I designed this document as a mobilization tool. In other words, while I hope you find it informative, what really matters is that we use the information here to act. Specifically, I hope this document can help people:

1. Inform voters about board candidates who resist book bans and stand up for all students in their district.
2. Connect like-minded voters with each other and with groups already working in each district.
3. Tie extremist candidates to their extreme positions.

To use this document:

• Collaborate. This is a working document, and I want to add updates from people closer to the action than I am. If you know something that should be added, please email me: booklovingtexanvotes@gmail.com.
• Check back. Candidate filings were just finalized in late February, and some school districts still haven’t updated their webpages with candidate names. Some candidates still don’t have websites. Information is going to come in quickly, so check back often!
• Start with groups on the ground. One of the most important sections on each page is the “Contacts on the ground” box–these are people who either know a lot about what’s going on in a district or have already been working to prop up good candidates and challenge powerful PACs. If you want to organize in a district, start by contacting them.
• Share. The more people who see this and use it, the better.

Terminology & Designations:

Candidates highlighted in red are either members of pro-censorship groups (Moms for Liberty, local PACs) or have the support of such groups.

Candidates highlighted in orange echo pro-censorship talking points but don’t have documented links to those groups.

Candidates highlighted in green either have a record of standing up for academic freedom, diversity and inclusion or have been targeted by pro-censorship groups and thus need support. This is not an endorsement, and in races with multiple candidates, there may be more than one candidate worthy of this designation.

Candidates not highlighted could be great, or awful, or somewhere in between. As I get more information on them I’ll add it in the notes and change their designations if necessary.

“Contacts on the Ground” are local resources for organizing and information. If this is you, please let me add your name/group here!

• #FReadom
• Book Ban Busters (Red Wine & Blue)
• Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson’s Book Censorship Database (EveryLibrary Institute)
• Mothers for Democracy
• TxLEADSEd
• Pastors for Texas Children 
• Texas Educators Vote
• Texans for the Right to Read
• We Make the Future
• Book Riot (includes weekly roundup of censorship news)
• Texas Blue Action
• Blue Horizon Texas
• Children’s Defense Fund Texas
• Students Engaged in Advancing Texas
• Authors Against Book Bans

NEW FOR 2024!

In December of 2023, I joined a group of Texas parents to launch the Texas Freedom to Read Project. We uncover and publicize information regarding book removals in schools and public libraries, inform voters about elections that affect the freedom to read, train and organize parents to speak up at school board meetings and legislative committees, and amplify the voices of those affected by book bans. Check us out!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 2

Place 3

Melody Fowler (I)

Kendall Orr

Larry Mike

Kathi Arocha

April Williams Moore

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 2

• Kendall Orr’s donors include fellow candidate Kathi Arocha, who is affiliated with Tarrant County Citizens Defending Freedom and Families Engaged in Effective Education, and Bonnie Wallace, one of the state’s most notorious book banners, who attempted to force the public libraries in Llano County to close.
• In fact, Arocha and Orr are running as a slate.

Place 3

• Kathi Arocha describes herself as a retired entrepreneur with a background in “Regulatory/Compliance, Budgets, Contract Negotiations/Management, Project Management, and data analytics.” She has also worked as a substitute teacher in AISD. She ran for board in 2023 as well.
• Arocha is a member of the Facebook page of the conspiracist book-banning group Families Engaged in Effective Education as well as the Tarrant County branch of Citizens Defending Freedom, the group behind the removal of more than 100 books from Fort Worth ISD. Her social media presence includes multiple posts about what she considers inappropriate books and subjects in schools.  

• April Williams Moore is a realtor and Air Force veteran.
• Williams Moore responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project candidate survey, and her answers were a mixed bag. While she agreed that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and that “school librarians are valuable and vital and contribute to the overall educational well-being of students in my district,” she also responded that students should “never” have access to age-relevant books with LGBTQ+ characters.
• William Moore’s social media is awash in extremist views, including support for January 6th and anti-LGBTQ sentiments.
• Her campaign manager previously ran the campaigns for 2022 Moms for Liberty candidates Kelly Burke and Daphne Jackson.
• Williams Moore has the endorsement of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 2

• Incumbent and current board president Melody Fowler is Vice President of University Advancement and an English professor at Arlington Baptist University. She has the endorsement of all of her colleagues on the board, including trustees David Wilbanks and Justin Chapa, who both earned green highlights on the 2022 version of this guide.
• Chapa personally vouched for Fowler to me in an email, writing that, “In addition to supporting DEI and equity initiatives (and voting for an equity resolution and study a few years back), she has resisted the pressure on library books and anti-LGBTQ policies that first came at us about three years ago, ebbed for a while, and now is coming back.”
• Fowler has consistently voted in Republican primaries.
• She has been endorsed by the United Educators Association.
• Donate to or volunteer for Melody Fowler.

• Challenger Kendall Orr’s website describes her as “a Christian, wife and AISD mother of 4.” It also says she works as an administrator of a small business. Orr declined to participate in surveys from the League of Women Voters, the Fort Worth Report, and EveryLibrary/the Texas Freedom to Read Project. She also did not participate in a recent forum for candidates. So it’s hard to get a read on her positions on the issues that motivate this guide.
• Orr does not have a history of voting in either party’s primary.
• EDIT (5/3/24): Orr’s financial reports have revealed connections to Arocha and Llano County book banner Bonnie Wallace, so I’ve moved her to the red-flag candidate section.

Place 3

• Larry Mike is a military veteran, lawyer, business owner, and serves on the board of the Alliance for Children.
• He has been endorsed by the United Educators Association.
• Donate to or volunteer for Larry Mike.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

District 2

District 3

Jerry Adkins (I)

Claudette Sonnier Tuggle

Patty Sayes (I)

Tiffanie Koenig

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

District 2

• No candidates in District 6 have obvious red flags.

District 3

• Information on challenger Tiffanie Koenig is hard to come by. This isn’t quite enough for an orange highlight, but Koenig has supported extremist Allen West for governor. As outlined in Antonia Hylton and Mike Hixenbaugh’s Southlake, West helped launch the right-wing attempted takeover of Texas school boards in 2020 with a massive fundraiser for the Southlake Families PAC. I’m wary of anyone supporting him.

Alternative Candidate(s)

District 2

• Incumbent Jerry Adkins has been on the board since 2014, and earned the Master Trustee designation from TASB in 2017. Adkins served as the President of the Gulf Coast Area School Board Association in 2022-2023.
• Previously, Adkins served as mayor of Clute for 21 years.
• No website or campaign Facebook page found.

• Claudette Sonnier Tuggle is the director of the Brazoria County Women’s Center. Previously, she spent 25 years in education, working as a teacher, interventionist, and assistant principal.
• She responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project candidate survey, strongly agreeing that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and that district policies should ensure that evaluations of books for appropriateness are based on a consideration of the work in its entirety.
• Tuggle also strongly agreed that “There is value in allowing students to choose their own age-relevant reading materials” and that “school libraries are places of voluntary inquiry and not required reading for students. School libraries should, therefore, have books and materials with a multitude of viewpoints and ideas. Removing books from library shelves because of disagreement with or disapproval of ideas or viewpoints within the books is wrong and violates the First Amendment rights of students.”
• “Censorship of any kind does not belong in public schools,” Tuggle wrote.
• Tuggle’s campaign Facebook page (no website found).

District 3

• Incumbent Patty Sayes has served on the board since 2014. According to her district bio, “Patty holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Marketing from Texas A&M University and has been involved with several community organizations including the Brazosport Chamber of Commerce, the Military Wives and Mom’s Association for Brazoria County and the Brazosport Center for Arts and Sciences.”
• No website or campaign Facebook page found.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 6

Place 7

Matt Joiner

HollyAnn Petree

Brad Rieger

Nate Bayless

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 6

• HollyAnn Petree’s husband is the president of Texans for Excellence in Education, an association of school boards that extremists have been pushing as an alternative to the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB). Petree has the support of a newly formed PAC called Parents and Teachers of Decatur ISD, which claims it is dedicated to saying “No to "woke" doctrine including gender fluidity, pronoun policies, and boys in girls locker rooms.”
• Late in the race, the PAC sent text messages to district voters accusing Petree’s opponent, Matt Joiner, of not committing “to stand up against the Federal Government to keep BOYS out of GIRLS bathrooms” (Petree disavowed the messages).
• The Place 6 is crucial, since three current trustees (Scott Koehler, Jeremy Duncan, and Sandra Schneider) form a book-banning bloc on the board. If Petree wins, that bloc would hold the majority.

