Additional Information

Candidate Survey Responses

RESPONSES TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

Please describe any specific goals or legislative initiatives you would pursue to strengthen the state’s public education system.

Recapture legislation from the 1990's is no longer working to adequately fund our public education system. As a state house representative, I will bring forward legislative initiatives to reform the decades outdated program. The current system is complex and lacks transparency. Funding appropriations have not kept pace with actual costs of operations. While I am interested in an overhaul of the legislation, at a minimum we need a cost of inflation adjustment for student dollars.

The 89th Legislature passed an $8 billion school funding bill, HB 2. However, despite years of unanswered “inflationary challenges, a large majority of that funding was earmarked to specific programs and did not supply districts with significant flexible funding, leaving the majority of Texas students in districts with deficit budgets and other significant funding challenges. Do you believe Texas public schools should receive additional funding? If so, how should the state pay for it, and should that funding be earmarked at the state level or provide districts with flexible dollars?

The recapture funding legislation has failed to keep pace with inflationary costs of educating our students. School districts need funding that covers real and current operational costs. Texas, as a Republic, has always been a fierce advocate for local control and school districts are no different. Educators with boots on the ground know their unique challenges and how best to serve their communities. While we should agree at a state level on the minimum standards for all of our districts, our districts need flexibility in addressing their own issues.

Education savings accounts (ESAs) redirect public funds to private or home schools. How do you believe Texas should fund public schools, traditional and charter, alongside ESA vouchers? How should ESA spending be held accountable to taxpayers?

Any educational body receiving public funds should be held accountable under the same standards and guidelines. Guidelines need to be visible and transparent and reporting must be also.

Under HB 2, passed in 2025, all educators in core content courses (math, English, science, and social studies) must be certified by 2030. While this is a good start, more can and should be done to ensure high-quality teachers continue to enter the classroom. What are your suggestions to improve the quality of the new teacher pipeline?

Recruiting quality teachers should include national competitive starting pay and benefits for new graduates. Additionally, there is an opportunity to recruit talented educators who are wishing to leave private industry to teach. As a physician, I would love to teach sciences and transition from clinical care to education but the pay is not remotely competitive. We also need a state campaign that elevates the respect of the profession. I am a fan of "Those that can, teach". I would like to see a Teach for Texans campaign that aligns service in high need areas with financial incentives for those qualified and willing to serve.

The 89th Legislature passed legislation creating a new mechanism to provide only classroom teachers with tiered raises based on early years of service and their district’s student enrollment. While the raises were significant, they did not apply to all campus educators, and the program created a significant negative funding stream at the district level due to unfunded increased costs for non-salary compensation tied to payroll, such as TRS retirement contributions. Do you support a state-funded across-the-board pay raise for all Texas educators? How would you ensure that compensation keeps pace with inflation and remains competitive with other professions?

We need to correct the unfunded costs to TRS in the next cycle. To ensure that compensation remains competitive with other professions, state funding increases need to be tied to periodic data reviews looking at both compensation packages and cost of living variables.

The high cost of health insurance for active and retired educators continues to reduce take-home pay, with educators shouldering the vast majority of their ever-increasing heath care costs. How would you address the affordability and sustainability of educator health care, particularly the TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care programs?

This is something I am particularly passionate about and very uniquely poised to tackle. For the last several years of my career, I have had first hand experience in the insurance industry. This coupled with my experience managing a practice and as a lifelong patient advocate puts me in a position of understanding the health care “business” and how to negotiate and manage plan benefits. For example, most candidates do not understand the difference between a state fully insured plan or an ASO. As a state fully insured plan, we have state level authorities to craft plans specific to our state needs and desires for coverage options. Health care costs now account for 20% GDP and we are all feeling this at home. I am committed to working on affordable health care solutions for all.

Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) should remain a defined-benefit pension plan for all current and future members? If not, what is your plan to provide a secure retirement for Texas educators, particularly considering that state law has been set up such that most districts do not participate in Social Security?

