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.

I would make sure that all public-school teachers receive a living wage. We must fully fund our public schools, I would challenge the vouch system

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?

If this bill is not fully supporting our teachers, staff and students, then we need to find out why. We need to treat teachers like the professionals that they are, with professional wages and community support. I would have to do my due diligence, but if flexible dollars mean school vouchers, I am totally against it. Properly taxing large corporations that are currently not paying taxes would be a start.

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?

If there is no way to repel the current voucher system, the monies should go to the school, not the parent, and there need to be guild lines that are required by the state for the vouchers.

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?

We need to promote teaching profession and give them the support that they need in the classroom. Make sure the student to teacher ratio benefits the teacher and the students. Teachers are not counselors, nurses, or police, they are there to provide education. Every school should be fully staffed with counselors, nurses, and administrators that the teaching staff can rely on. I believe that administrators must support the teaching staff and have a united front.

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 must make sure that we are employing the most qualified teachers. I believe this issue is different for larger urban schools than for smaller rural schools. I am not familiar with the TRS retirement plan. Currently I do not know of anyone's salary that has kept pace with inflation. Inflation needs to be addressed as a separate issue.

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?

Expand Medicare to cover everyone. Healthcare is an issue for all Texans.

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?

I would have to do more research into this. If I understand the TRS correctly, if you move out of state and teach in a different state, you are not contributing to the Texas retirement fund. Maybe participating in a nationwide Social Security system would benefit retirement.

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?

We have 5 million students in Texas, and we pass to many students that are not prepared for the next grade. Children learn at different levels and different ways. We should be teaching to the student, not for the test scores. I believe that those that choose the teaching profession, do so because they want to grow young minds, they don't want test scores to define their students or their performance.

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?

I think it begins at home. This is something that we don't have a lot of control over. Parents instilling values, respect and manors. It needs to be clear that administrators, staff and teachers will also be reinforcing these qualities. We cannot allow bulldozer parents to undermine these values. This is not church or politics, but basic decency and should be followed by all.

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 make sure that we are using and distributing school funds correctly. Focusing on making our schools a safe, secure, and nurturing atmosphere.

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?

They work together, the SBOE sets the statewide standards, the TEA manages funding and compliance, the local school districts teach the approved standards set by the SBOE. I believe there needs to be a statewide standard, but I feel we are falling short when it comes to educating our children.

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?

Yes, I support.

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