Place 7

• No candidates for Place 7 have obvious red flags, though Brad Rieger has the support of the PAC sending text messages in support of Petree and attacking Matt Joiner. Reiger has condemned those attacks.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 6

• Matt Joiner is far from “woke”--he described a newly enacted anti-trans district policy as “reasonable”--but he would likely provide a moderating influence on a board that is becoming increasingly extreme. He has expressed support for public schools in the face of what he describes as “systematic actions to dismantle Texas public schools as we know them.” And he has come under vicious attack from a brand new, extremist PAC.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• Add canvasses, organizing meetings, other events

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 2

Barbara Burns (I)

Debi Scaggs

Sheryl English (I)

Terry A. Senne

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Since 2022, Debi Scaggs has taken on the mantle of Denton ISD’s Book-Banner-in-Chief, leading the charge against more than 100 books, 22 of which have been removed from the district.
• Most recently, Scaggs challenges of five books led to the removal of three. Unsatisfied with that, she blitzed the board at their February meeting with the help of state rep candidate Mitch Little to call for the removal of two more, Jacob’s New Dress and Jacob’s Room to Choose. Neither book has any sexual content, and the board retained both–it would have been unconstitutional for them to do otherwise. Nonetheless, Little, speaking on behalf of Scaggs, argued that the books should be removed because the authors state that they wrote it to amplify LGBTQ experiences.
• Last year, Scaggs voiced support of the anti-book bill HB 900, writing [sic]: “Keep in mind, if a book is in the school library it has the possibility of being used in the classroom. Book-review-committeemembers have argued a keep the book because they like using it in the classroom particularly for teaching English literature. There seems to be a strong resistance by many librarians and some teachers to remove these books. They seem to value the book over the child. Venders are looking at their bottom line, they don't care about kids. Please, past this bill and hold them all accountable.”

Place 2

• Terry Senne, who ran unsuccessfully for Place 6 in 2023, calls herself an “independent conservative voice and advocate for the students and families of Denton ISD.” Her website announces, “We find ourselves on the educational precipice, not only in Denton ISD, but in public school systems nation-wide. We must apply the brakes now and change our current course, or we will free-fall to a point of no return.”
• According to Senne, we’re at an educational crossroads because:

• Schools are indoctrinating our children rather than protecting them.
• Sexualization of our children appears to be a primary focus nowadays.
• Schools have long since left the traditional Godly values and principles upon which our country was founded.
• Academic performance is not up to standard.
• Schools are attempting to circumvent parents and guardians; making decisions that belong to the family.

• Senne appeared with Allen West at a campaign event last year that also featured Families Engaged member and fellow book-banning board candidate Carolyn Rachaner. (There are about 10 red flags in that sentence)
• Senne wrote to the Texas Legislature to voice her support of HB 900, the state’s unconstitutional anti-book bill: “I strongly support HB 900 because it prohibits harmful, sexually explicit materials in public schools.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Incumbent Barbara Burns taught for 20 years at high schools in Denton ISD; in fact, she was a founding teacher at Denton Ryan High School in 1991, where she taught History and Government. Burns is a former Teacher of the Year at Ryan. She has been on Denton ISD’s board since 2012.
• Burns has the support of Supporters of DISD.
• Website pending, but here’s her campaign Facebook.

Place 2

• Sheryl English has been on the board since 2021 and is the first black woman to serve as a trustee in Denton ISD. She is a past member of The Denton Homelessness Task Force, Texas National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials of Texas (NAHRO). Her district bio states that she “takes pride in advocating on behalf of those that don’t feel they have a voice.”
• English has the support of Supporters of DISD.
• I’m still looking for a website for Sheryl English, and will update when I can.

Contacts on the Ground

• Supporters of Denton ISD PAC (SODPAC) is “a grassroots effort to support school board candidates who prioritize all students, teachers, and staff over partisan politics.” The group is organizing volunteers and planning a number of events leading up to election day.
• Volunteer for or donate to SODPAC.

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• 4/7/24, 2:00 - 4:00 pm: Meet-and-greet with candidate Barbara Burns.
• 4/11/24, 4:00 - 6:00 pm: Meet the candidates.
• 4/20/24, 6:30 - 8:30 pm: Southeast Denton School Board Forum.
• 4/24/24, 6:30 - 8:30 pm: Denton Council of PTAs Candidate Forum.

Contested Races

Candidates

All positions on board are open; top three vote-getters will win seats.

Mary Jane Hetrick (I)

Stefani Reinold (I)

John Adams

Shanda DeLeon

Terri Purdy

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

• Stefani Reinold  and Shanda DeLeon are running together. Both have the support of the current board’s hyper-partisan, ultra-conservative trustees, Olivia Barnard and Tricia Quintero. DeLeon is a former high school teacher and district volunteer. Reinold is the current board president–she was the advanced guard of the district’s right-wing takeover, joining the board one year before Barnard and Quintero and two years before Rob McClelland. As that faction has taken power, the district has restricted student access to books, requiring parental permission before students in district middle schools can check out any book labeled “young adult.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

• Incumbent Mary Jane Hetrick is the current board vice president, a consultant and an adjunct college instructor with a PhD in Public Policy.
• She told the League of Women Voters that the biggest issues facing the district are “Navigating fast growth in a highly taxed, ‘Robin Hood’ district while preparing students for a volatile future.”
• Hetrick doesn’t seem to have a website, but you can use her campaign Facebook to reach her for volunteer opportunities, donations, or a chance to get a yard sign.

• Terri Purdy is a software engineer and longtime district volunteer who has served on the district Long Range Facility Planning, the High School #2 Design Committees, and the GT Advisory Committee. As she told the League of Women Voters, she also “chaired Friends of DSISD, a community campaign to promote the 2023 Bond for $223M, which passed with 64% voters in favor.” 
• Purdy responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project candidate survey, and her answers consistently reflected support for district teachers and librarians and a clear understanding of the importance of the freedom to read for students’ education.
• Purdy strongly agreed with the statements “A parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and “School libraries are places of voluntary inquiry and not required reading for students. School libraries should, therefore, have books and materials with a multitude of viewpoints and ideas. Removing books from library shelves because of disagreement with or disapproval of ideas or viewpoints within the books is wrong and violates the First Amendment rights of students.”
• “I do not support the overreach of HB900 or the parent movement to get books banned or removed from libraries. If a parent takes issue with a specific title because it is offensive to them, that parent can request the title to be unavailable for THEIR child. That parent does not get to determine what is available to ALL students. School librarians are educators, and should be trusted to curate collections that meets the needs of their schools. School libraries should provide a wide selection of books that reflect the diverse voices, identities, and experiences of their communities,” she wrote.
• Donate to or volunteer for Terri Purdy.

• After retiring from a career in IT, John Adams taught high school math, engineering, and computer science and served for six years on the DSISD board, where he earned the designation Master Trustee.
• One of the priorities Adams listed for the district is “addressing how we staff faculty to ensure all student subpopulations receive equity in the educational experience. We must continue to look for better ways to utilize our faculty (to avoid burnout) ensuring we achieve the educational outcome we desire for all our students.”
• Adams has a website, but his campaign Facebook page seems the best way to contact him for volunteer opportunities or donations.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 4

Place 5

James Spradley (I)

Robert Morrow

Kelly Marwill

Aaron Silva

Catherine Walker

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 4

• Robert Morrow is not a serious candidate, but he is perpetually running for various offices around Austin. He takes campaign photos wearing a jester hat and says inflammatory things for attention. I’m not going to waste time writing him up.

Place 5

• Aaron Silva is a CEO and entrepreneur, and on his “Eanes Parents Unite” podcast he frequently suggests that the district could be run more like a business. To his credit, the podcast often features an array of voices from Eanes ISD, including an excellent episode with one of the leaders of Eanes 4 Equity (more on them below). But, as Silva admits, his views are clear in his conversations, and for several years he has been agitating for change on the Eanes ISD board, often using books as an example of an area where the district is failing its parents.

• For example, in a 2022 episode, he described library books as “smut” and “pornographic,” warning, “Moms and dads, right now in your school library, at every elementary school, both of our middle schools, and most certainly at Westlake High School, your child can easily access books laced with disgusting, vulgar, and insidious language, content, graphics, and storyline concepts that no parent would ever want their child reading, content that no parent would want any child reading.”

• Silva finished that episode with an emotional crescendo: “Yes, authors have freedom to write. Publishers have freedom to publish. But books do not have a right to exist in a school library in defiance of parental rights and the simple laws of decency and respect for each other. Nobody would be harmed if these books never even existed.” (Ironically, one of the books Silva mentioned by name in the podcast was It’s Perfectly Normal, a sex-ed reference book that was instrumental in helping at least one child name her abuse and bring her abuser to justice. In his closing argument, the district attorney who secured the conviction of the abuser said, “The biggest hero in this case, other than the child, is the book.”)

• In an earlier podcast, Silva hosted then-Moms-for-Liberty leader Jackie Besinger, who touted a list of 300+ books that members of Eanes Kids First (more on them later) and Moms for Liberty compiled of books whose presence in school libraries, they said, could be a breach of federal laws. Besinger suggested that educators are “grooming children” by “telling a child that it’s okay to be touched, it’s okay to be something they’re not–if you’re gay or if you’re transgender–you know, grooming them into thinking that they are something that they’re not.”

“I think it’s deliberate,” she said later in the podcast, before arguing that the end goal is to create “sexualized children so that they are more susceptible to the pedophile, a rapist, or someone trying to have fun with them.”

• Silva doesn’t just talk about removing books from EISD; in 2022, he and his wife were part of a group that filed formal challenges to more than 100 district books.

• Silva’s “Eanes Parents Unite” podcast is sponsored by and featured on the website for Eanes Kids First, a 501c4 organization that is “focused on getting Critical Race Theory out of our schools.”  The group’s resource page promises to teach “How Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) programs are harming our kids and dividing our community” and includes links to writings by extremist James Lindsay and a blog post promising a look “inside the woke indoctrination machine.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 4

• Board president James Spradley is a district parent as well as Senior Operations Consultant for Apple. He has served as trustee since 2019 and points out that during his tenure, Eanes ISD has maintained its position as “as the No. 1 K-12 school district in the U.S. [Niche].”
• Donate to or volunteer for James Spradley.

