteers. Every year I personally provide two thank you meals for my children’s teachers and coaches and do a breakfast for the entire staff of their schools. Again, as some of you know. I coach a mock trial team at my son’s high school and traveled with the Austin team as a chaperone, paying my own way, to the state competition. I also work the week before school setting up classrooms for teachers. 

 

Most importantly, in that volunteerism, I directly involve my children. My daughter spends the last of her summer days organizing learning materials and making paper decorations for classrooms and my son does much of the cooking for school thank-you meals. My son lead the charge on the water polo advocacy in May, even though as an introvert it did not come naturally to him.I think we often overlook the contributions of our students and their willingness to also be involved. They also help me build community and for that I am very thankful.

 

3. Asking Questions and Building Relationships: I am quick to ask teachers and coaches, “What do you need,” then I get that. Tissues, snacks for track meets, 48 pom poms, a chaperone to Barton Creek to collect salamander data, my kid to stop smacking her gum in class (still working on that), regardless of what it is, if it is within my abilities, I try to find a way to support individual educators by solving small but annoying problems. Here’s the secret: by being accessible and willing to solve small problems, I have access to educators and have built great relationships with people across the district in a way that fosters trust and approachability. None of that would change as a Trustee.

 

4.Consistency: I show up. When there is a cause that requires bodies or loud voices, my community knows that they can count on me. I watch all the Board meetings, many times in person, and know the issues and can speak to them fully and intelligently. Just this year, my activism has helped to keep AISD from defunding water polo as a sport, helped keep full time librarians in schools, and has (so far) kept the grievance process in tact so that there is due process when parents, employees, teachers, students, or community members have complaints.

 

5. Approachability: I am very honest about my struggles and frustrations with the District, because I can not be the only one. I openly discuss my frustrations with the grievance system both from inside the district and outside. I am not shy about admitting that I sometimes drive 60 miles a day to various AISD campuses and activities. I openly (with her permission) talk about my daughter who is now, as an eighth-grader, just barely literate with the fluency of a first grader (and jokingly holds the record for longest ARD). My community understands that I come from a place of empathy and approachability. Additionally, I am fluent in Spanish and American Sign Language and have found my multi-lingualism one of my strongest assets. I wish I knew more languages, honestly. But being able to communicate in Spanish and ASL has always made me much more approachable to marginalized populations. 

 

 

The voters approved a $2.4B bond in 2022. What specific changes will you make to ensure projects stay on time, on budget, and schools aren’t disrupted? How will you monitor the distribution of funds that were intended for the closed schools?

 

As formal counsel for that bond, I know exactly where the problems are and part of it is just constuctionability on a timeline that was too rushed in the first place. I understand that AISD wants these construction projects to move at lightening speed so that they can show the voters and constituents that their money is hard at work, but it should never come at the expense of teachers and students. Having to bus our middle schoolers 20 minutes each way because a campus does not have a field space to hold practice, was a real lack of planning especially when the ground was flat and wide enough to make a temporary field, but no one had budgeted that. My hope is that as future projects move along, there will be lessons learned and greater accommodations for the learning that has to happen at these construction sites, we are an educational institution after all. 

 

Additionally, I would ask AISD to leverage it’s contacts and relationships at the city to work on permit timing and construction variances. Mathias has done a great job of building strong relationships with the city of Austin, to his credit. I just wish he leveraged those relationships. We shouldn’t have to rework an entire parking lot on an athletic project because we are short four parking spaces. I have already secured the unofficial endorsements of two of the city of Austin council members and serve as the City of Austin Ethics Commissioner and look forward to continuing my relationships with city interests to strengthen that relationship further, when appropriate.

 

When it comes to funds that are allocated for closed or closing schools, I wish we had more options. Because these are “golden penny” facilities bonds, using the money for anything other than the named project is not easy. It would require a waiver and variance from the state and city and there is a percentage that can not be changed at all. I would invite the district to lobby for either a special-allocation through the legislature or find creative ways to use the funds towards retrofitting the buildings for other purposes. If, by some red tape miracle, we are able to shift these bond dollars, I think they should follow the students of the closed schools. That money was ment for those communities and whenever possible, should benefit them as directly as possible.

 

What will you do to monitor the academic growth of all schools, and will you hold the superintendent accountable if growth stalls?

 

Not STAAR, but no one asked me. In all seriousness, we do not need more testing. For further explanation, you can see my rant on MAP tests above.

 

The truth is that even lay people can recognize strong and struggling teachers. I wish there was more observation and feedback available in the classrooms, not as a means of scoring, but as a manner of constructive feedback. Unfortunately, that option would require more money for more bodies and that is just not an option at this time. I firmly believe that supporting teachers leads to the best academic outcomes. If we are not going to equip our teachers with both the resources and the space to teach, any discussion of academic growth is a farce.

 

In order to have a real discussion about growth at schools, we have to have the discussion of resources. I think that schools that are historically under-resourced should have lower thresholds for accountability. I think there should be more money, not less autonomy, for teachers who choose to go where they are most needed. And I think we could lift whole communities with programming in areas that lack it. THEN we can talk about numerical academic growth monitoring. 

 

Not to say that academic growth is not important, teaching and growing these students in our charge is, after all, why we are here. I just think that any conversation about academic growth without a conversation about resource allocation in this District is not an honest one. To that end, it is important to look for points where more support is needed in the data that is obtained and to approach short comings with curiosity and the willingness to understand what is happening on the ground. As the Board’s only employee, I do believe that this is the superintendent’s charge. His contract should reflect and reward creative problem solving, curiosity, stepping back from the myopic lens that looks only at numbers without accounting for resources, programming, and community. I have no problem holding anyone accountable for the stalling of academic growth, and promise that I will begin with myself. 

 

How will you monitor the utilization of school buildings that AISD has closed?  How will you ensure that stakeholders are informed of the status of building ownership, use, and maintenance costs?

 

This is a hot button issue for me, personally. The Board of Trustees has the sole discretion to sell, mortgage, leverage, change, or convert any real property. Sometimes AISD gets around this by passing a resolution that says that the Board instructs the superintendent or his designee to do some kind of real estate transaction. That is what happened in the situation with the old Rosedale school. I think it is particularly problematic to have a Board that may not understand all the legalities and responsibilities and what exactly they are authorizing the District to do without their oversight. I would, if elected, ask the Board to be weary of “authorizations of power,” granted to the District regarding real estate transactions (and Bond construction, honestly). I would pull back all prior authorizations so that the Board could be informed of what is actually happening on some of these projects. Sometimes the authorization the district is working under is four or five years old! There needs to be a full scale review and reassignment of said authorizations for a year so that the Board can at least be kept abreast of projects every year.

 

What is your top priority if elected?

 

Mitigate the damage and impact of the actions that TEA will take in the coming year. Do everything in my power as an attorney, as an advocate, as a loud PTA mom to shelter the students, staff, teachers, and other members of the AISD family from the political fall out of TEA’s wrath. We are not meant to be the political pawn Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton have become accustomed to treating us as.