There are pros and cons to defined-benefit versus defined-contribution plans. The defined-benefit pension arrangement was an important aspect of my own parents retirement planning and I have seen first hand the benefits of this system. It had been my understanding that it is actually federal law that prohibits districts from participating in both options. As a state representative, I will work with our educators to ensure that we have a retirement plan that is competitive and works best for the people it is serving.

The Legislature has passed a new “through-year” multi-test model under HB 8. What role should standardized testing play in evaluating students, teachers, and schools? Should test results continue to determine A–F accountability ratings or teacher pay?

Moving to a system that offers shorter and more frequent assessments can reduce the burden of a massive year end test and provide real-time data. However, it would be prudent to limit the role of testing as a means of evaluating teachers and schools especially during periods of transition. A variety of factors should be used to determine accountability ratings. Ultimately our goals are to prepare students to take their place as productive and independent adult members of society and those outcomes are predicated on more factors than just standardized test scores.

Recent legislative debates have focused on “parental rights” in education. In your view, what is the appropriate balance between accommodating the often conflicting wishes of individual parents while maintaining policies that reflect the broader community’s educational priorities and still providing consistency and an appropriate level of professional deference to educators?

Educators need a broad framework of resources that allow them the flexibility to adjust to the particulars in their classrooms and schools. Parents need transparency, visibility and input into these frameworks. The greatest conflicts have arisen from areas that cross into parental authority on moral upbringing. I believe that focusing our public schools on math, science, reading, grammar and vocational preparations will help to bring perceived conflicts into an aligned educational path.

HB 3 (2023) imposed new school safety requirements but did not fully fund them. Although the 89th Legislature increased the School Safety Allotment, many districts continue to face substantial unfunded staffing and facility costs associated with school safety laws. How would you make schools safer and ensure the state provides adequate funding to meet safety mandates?

We need to study the options and effectiveness of various methods in achieving school safety and their associated costs. Protecting our children and staff is an urgent issue that should not be financially short-changed. The state should consider utilizing rainy day funds to tackle this crisis. The state should also consider a public campaign that promotes school safety. This is a moral crisis. Many of us are deeply saddened that endangering lives in schools has been allowed to become a normalized risk of daily life. As a physician I believe that this a reflection of poor mental health in our state and part of tackling this issue will require mental health resources that stop violent crimes before they are enacted.

What do you believe is the proper role of the State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and local school districts in setting curriculum standards and selecting instructional materials?

The State Board of Education sets the minimum curriculum standards and approves educational materials while the Texas Education Agency oversees the how's of implementation and supports schools with funding from state and federal levels. Ideally the TEA is a regional voice providing a pathway for local school districts to give and receive feedback from lived experience. Districts, the TEA and SBE need to work collaboratively to achieve shared goals for success. No one body is the sole authority on state public education and each has value that needs to be included in our process.

State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose allowing public employees to continue exercising this right? Why or why not?

I fully support individual rights to join professional associations and will oppose efforts that interfere with those rights.

Additional Comments from Candidate on Survey

COMMENTS SUBMITTED IN RESPONSE TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

My husband and I were both raised by public school teachers. My mother taught 8th grade math, my grandmother's taught English and history, my cousin teaches science and another cousin transitioned from classroom to Avid. Trust me when I say you do not want to challenge them to a game of Boggle or trivia! I grew up in Texas public schools including my university and medical school experiences and I believe that a robust public education program is integral to the success of individual adults and our society. Our own children have come through the Texas public schools. I am concerned that Texas lags the nation in achieving educational excellence and we need to adjust to become a national leader. I have listened to the day to day challenges from the teachers in my family and their friends. I do also understand that it is difficult at times for public schools to meet the needs of particular situations and parents must have options to choose educational pathways that suit their students. However, these need not be competing interests. As a state representative I will champion our education system and the superstars serving it.