Place 5

• Kelly Marwill is a nurse in the district with a long history of volunteering at Eanes ISD schools. At a January 2022 meeting, spoke in favor of DEI program LessonCast, which was under attack for culture-war reasons. “We can’t let ourselves get distracted by the name-calling and the mislabeling,” she said. “Not only does inclusion give all students the opportunity to visualize a successful future, but it exposes them to more ideas and information. Diversity of perspective produces a more energized and dynamic academic environment. People with different life experiences ask different questions.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Kelly Marwill.

• Catherine Walker is Chief Financial and Risk Officer at Cap Metro, and the mother of three Eanes ISD students. She described herself in an email to me as the daughter of a librarian and a computer programmer, and said that after working as a librarian, her mother “opened a used and rare book business in Indianapolis, which she ran for more than two decades.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Catherine Walker.

Contacts on the Ground

• Eanes ISD has a phenomenal parent-led community organization fighting for inclusion in the schools, Eanes 4 Equity, which envisions an Eanes ISD “that supports ALL of our children by creating a learning environment in partnership with students, staff, administration, and our board that prioritizes equity and inclusion in educational lessons and district-wide language and practice.” As a 501(c)3 organization, Eanes 4 Equity does not endorse candidates, but they do publish a yearly “DEI-focused election guide.” In the meantime, you can donate to, buy merchandise from, or volunteer for Eanes 4 Equity at this link.

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 2

Place 6

Marie Asher Baptiste

Rizvan Quadri

Adam Schoof

Manisha Gandhi

Kristin Davison Malone (I)

Ferrel Bonner

Angel Hicks

Kristin Tassin 

Simran Patel

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 2

• Adam Schoof describes himself as “a US Army Veteran, Pilot, Business Owner, and Career Law Enforcement Officer in Fort Bend County.” Career Technical Education (CTE) is a driving issue for his campaign, as is school safety.
• In March, he was interviewed by local shock-jock Chris Heasley. Heasley started the show with a wild, partisan, anti-public school rant in which he described vouchers as “removing one layer of the Texas Deep State from our lives” and said that “the child is a political pawn to the American Democrat party.” Heasley also said, “There is illicit pornographic materials placed in our school libraries without parental consent,” and “If there’s a school that has this obsession with the hypersexualization of children that is constantly coming from the Democrat party, if there’s a school that has that agenda, your kid must endure it. If it’s a school that constantly promotes homosexuality, as Democrats constantly promote homosexuality, if the school promotes that agenda, your child must be exposed and endure it.”
• To be fair to Schoof, his rhetoric in the interview never came close to the host’s–but Schoof also didn’t push back on his Heasley’s extreme claims and shared the show on his campaign Facebook page afterward.
• Schoof was asked in another interview about the board meeting in which a group of out-of-state and out-of-district showboats sought to stir up controversy about district books. Schoof said, “That’s just kind of an indication that people are not confident in the school system anymore, and I want to be a step in reinstilling that confidence.”

Place 6

• Kristin Tassin is an attorney who previously served two terms on the board. A focus of her campaign is advocacy for special populations–Tassin points out in interviews and forums that she has one child who received special education services in the district and one who was identified as gifted and talented.
• A well-connected Republican who has been appointed by Greg Abbott to a state committee on special education, Tassin has nonetheless been a vocal critic of the governor’s push for vouchers. That criticism is good! Here’s what’s not so good:
• Tassin has the support of FBISD book-banner-in-chief David Hamilton–that’s what specifically earns her a red highlight in this guide. Tassin also supported Hamilton on his initial run for the board (though, to be fair, that was in 2014, I assume before Hamilton devolved into a complete internet troll).
• Like Adam Schoof, Tassin appeared on Chris Heasley’s radio show and, like Schoof, she failed to push back on Heasley’s rabid rhetoric. Heasley introduced Tassin with a rant about “gender struggle sessions” and “critical race theory.” When he began to talk to her about book removals, Tassin was, initially, noncommittal and somewhat reasonable. “I haven’t seen these books, I haven’t read these books, some of the things I hear about are very concerning to me,” she said. She argued that guidelines should differ for different ages (a position everyone agrees on) and that controversial books should be restricted to a parental permission shelf (a more problematic idea). But then Heasley’s sidekick, called “G2,” said, “They [the objectionable books] are all of a certain bent–these aren’t typically heterosexual in nature, they’re typically LGBTQ-type books–and for some reason, and I don’t understand it, there is a body of thought in the education world, and I think it’s partially driven by the department of education, partly by the universities and just this ideology that penetrates the world of education now–there is this idea that it is the school’s job, the teacher’s job, the librarian’s job, to push this sexually explicit material to children.” The sidekick also suggested that school libraries contain “child pornography.” Tassin listened to his rant, sometimes nodding, sometimes looking uncomfortable, then said, “So, I agree with that and I have seen some of that you talk about as well, and it’s disturbing to me as a parent.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 2

• Rizvan “Riz” Quadri is a popular former principal of Stephen F. Austin High School and Macario Garcia Middle School in Fort Bend ISD. A former teacher, Quadri holds a doctorate in Educational Leadership and master’s degrees in both Administration and Secondary Education.
• Quadri has the support of Indivisible Houston founder Daniel J. Cohen.  
• Donate to or volunteer for Rizvan Quadri.

• M. Asher Baptiste is a Fort Bend ISD graduate and parent who claims “over two decades of experience as an educator and leader in the education arena.” She founded a STEAM academy in the Caribbean and says she has filled “leadership roles such as education consultant, project managers, economic development director, manage strategic fiscal and programmatic goals for various institutions.”
• Donate to or volunteer for M. Asher Baptiste.

• Manisha Gandhi describes herself as a  “mother, a business owner, media correspondent, and a taxpayer with a vision for quality education.” She also says she is a “seasoned community volunteer for over three decades,” pointing out that she has served with the Houston Media Source, the University of Houston’s Dean Advisory Board and the American Leadership Forum.
• Donate to or volunteer for Manisha Gandhi.

Place 6

• Incumbent Kristin Davison Malone was instrumental in halting the adoption of an awful proposed book policy that would have given sole discretion on removing books to the superintendent (in violation of Texas standards) and went beyond the requirements of HB 900 to define as “educationally unsuitable” any book that could be interpreted as promoting or advocating criminal activity, drug or alcohol use, or ethnic, racial, gender, or religious stereotypes. During discussion on the policy, Malone asked incisive questions about the process by which the policy was drafted, its necessity, and the policy currently in place. She pointed out the charade of trustees demanding a new policy by pointing to books that had never been challenged under the old one. “I want to know if the process works, but if we don’t use it we don’t know if it works,” she said.
• At a candidate forum in April, Malone said “I think the ambiguity within [HB 900] is definitely a concern, because I’m not sure exactly how districts are going to implement, there’s already issues around the state right now with the implementation process that’s due January of 2025. I will say, though, that in Fort Bend ISD we actually passed a policy over a year ago …  We have a process in place that handles and manages books.”
• Malone raised the ire of some members of the board late last year when she questioned the process by which the former superintendent’s tenure came to an end. Specifically, Malone accused her colleagues of illegally meeting to plan to push the superintendent out; her accusations earned bitter responses from some of her fellow trustees, and some of them have endorsed her challenger, former trustee Kristin Tassin. Malone addressed the incident and its repercussions at the April candidate forum. “I’m going to be honest, I’m at peace,” she said. “I’m at peace with my actions … I will be truthful, I will be fair, impartial, and I will work tirelessly to do what is best for kids.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Kristin Malone.

• Ferrel Bonner is an Army veteran with experience in military intelligence and emergency operations. He has worked for both the Department of Justice and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He is also a Fort Bend ISD parent and grandparent.
• Bonner is a former candidate for Fort Bend Democratic Party Chair, but his campaign promises to put “student success over political agendas.” “There should be no Ds or Rs when it comes to protecting our students and their rights to an exemplary education,” his website reads.
• Bonner has the support of Indivisible Houston founder Daniel J. Cohen.
• At an April candidate forum, Bonner listed HB 900 as one law that concerns him.  “Individuals do not really know how that bill really works,” he said. “The bill says what it says and the district has to follow it. The most important thing about that bill is that it allows the district to determine which books are age-appropriate for schools.” Notably, that’s a different–and better–view than the one held by Texas book banners (including FBISD trustees David Hamilton and Sonya Jones), who believe their individual judgment about books can be substituted for the careful deliberation of informed readers.
• Donate to or volunteer for Ferrel Bonner.

• Angel Hicks is a Fort Bend ISD math teacher who has taught in the district for 10 years and was named the 2023 HAABSE (Houston Area Alliance of Black School Educators) Secondary Teacher of the Year.
• After speaking to district librarians, Hicks put out a video in which she proposed an advisory board to help educators feel heard. “One of the controversies going on right now is book banning,” she said “And librarians are feeling hurt by a lot of things that people are saying about them, they’re feeling slighted, they’re feeling that people don’t appreciate the work that they’re doing.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Angel Hicks.

• Simran Patel’s website is clean and well-designed and says a lot, but doesn’t offer stances on any controversial issues. Patel is a real estate broker, former financial advisor and private client banker, and FBISD parent who says she speaks multiple languages spoken in Fort Bend ISD and believes the board “should be as diverse and inclusive as the community it serves.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Simran Patel.  

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 6

Place 7

Frederick Kaiser

Marissa Melançon (withdrawn, 2/23/24)

Sherrie Salas

Keith Maddox

Melanie Barrios-Jones 

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 6

• No candidates for Place 6 have obvious red flags at this point. If that changes, I’ll update.

Place 7

• Melanie Barrios-Jones is the mother of a special needs student who has made improving special education services in the district a centerpiece of her campaign. Since announcing her run for the board, her demeanor in interviews has been upbeat and amiable, and her social media posts have professed a desire to bring the district together. Her website is correspondingly inoffensive.
• That said, Jones maintains a Twitter feed full of inflammatory posts, often expressing ugly anti-trans sentiment (and outright transphobia). She regularly shares posts from conspiracists and outrage-mongers like James O’Keeffe and Tulsi Gabbard. Her social media also features retweets of videos of people demanding school boards remove books from their district, including this one, purportedly of a mayor demanding an entire school board resign or else be charged for distributing child pornography in school.
• Jones is a member of the Facebook group of Collin County Citizens Defending Freedom, a Christian nationalist extremist group that has pressured districts to remove hundreds of books from local school districts.
• In a public comment at a Frisco ISD board meeting, Jones angrily defended trustee Marvin Lowe after the Dallas Morning News reported that Lowe confronted a trans teenager from another district at a panel. Jones also sent public comment to the Texas legislature last year in support of HB 1686, which banned gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 6

• Fred Kaiser is a teacher and soccer coach in Plano who taught in Frisco ISD for 14 years. His website details his extensive and varied educational and leadership experience, which includes not only instruction but also writing curriculum for a number of courses.
• Kaiser describes himself as having a “servant heart,” and his resume includes a number of service positions within the district, including work on the District Advisory Council and District Improvement Team.
• His website does not contain much information on his policy positions or priorities, and his stances on book removals and the rights of marginalized communities–which have been pretty central issues in Frisco ISD–are unclear.
• Kaiser voted in the 2018 Republican primary.
• Volunteer for or donate to Fred Kaiser.

• Marissa Melançon is a Frisco ISD parent and former educator who has served on the District Advisory Council and the PTA Council and who has raised considerable money for the district.
• Melançon has an incomplete website that does not yet provide any information on her policy positions.
• Melançon does not have a voting history in Texas primaries.
• Volunteer for or donate to Marissa Melançon. (WITHDRAWN, 2/23/24)

• Sherrie Salas describes herself as “passionate about serving our community,” and points out that she’s “been doing it for a long time.” She has served in leadership positions on PTAs since her daughters were in elementary school, and has been a fixture at board meetings for several years.
• In those board meetings, Salas has been outspoken in support of LGBTQ students and vocal in her opposition to policies that would limit students’ learning opportunities. In February 2023, for example, she spoke out against a proposed amendment to district policy that would have further limited teaching of so-called “CRT,” saying, “I just am tired of hearing about ‘CRT’ and so many other things that are real political garbage.”
• In November of 2022, Salas asked trustees, “What’s the plan to protect trans students going forward?”
• “Please stop responding and reacting to political dog whistles,” she continued. “Books and bathrooms are not what you should fear most. Lack of educators will create challenges we cannot afford.”
• Salas also spoke out against trustee Marvin Lowe at a 2023 board meeting after he allegedly made inappropriate and offensive comments to a transgender teenager at a conference.
• Salas has voted in Republican primaries since 2016.
• She does not have a website yet that I’ve found, but you can donate to Salas here.

Place 7

• Keith Maddox is a Navy veteran and current Chief Compliance Officer with UNT-Dallas. At a recent candidate forum, he claimed “over 36 years of management leadership experience that includes the US Department of Education, NASA, the US Postal Service,” along with the Navy. Maddox is also a father of two Frisco ISD graduates.
• Maddox says the three points of emphasis for his campaign are ensuring that the district has adequate funding, maintains its performance level, and promotes safety.
• Maddox ended his comments at a recent candidate forum by citing his experience working on a lifeboat in the Navy: “You have to be able to be the adult in the room. You’ve got to be able to be that calming spirit. It’s great to have passion, but it needs to be under control. And you have to have a plan.”
• I haven’t found a website for Maddox yet, but I’ll update as that changes.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 2

Place 3

Terrie Goodloe (I)

Nova Olson

Donald M. Corley

Simone Mabry

Christopher Ohlsen

Jeff Neal

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Nova Olson ran for the board in 2023. She is a member of the Facebook group of anti-book conspiracist organization Families Engaged for Effective Education, and she advocates for abolishing the property taxes that fund public schools.
• As I pointed out last year, her personal Facebook page is also awash with anti-“CRT” posts, anti-gay and anti-trans posts (including several about praying the gay away), and posts about “porn” in school libraries.
• Olson, Donald Corley, and Christopher Ohlsen seem to be running as a slate.

Place 2

• Donald Corley has warned that students in Godley ISD “may have access” to books with LGBTQ characters.
• At an April candidate forum, Corley elaborated on his worries, arguing for limiting students’ access to technology because of the books they may encounter through it. “On my FB page I’ve listed several columns of books that our students, through the laptops and the little notebooks we give them, the electronic notebooks, they have access to,” he said. “I would never want my child to read those kinds of books. The fact that Johnny has two dads is not something that I want my child to read about. And so I think, personally, that all these technology gadgets that we give these kids should be removed.”
• Like Olson, Corley is a passionate advocate for eliminating property taxes, regularly posting in the Tarrant County Eliminate Property Taxes Facebook page. In a time when the state has a budgetary surplus, Donald Corley has said, “it’s time for schools to tighten their monetary belts, just as citizens are having to do.”

Place 3

• A former trustee in nearby Joshua ISD, Christopher Ohlsen’s public views are more moderate than Olson’s or Corley’s. On Citizens Defending Freedom’s candidate questionnaire, for example, he responded that he is not opposed to culturally responsive teaching–a right-wing bogeyman that has been described as a means to inject critical race theory into the curriculum.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Incumbent Terrie Goodloe is a loan officer who says she loves public education and is running an upbeat campaign that seems to be aligned with candidates Simone Mabry and Jeff Neal. Although the three seem accessible in person, it’s hard to know where they stand on many issues, since all three limit what they say online.
• I haven’t found a website for Goodloe, but here is her campaign Facebook page.

Place 2

• Simone Mabry is a former teacher who says, “I plan to use my drive, passion, personal experience, and desire for my children to have the best education possible to help this district grow.” Like her slate-mates Goodloe and Neal, she seems to be running a simple, positive campaign, and I haven’t found a website or campaign Facebook page for her. I’ll update if that changes.

Place 3

• Jeff Neal is a parent of five students in the district and describes himself as a businessman and entrepreneur. He says he’s running for the board because he has entered the “season of life” where serving the community has become a priority for him. I haven’t found a website or campaign Facebook page for Neal, but I’ll update if that changes.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 2

Cynthia Rial Graham

Shannon Braun (I)

Dalia Begin

Michael Alfred

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Current board president Shannon Braun has consistently aligned herself with reactionary forces in North Texas, and has specifically led some of GCISD’s most damaging initiatives.
• In March of 2023, for example, she appeared at an event for Christian Nationalist phone company Patriot Mobile with pseudo-historian David Barton, Patriot Mobile executive Leigh Wambsganss, and Cameron Bryan and Micah Young (trustees in nearby Southlake ISD and Keller ISD, respectively). At that event, she said, “In GCISD we passed policies that removed social indoctrination and reinforced classical education that was supported by HB3,” said Braun. “We removed racial and sexual identity politics. I describe it as giving the keys back to the moms and dads of their kid’s education. We put them back in the driver’s seat and we also neutralized the classrooms.” In actuality, she helped drive up the district’s teacher turnover rate and made LGBTQ students feel less welcome in its schools.
• She also banned lots and lots of books from GCISD schools.
• Braun has been endorsed by Matt Krause, the creator of the infamous list of 800+ suspect books, by the conservative majority of the board of nearby Southlake ISD, and by Keller ISD board president Charles Randklev.

Place 2

• Mike Alfred is an attorney who kicked off his campaign with a joint party with Braun that was attended by all of the members of the board’s majority. His campaign announcement on Facebook was welcomed by Braun and PAC-backed trustee A.J. Pontillo and former candidate Casey Ford.
• Alfred’s website echoes the talking points of the board’s anti-teacher majority, claiming that “We have all seen in the national and now even the regional news where schools are making significant social or educational decisions for children without parental consent or knowledge.  schools are making significant social or educational decisions for children without parental consent or knowledge.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Cynthia Rial Graham is a district parent and former educator with a master’s degree in Education Administration with a considerable history volunteering in GCISD schools.
• Graham’s website connects the district’s teacher retention problem to the political shenanigans enacted by the board’s current majority, and points out that the result has a significant financial drawback in a district that’s struggling financially: recruiting and training new teachers costs much more than keeping the great teachers you already have. Graham writes:

We have also seen a troubling emphasis on political maneuvering in our district in recent years, resulting in excessive micromanagement of teachers. This undermines morale, reduces productivity, and wastes valuable time and money. And it comes with an additional cost: we are now spending far more time and resources on recruiting and onboarding new talent.

• She has been endorsed by trustee Becky St. John, who decided not to run for the Place 2 seat this cycle after serving as one of the board’s last remaining voices of moderation.
• Donate to or volunteer for Cynthia Rial Graham.

Place 2

• Dalia Begin is a corporate executive and parent of 2 GCISD students with a long history of volunteering in the district.
• Like Cynthia Rial Graham, Begin says her priorities include halting the teacher turnover crisis by addressing “the current climate of extreme micromanagement, which negatively impacts both staff and district. Effective leadership involves empowering teams, fostering autonomy, and creating an environment where everyone can thrive.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Dalia Begin.

Contacts on the Ground

• GCISD has two excellent groups organizing to protect district schools, support teachers and students, and resist extremism. Protect GCISD has made candidate endorsements and provided ways to volunteer and get involved in the election; UnitedforGCISD is a bipartisan alliance that has broken down the district’s extremism problem with lots of easy-to-digest informative pieces. And both groups have great merch!

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 4

Bobby Muñiz (I)

Benjamin Esquivel

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

• I haven’t seen any red flags for either candidate for Place 4.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 4

• Incumbent Bobby Muñiz is a pharmacist and graduate of Harlingen High School who previously served as the board president.

• Benjamin Esquivel responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project candidate survey, strongly agreeing that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child.”
• Esquivel agreed that “There is value in allowing students to choose their own age-relevant reading materials” and that “school libraries are places of voluntary inquiry and not required reading for students. School libraries should, therefore, have books and materials with a multitude of viewpoints and ideas. Removing books from library shelves because of disagreement with or disapproval of ideas or viewpoints within the books is wrong and violates the First Amendment rights of students.”
• “Banning books in most cases robs knowledge from those searching for answers,” he wrote.
• No website or campaign Facebook found yet.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

District 3

At-large

Courtney Runkle (I)

Ray Chávez

Geoff Seible

Jay Adcock

Katy Armstrong

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

District 3

• No District 3 candidates have obvious red flags.

At-large

• No at-large candidates have obvious red flags.

Alternative Candidate(s)

District 3

• Incumbent Courtney Runkle is the business manager of a law firm who was elected to the board in 2021.
• Runkle has been endorsed by the Hays Educators Association.
• When asked about book bans during a Q&A with the Kyle/Buda Area Democrats, Runkle responded:

I firmly advocate for nurturing a love for reading among our students while ensuring they have access to age-appropriate materials. While I oppose book banning, it's essential to maintain vigilance in aligning literature with students' maturity levels. This is similar to how we prioritize online safety by restricting access to inappropriate websites and monitoring internet activity.

That’s a reasonable answer, but it’s not exactly a firm endorsement of the freedom to read or a show of support for district librarians and teachers.

• On the other hand, Runkle’s answers to questions about ensuring LGBTQ students are supported and addressing the needs of disadvantaged communities were much stronger.
• Donate to or volunteer for Courtney Runkle.

• Challenger Ray Chávez is a retired journalist who has also taught for more than 30 years, in his words, “at various levels from high school to college undergraduate programs to graduate level coursework and thesis supervision.”
• Chávez has served on the Hays CISD District Leadership Team and the Hays CISD Education Foundation.  
• Chávez responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project school board candidate survey, strongly agreeing that “School libraries with robust and diverse collection that include age relevant books that address topics like race, social justice, sexual assault, sexual education, consent, LGBTQ+ issues, etc., are important to serving and meeting the needs of our students” and that “School libraries are places of voluntary inquiry and not required reading for students. School libraries should, therefore, have books and materials with a multitude of viewpoints and ideas. Removing books from library shelves because of disagreement with or disapproval of ideas or viewpoints within the books is wrong and violates the First Amendment rights of students.”
• He elaborated: “Censorship by individuals or small groups of parents or legislators who have a political agenda should not be allowed to proliferate. Recent attempts to prohibit library materials based on disagreement with the basic underlying theme of a book is detrimental to the learning process, and counter productive in achieving quality educational goals.”
• Chávez also addressed censorship in his Q&A with the Kyle/Buda Area Democrats, saying, “As a retired journalist, I hold a particular reverence for the First Amendment and its protection of free speech and free expression.” (His whole response is worth reading.)
• Donate to or volunteer for Ray Chávez.

At-large

• Geoff Seibel is a district parent and former math teacher.
• In his Q&A with the Kyle/Buda Area Democrats, Seible gave a succinct answer when asked about book bans: “I am not in favor of book bans.” That’s a good start, but since many people who support removing books from schools also say they’re not banning books, I would have liked to see some elaboration or indication that he understands the issue as it’s appearing in Texas schools.  
• Geoff Seibel doesn’t seem to have a website, but here is his campaign Facebook page.

• Jay Adcock doesn’t have a website or campaign Facebook page (that I’ve found) and didn’t respond to the League of Women Voters candidate questionnaire, Community Impact’s questionnaire, the Kyle/Buda Area Democrats Q&A, or the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read candidate survey.

• Katy Armstrong owns a home-based preschool and has a masters degree in Education with certifications in ESL and Special Education.
• When asked about book bans during her Q&A with the Kyle/Buda Area Democrats, Armstrong responded:

My mom worked in a library so I have always been surrounded by free access to books. I want all students to have access to a wide variety of reading materials. School librarians are experts at selecting age-appropriate literature for their students and I trust their judgment. I don’t think an individual or small group of parents should make decisions for an entire school/district just because they don’t want their own children to read a particular book.

That’s a great response.

• Donate to or volunteer for Katy Armstrong.

Contacts on the Ground

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Position 6

Position 7

Rebecca Fox

Donovan Campbell

Dawn Champagne

David Olson

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Position 6 & 7

• Donovan Campbell and David Olson are running together, and both seem to be getting the bulk of their support from board president (and the king of Katy ISD book banners) Victor Perez. Each has a campaign Facebook page, and on each virtually all of the “likes” come from either Perez or his wife. In fact, Perez is paying for Facebook ads promoting the two candidates.

• Campbell is, well, a lot. A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, Ivy-league grad, entrepreneur, and author, Campbell’s website is written in martial prose that promises Campbell will drum Katy ISD towards “superior student and teacher performance.” What his website doesn’t reflect is any particular experience in education or involvement in the district prior to his run for office. But it does include some troubling buzzwords, calling for a district-wide focus on “classical, virtues-based education that honors our incredible country.”

• Olson’s website is less intense, and his platform is less specific. He supports fiscal responsibility, parental involvement, academic success, teacher support. Who doesn’t? Much more telling is the level of support he’s receiving from Perez.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Position 6

• Rebecca Fox voted for the district’s new, hyper-restrictive book policy in July, but also acknowledged its flaws and–after the policy forced the review of books like No, David! and The Day the Crayons Quit–suggested it might need to be revised. “If this continues, we may have to revisit the definitions of the policy,” she said.
• Fox also voted against the district’s harmful new policy on gender.
• Donate to or volunteer for Rebecca Fox.

Position 7

• Dawn Champagne also voted for the district’s new library policy in July, though in discussion she did offer some resistance, pointing out the enormous waste of resources it entailed and the disruption to students’ educations. As the Houston Chronicle reported: “I'm trying to safeguard our expenditures, and if the vendor pays for the expense of reviewing the books, I don't understand why our district employees will have to be paid excess money or do extra work,” Champagne said. “It does take away from … providing educational experiences for our children.”
• Like Fox, Champagne also voted against the district’s new policy on gender, and raised important concerns during its discussion. “Children's lives could be at risk, and this is not a risk that I care to take too lightly," she said.
• I’m not aware of a campaign website for Champagne (will update if that changes!), but you can contact her at this Facebook page.

Contacts on the Ground

• KEEP Katy is organizing local residents for school board elections with the goal of electing trustees “who are committed to providing excellent public education for all and maintaining Katy ISD’s reputation as an educational leader.” Specifically, the group hopes to:

• Retain KISD’s reputation as a district of excellence that is focused on providing unparalleled learning experiences.

• Promote fact-based education and activities that are free from partisan or religious agendas.

• Maintain high regard for the experience and perspective of teachers, counselors, librarians, and staff when making decisions that influence students’ educational experience.

• Consider the impact of policies on all students and staff and who seek feedback from parents/guardians and the community.

• Create a supportive learning environment for ALL Katy ISD students, to ensure a brighter future for our entire community.

• The group offers volunteer opportunities and works to inform voters, and could make a big difference in May’s election.

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• Delta Sigma Theta is hosting a candidate forum on Saturday, 3/23. Attendance is free, but you must register in advance.

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 6

Place 7

Charles Randklev (I)

Adrienne Sullivan

DaLana Barsanti 

Dixie Davis

Heather Washington (I)

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 6

• Board president Charles Randklev has presided over chaos and decline in Keller ISD. Teacher resignations have spiked, and financial straits have led the district to cut half of its librarian positions. Keller ISD is constantly in the news for, as one recent public commenter put it, “embarrassing reasons.” Quite often, those newsworthy topics involve books or rules about LGBTQ students.
• Randklev has spearheaded the district’s attacks on books, saying that with KISD’s library policy (arguably the harshest in the state), the board “has acted decisively to protect our children from pornographic material” and adding, “I have no doubt that these policies will serve as a model for other districts to follow.”
• At the November 2021 board meeting that launched Keller’s book controversies, Randklev gave an emotional speech that started, “My kid last week brought home one of these books, guys, and the conversations that I had with her were conversations that I should not have had with a nine year old who has special needs.” The book in question turned out to be Raina Telgemeier’s Drama, a middle-grade novel with about as much sexual content as a Babysitters Club book. (For an efficient takedown of Randklev’s misleading discussion of Drama, see this video purportedly created by a KISD student. The kids are alright in KISD.)
• Drama does, though, have two secondary characters who happen to be gay, which brings us to the real reason it raised Randklev’s ire. In November of 2022, KISD’s board expanded its book-rating rubric to forbid from the entire district any book that contained any “discussion or depiction of gender fluidity,” a blatantly bigoted move that earned it a federal civil rights complaint from the ACLU.  
• Under Randklev’s leadership, the district has had to walk back or apologize for several decisions–sheepishly returning the graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s diary to library shelves, apologizing for allowing a Dutch film crew access to high school students without parents’ permission, reversing a decision to cancel a high school production of The Laramie Project. Rather than acknowledging these missteps and thanking the district parents who called them out, Randklev has instead attacked those parents from the dais and on social media, calling them liars and an “unhinged mob.” [Full disclosure: one of the district parents who has received the heaviest brunt of his criticism is Laney Hawes, my colleague at the Texas Freedom to Read Project.]
• Some of Randklev’s staunchest early supporters have turned on him, decrying what they describe as his lack of transparency, cronyism, and financial mismanagement.

Place 7

• DaLana Barsanti is a mother of four Keller ISD graduates who has volunteered for more than 600 hours in Keller ISD and describes herself as an advocate for special populations in the district.
• Barsanti is a member of the Facebook groups for both Citizens Defending Freedom and Moms for Liberty, the two groups most involved in book bans in Tarrant County over the past several years.
• When books first came under attack in Keller ISD, in November of 2021, Barsanti was front and center, holding a sign at the board meeting reading “KISD we teach Reading, Writing, Arithmetic AND BLOWJOBS.” She spoke during public comment at that meeting, telling a story about sneaking home a book from school as a junior high student. “I didn’t finish reading the pages of that book,” she said. “I realized how horrified and how embarrassed and how ashamed that my parents would be because they trained and raised me better than that.”

• Heather Washington was appointed in December by the board’s majority to replace resigning trustee Ruthie Keyes. A member of Moms for Liberty Tarrant County’s Facebook group, and an early (and repeat) donor to the KISD Family Alliance PAC, Washington has been vocal in support of the new board.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 6

• Adrienne Sullivan is a parent to three Keller ISD students who has repeatedly spoken out against the effects of the board’s ill-considered book policies.
• At a contentious board meeting in August of 2022, Sullivan spoke against the board’s book rating rubric and spoke up for teachers, saying “They show up for our children, and they show up big.”
• Sullivan’s primary priority is improving the district’s Special Education services, an area where district stakeholders on all sides of the culture war agree there is room for improvement.
• I haven’t found a website for Sullivan yet, but here is her campaign Facebook, where you can contact her and reach out for a yard sign.

Place 7

• Dixie Davis is running on a platform of restoring sanity to a district that has gone off the rails. Her website points out that Keller ISD is “facing a historic $27 million budget crisis, a state government that has refused to fund public schools, and a board that’s been embroiled in political controversy at the expense of our kids.”
• Her stated goals are aimed right at the current board majority’s weaknesses: “to support educators, empower parents, increase transparency, create a safe and welcoming environment for all students, and fight for the money we need to maintain the level of excellence Keller ISD is known for.”
• Davis has an amazing Instagram page where she posts bite-sized, informative reels that showcase her trustee chops and break down complicated issues for district voters.
• Donate to or volunteer for Dixie Davis.

Contacts on the Ground

• Dixie Davis needs volunteers to send handwritten postcards to district voters. If you’re in the district, you can volunteer to send cards to your neighbors by filling out the form on her website. You can also donate to the effort at this link; a donation of $53 can send 100 cards.

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 6

Place 7

Lan Carter

Tina Capito

John A. Doranski

Joy Perez

Jesse L. Henderson IV

Miok Doranksi

Rachel Lynette Bourrage

Rodney Gilchrist

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 6

• John Doranski answered a forum question about book bans with a talking point that’s common among people seeking to remove books from schools or public libraries, seeming to argue that such removals don’t really count as book bans because the books are still available at bookstores. Doranski answered: “I’m not focusing on book banning, but I’m talking about book availability. If they don’t have it, you should be able to reach down into your own pocket if you want to read it and buy it yourself.” In fairness, Doranski didn’t seem to be coming from a place of censoriousness, but his answer also didn’t show an understanding of the importance of libraries–especially for families for whom purchasing books is a hardship.
• This wasn’t an off-the-cuff answer, either; Doranski has made a similar argument in other public statements.

Place 7

• No candidates in the Place 7 race have obvious red flags. I’ll update if that changes.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 6

• Lan Carter is a mother of three with two children in KISD schools. An Army spouse, she has master’s degrees in Counseling Psychology and Computer Information Systems. In a field that (for a change) is full of candidates who recognize the value of literature and free academic inquiry, the stances of Carter and Place 7 candidate Joy Perez stand out.
• Carter completed the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project’s school board candidate survey, and her answers consistently showed a respect for students’ freedom to read.  Carter strongly agreed that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and that “school libraries with robust and diverse collection that include age relevant books that address topics like race, social justice, sexual assault, sexual education, consent, LGBTQ+ issues, etc., are important to serving and meeting the needs of our students.”
• Carter wrote: “I disagree with any government entity removing books from libraries or determining what is fit or not fit for all children.”
• At a recent candidate forum, Carter reiterated those stances. “Banning books, I think, is a bad idea… an organization or institution needs to stay out of that,” she said.
• Donate to or volunteer for Lan Carter.

• Tina Capito is a former Killeen ISD teacher who has worked in education for more than 25 years. Capito has an extensive history of volunteering in the district and community and has won a number of awards for her service, including Harker Heights Linda Neault Volunteer of the Year and Harker Heights Citizen of the Year.
• At a recent candidate forum, Capito responded to a question about book bans by defending the expertise and professionalism of school librarians. “My thought about any banned books,” she said, “is that we have librarians that go to school and those professionals are there to make those decisions… they go through the processes, they have… expertise”
• Donate to or volunteer for Tina Capito.

Place 7

• Joy Perez is a Killeen ISD parent with a history of involvement in non-profit organizations.
• Perez completed the Every Library / Texas Freedom to Read Project’s board candidate survey, and her responses strongly indicate that she values the freedom to read. Perez strongly agreed that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and that “school libraries with robust and diverse collection that include age relevant books that address topics like race, social justice, sexual assault, sexual education, consent, LGBTQ+ issues, etc., are important to serving and meeting the needs of our students.”
• “It’s disheartening that librarians aren’t being treated like professionals by school boards who decide what gets to be in the library. Parents have choice in what their own child reads and checks out. A wide variety of age appropriate books that are about difficult topics is important as schools serve ALL kids,” Perez wrote.
• Donate to or volunteer for Joy Perez.

• Jesse Henderson IV said the right thing about book bans at a candidate forum in April: “I personally think that we shouldn’t outright ban books… knowledge is power… if the content of a book is such a point of [controversy], honestly, it really should be up to the parents to decide if their student can read or not read a certain book, not ban it outright for everybody.”
• Haven’t found much more information on Henderson, though. Will update if that changes.

• MiOk Doranski is running alongside her husband, Place 6 candidate John Doranski. Her response to the book-banning question at the April candidate forum was better than his. “Book banning is not good,” she said, citing her experience as a founder of a Korean-language newspaper.  
• Donate to or volunteer for MiOk Doranski.

• Rachel Lynette Bourrage is the president of Killeen Educators Association. Her response to the book-banning question at an April candidate forum was unequivocal: “I am against banning books.”
• I haven’t found a website or campaign Facebook page for Rachel Lynette Bourrage, but I’ll update if that changes.

• Rodney Gilchrist is a pastor and Army veteran who lists one of his motivations for running the board as “educate, don’t indoctrinate.” On its surface, that’s fine (who would disagree?), but it is a talking point often used by people who want to remove accurate historical education or make educational spaces less inclusive. That’s not enough for a red or orange highlight, but I’m wary.
• Donate to or volunteer for Rodney Gilchrist.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 2

Phillip Davis (I)

Craig Cancienne

Michael Leen (withdrawn)

Lauren White (I)

Christy Comfort

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1 & 2

• Craig Cancienne and Christy Comfort have the support of the Lake Travis Families PAC. Cancienne (Place 1) is a technology executive; Comfort (Place 2) is an executive who has served as a substitute teacher and volunteer in the district. Both candidates avoid controversial issues in interviews and on their websites. 
• But make no mistake–the two have been chosen by the PAC for their positions on culture war issues, especially involving books and LGBTQ students. The district’s most vocal opponents of the freedom to read and inclusive classrooms have come out in strong support of the two.

Alternative Candidate(s)

• Incumbents Phillip Davis and Lauren White are the only LTISD trustees with significant experience in education and the only remaining trustees not a part of the Lake Travis Families PAC’s takeover of the board. Davis is an associate professor at Texas State University and White is a former teacher.
• Their independence was on display at a board meeting in November, in which Davis and White were the only trustees to vote to uphold the decisions of committees of district parents, teachers and administrators in retaining three library books.
• Davis stood up for the importance of representation in libraries, saying, “We have to think about all of our kids, all of our families in this district. And when we make a decision that may impact folks who may see themselves in some of the resources and things that we have available to them, I think that can be a good thing for those people because they may be in a place where they don’t feel like they’re well-represented.”

• In the same meeting, Lauren White showed backbone and something rarely seen in Texas school board meetings: a full defense of parental rights, the freedom to read, AND her district’s employees. “The librarians in our schools are professionals and have a lot of experience in education,” she started. Then she added, “It strikes me as important that these are library books for self selection, and they may not be for everyone and perhaps, maybe definitely not for every family.” She continued, “Something you said, earlier Ms. Dover, stuck with me, that getting a book removed is not as simple as sending an email. And it’s not, but getting a book removed so that your own child cannot read is as simple as sending an email, and I think as a district we can do more to communicate that to parents.” Finally, she said, “I trust parents to be able to make decisions for their children.” Wow.

• Both White and Davis again made clear and forceful arguments for retaining challenged books–this time Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl and The Haters, by Jesse Andrews, in a meeting in March. In response to the complainant’s charge that the book lacked any literary value, both trustees pointed to the poignancy of the story and its value for helping readers make sense of what it means to lose someone to cancer. “There are scenes in the book that I don’t like. It’s not my preference,” said Davis. “But when I look at it, there is value in the book in terms of helping establish and understanding of what someone may go through or what they may experience when facing someone who is going through a tragic illness.” Davis also pointed out that “listening to the community” means considering all members of the community–not just the people demanding books be removed.

• Donate to or volunteer for Phillip Davis.
• Donate to or volunteer for Lauren White.

Contacts on the Ground

• Lake Travis Voices for Progress “offers a community for residents who want local and state leadership who are welcoming and inclusive to everyone, fight for public education, and ensure we develop our community in a responsible and sustainable way.” Its website provides volunteer opportunities, events, and information on the district and the board election. 
• Please support them!

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 5

Rob Wilson (I)

Pamela Huston

Dean Campbell (I)

Reed Norman

Penny Wimberly

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• At a forum hosted by the Llano Tea Party, Pamela Huston was introduced by rabid book banner Bonnie Wallace, who said, “She needs your vote. She’s running against Rob Wilson, whose wife loves porn and puts it in the elementary school.”
• At the same forum–where removing books from all manner of libraries was the evening’s primary focus–Huston was asked her opinion on the American Library Association. “I do not agree with what is going on in the Llano County Library,” she responded. “I am against child pornography, I am against the filth in the books that are in our library. I believe what our Founding Fathers believed in: that we believe in God, and our nation was built on God, and all those moral principles, and I will fight for that… I will not back down.”
• Huston was also asked, “Are you ready to stand up and fight against the rest of the board members?” She responded, “Yes, I am. I am a conservative Christian, and I have been praying and asking God to lead me on my journey, and I believe this is where he’s placed me to represent you and not to back down…”
• At public comment during the February board meeting, Huston called for the removal of more than 200 books of “harmful, glamorized horrid sexual and explicit deviant sexual content, also books of extensive instruction that underplay drug usage and instruction on how to use drugs.”
• According to her most recent financial filing, Huston’s largest individual campaign donor is Bonnie Wallace.
• Huston previously ran against Rob Wilson, and lost by only 68 votes. In other words, this is an election where turnout and getting out the vote will really matter. CORRECTION: Though for some reason Huston claims she lost by 68 votes, in fact she lost by nearly 400. Wilson gained 68% of the vote; Huston garnered only 32%.  

Place 5

• Penny Wimberly recently objected to the fact that Llano ISD’s challenge policies require committees to read a book in its entirety. “We can streamline the process,” she said. That’s a red flag for several reasons. First, it echoes the talking points of the district’s lead book banner, Bonnie Wallace, who has complained about the fact that she was told her 200 book challenges would take years to process. Second, book banners really hate it when decision-makers read books in their entirety. A recent story on book challenges in Conroe ISD, for example, noted that “when a district has to read the books, titles under review are kept 77 percent of the time and removed 23 percent of the time. When a committee does not have to read the books, those reviewed are kept 21 percent and removed 79 percent of the time.”
• Wimberly appeared at a March event with both Huston and red-flag SBOE candidate (and current Round Rock ISD trustee) Mary Bone. The tagline for the event was “Conservative Voices running to PROTECT OUR CHILDREN.”

• Reed Norman served on Marble Falls City Council from 2012 to 2018 and has been the owner of No Worries Lawn Care LLC.
• Asked about HB 900 at a recent candidate forum, Norman said, “If elected, I will go in there and find (any sexually explicit books) myself, and if they’re in there and if they’re not, I’m going to let Llano know.”

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Incumbent Rob Wilson has drawn fire for respecting the district’s procedures and avoiding overreacting in response to scare tactics and bullying about books. Regarding HB 900, according to DailyTrib.com, Wilson said at a recent candidate forum that “to his knowledge, LISD libraries did not have any material that falls under the ‘sexually explicit’ description in the bill.” (HB 900 has a specific definition of “sexually explicit”--other candidates don’t seem aware of that.)
• For his reasonable stances, Wilson has drawn nasty personal attacks. Llano Public Library Advisory Council Vice-Chair Bonnie Wallace, for example, started a recent Llano Tea Party forum by saying his wife “loves porn and puts it in the elementary school.”
• Wilson has served on the board since 2015.
• Though the group hasn’t made official endorsements yet, Wilson has considerable support from the members of Save Llano Libraries.
• I haven’t found a website for Wilson, but here is his campaign Facebook page, where you can donate or volunteer.

Place 5

• Incumbent Dean Campbell has served on the board since 2018.
• Campbell is a former high school and college football coach who played on the national champion 1970 Texas Longhorns.
• Like Wilson, Campbell has considerable support from the members of Save Llano Libraries.
• I’ll update if/when I find a website for Dean Campbell.

Contacts on the Ground

• Middle of Texas PAC
• Save Llano Libraries FB Page

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 2

Michelle Newsom (I)

Dr. Matthew Herzberg

Dr. Jandel Crutchfield

Angel Hidalgo (ruled ineligible, but still on the ballot)

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Incumbent Michelle Newsom’s tenure on the MISD board precedes its takeover by Patriot Mobile-financed extremists, but Newsom’s re-election announcement was welcomed by two of the Patriot Mobile trustees, Craig Tipping and Keziah Farrar.
• Newsom is also endorsed by the DFW Conservative Voters PAC, along with some of the most extreme trustees and candidates in North Texas, like Shannon Braun (GCISD), Kathi Arocha (Arlington ISD), and Charles Randklev (Keller ISD).

Place 2

• Angel Hidalgo ran with the backing of a number of far-right, pro-censorship groups, but MISD has conclusively determined that, since he was not a registered voter in the district before filing, he is ineligible to run for the office. Unfortunately, the board also decided that it is too late to remove Hidalgo’s name from the ballot. If Hidalgo wins (and he has a great opponent in Jandel Crutchfield), then the seat will be declared vacant and the (Patriot Mobile-bought) board will appoint a trustee to fill it. So voting for Hidalgo’s opponent Crutchfield is essential.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Matthew Herzberg is a former school principal with an EdD from Tarleton State University who started his career in MISD as a band director in one of the district’s intermediate schools.
• In his responses to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project survey of school board candidates, Herzberg strongly agreed that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child” and that “there is value in allowing students to choose their own age-relevant reading materials.”
• “It’s disheartening that librarians aren’t being treated like professionals by school boards who decide what gets to be in the library. Parents have choice in what their own child reads and checks out. A wide variety of age appropriate books that are about difficult topics is important as schools serve ALL kids,” Herzberg wrote.
• Donate to or volunteer for Matthew Herzberg.

Place 2

• Jandel Crutchfield is a social worker who teaches in the School of Social Work at UT-Arlington and earned her PhD from Louisiana State Univerity. She’s also a parent of two MISD students.
• Crutchfield has regularly spoken at MISD board meetings–including this public comment in September of 2022, in which she pushed the board to remain “above that fray of the culture wars that we’re seeing in other districts,” and “above political propaganda.” “We thank the board,” she concluded, “so far for staying above the fray, and ask that you please, please, not bring us down to the level of these other districts fighting in culture wars about gender, banning books, CRT–that are not really about the amazing students and staff we’ve just clapped for tonight.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Jandel Crutchfield.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 7

Kevin Carbó (I)

Carrie Bruce

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 7

• No candidates for Place 7 have obvious red flags.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 7

• Incumbent Kevin Carbó is an experienced and respected trustee who has been elected to the board of the Texas Association of School Boards and was first elected to the Mesquite ISD board in 1996.
• Carbó is a business operations analyst in the Aviation Department of the City of Dallas.
• He says his priorities for the district are “school safety, teacher advocacy and finance support from the state.”
• Carbó has the support of the Mesquite Education Association.
• Carbó does not seem to have a website or campaign Facebook page. I’ll update as necessary.

• Carrie Bruce is a school librarian who also has an MBA from SMU.
• Bruce responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project school board candidate survey, and her answers showed strong support for the freedom to read. Bruce strongly agreed that “a parent's right to restrict or remove access to a book or other instructional resource, extends only to their own child, and not anyone else's child,” that “​​school libraries with robust and diverse collection that include age relevant books that address topics like race, social justice, sexual assault, sexual education, consent, LGBTQ+ issues, etc., are important to serving and meeting the needs of our students” and that “school libraries are places of voluntary inquiry and not required reading for students. School libraries should, therefore, have books and materials with a multitude of viewpoints and ideas. Removing books from library shelves because of disagreement with or disapproval of ideas or viewpoints within the books is wrong and violates the First Amendment rights of students.”
• “Book challenges are an attack on democracy,” Bruce wrote. “Students need age appropriate access to diverse topics to become empathetic and informed citizens.”
• I haven’t found a website or campaign Facebook page for Bruce yet. Will update as necessary.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Place 1

Place 3

Richard Peña (I)

Lisa Healy

Eduardo Gonzalez (I)

Ryan Timm

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Lisa Healy is an administrator of the Facebook page of an activist group called “Respect Midlothian 1888,” which in 2021 demanded the firing of the district’s DEI coordinator and accused the district of teaching “critical race theory.”
• Healy wrote to the Texas legislature in support of the anti-book bill HB 900, saying it would “protect out [sic] children from pornography in our schools and libraries.”
• At a board meeting in June of 2021, Healy described what she alleged was poor treatment of her daughter after moving to the district as an 11th-grader. “I have to begin to wonder, were we treated this way because we are white?” Healy also argued that the district is teaching “CRT” and social-emotional learning. “These are the things that are taught at home,” Healy said. “This is where they should stay.” Healy also complained about a motion the board passed in 2020 “saying that there was white privilege and racism at MISD.” “MISD first, Midlothian first, Texas first, America first,” she finished.
• In an August 2021 meeting, she gave examples of what she describes as “CRT”: questions that she says her daughter was asked in a class assignment that included “Do you feel that you are aware of other cultures and considerate of them?”, “Why do you think there is such a big emphasis placed on the race of a person?” and “What steps will you take to help racism go away?”

Place 3

• Incumbent Eduardo Gonzalez responded to EveryLibrary’s survey of Texas school board candidates. On that survey, Gonzalez said students should “never” have access to age-relevant books with LGBTQ characters, about race or racism, social justice, puberty or sexual health. “Books should be used as an educational tool, not to promote social injustice.  Tax payer money should not be used to fund woke agendas,” he said–again, discussing library books. “As a trustee my decisions will revolve around my faith and family values.  I am glad that I have an influence in policy.”  

Alternative Candidate(s)

Place 1

• Incumbent Richard Peña is a retired Midlothian police officer and former MISD school resource officer who was elected to the board in 2021.
• I haven’t found a website for Peña yet, but here is a campaign Facebook page.

Place 3

• Ryan Timm is a longtime educator who most recently has been a principal at Midlothian ISD’s Baxter Elementary School. Before that, Timm was a teacher and coach in a number of Texas districts.
• Here is Timm’s campaign Facebook page. I’ll update if I find a website for him.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

District 1

District 2

District 4

District 5

District 6

Michael Gurwitz

Lisa Thompson

Tracie Shelton

Rhonda Rowland

Jacqueline Klein

David Beyer

Jack Hoyle

Melinda Cox

Chris Evans

Dick Rasmussen

Steve Hilliard

Terri Chidgey

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

District 1

• Former math teacher Michael Gurwitz is backed by PUFF, which aligns him with Moms for Liberty leader Jacqueline Klein and trustee Steve Hilliard.

District 2

• Jacqueline Klein is a leader of the Bexar County chapter of Moms for Liberty, which is really enough said.
• As you’d expect, that means she accuses district leadership of refusing “to remove pornographic books in our libraries” and she shares anti-LGBTQ, especially transphobic, content, complaining for example that a school in a nearby district has “a female who believes she is a man teaching theater.”
• When three trustees advocated appointing her as a replacement for Williams, trustees David Beyer and Sandy Hughey questioned her over now-deleted “social media posts in which Klein was ‘very unkind to teachers,’ accusing them of promoting critical race theory and ‘grooming’ kids.” Klein responded on Facebook by sharing an article about a teacher arrested in a different part of the state for abusing a student and saying, “Hughey called me crazy for saying there are people in these systems who would groom children.”
• In general, her campaign Facebook page is full of combative and partisan posts on an array of culture war hot topics, from migrant students (“our already struggling school systems are being inundated”) to vouchers (“parents want choice”).

• Rhonda Rowland has a doctorate in educational leadership and more than 30 years of experience in education. A group called Texas Family Action (affiliated with the San Antonio Family Association PAC) shared a campaign video from Rowland last year and praised Rowland for “Protecting Children's Virtue” and “Respecting Parent's Rights” and said that she “Intends to help STOP NEISD - Critical Race Theory (CRT), Classroom Activism, Sexual Grooming (Graphic SexEd).”

District 4

• Jack Hoyle has been endorsed by pro-censorship PAC Texas Family Action.

District 5

• Dick ‘Raz’ Rasmussen is a donor to PUFF, and in turn has been endorsed by the PAC. On his website, he describes himself as an “American patriot, and life-long conservative.” 
• Rasmussen’s campaign website reflects culture war paranoia. Among his concerns about contemporary education, he lists “less parental choice, increasing C.R.T. curricula, a push for the 1619 Project, emphasis on climate change, and a focus on Diversity Equity & Inclusion (D.E.I.) instead of merit-based solutions and performance.”

• Chris Evans is a district parent and sales representative for a construction equipment store, and his wife is a district principal with more than 25 years of experience in education. He doesn’t have a website yet (that I’ve found), and the priorities listed on his campaign Facebook page are pretty vague and anodyne (accountability, rebuilding trust, transparent communication). While he told me via email that he is not pro-censorship and does not have the support of any pro-censorship group, he has since been endorsed by pro-censorship group Texas Family Action.

District 6

• Steve Hilliard, a retired Air Force officer, has been endorsed by PUFF. In 2019, Hilliard filed a grievance against the board protesting the district’s sex ed program, which he and his wife claimed does not emphasize abstinence enough.
• Hilliard’s wife has donated to PUFF, and is also a member of the Facebook group of the Moms for Liberty chapter for Bexar County. That’s especially relevant because Paula Hilliard is a frequent commenter and presenter at NEISD board meetings, and Hilliard has described policies he has introduced for board consideration as having been written in a “collaborative process” with his wife.

Alternative Candidate(s)

District 1

• Lisa Thompson is a district parent and former elementary school teacher who has also served as an educational coach and PTA president.
• Thompson has won a number of awards for her service to the district, including a PTA life membership, Texas PTA Extended Service Award, the Presidential Volunteer Service Award, and the Superintendent’s Award.
• Encouragingly, the San Antonio Express-News reports that Thompson says that families who opt-in to sex education “need medically accurate information” and that history should be taught “the way that history happened.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Lisa Thompson.

District 2

• Tracie Shelton is a business advisor who has been recommended by the North East Bexar County Democrats.
• Donate to or volunteer for Tracie Shelton.

District 4

• Incumbent David Beyer, a landscape architect, has served on the board since 2019. He has come under attack from members of Moms for Liberty and Parents United for Freedom, often for his clashes with the trustees they have worked to elect to the board.
• Donate to or volunteer for David Beyer.

• I haven’t found much information about Beyer’s challenger Jack Hoyle. I’ll update as that changes.

District 5

• Melinda Cox is a parent and longtime volunteer in the district who founded the district’s Smart Driving Club to increase student road safety. As she puts it, “This initiative was not only about creating safer roads but also empowering young drivers to assert their right to safety. I strongly believe that at its core, school board members share a parallel responsibility – collaborating with our district to ensure students have a voice and the means to express it effectively.”
• Among standard trustee priorities (fiscal responsibility, strengthening engagement with families), Cox lists some goals that–unfortunately–take a bit of courage to mention in today’s fraught culture-war environment. She promises to embrace diversity (“ensure board decisions represent the diverse student population”) and empower student voices (“recognize and prioritize student perspectives in decision-making”).
• Donate to or volunteer for Melinda Cox.

District 6

• Terri Chidgey is a former teacher, principal, and district administrator who worked in NEISD for more than 40 years. She now supervises student teachers at University of the Incarnate Word.
• Chidgey’s campaign is pushing back against the fear-based, divisive politics that have riven the board over the past three years. She told the San Antonio Express News, “We don’t want educators to talk about mental health or social-emotional learning because we want the parents to do that — and do the parents need to do that? Absolutely, but there are also teachable moments in the classroom or on the playground.” And she hopes to return the board to a time when members could be “respectful and collaborative even when they didn’t agree.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Terri Chidgey.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

Position 3

David Slattery

Ronald Hanson

Ben Drews

Matthew Cone

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

Position 3

• Matthew Cone has the endorsement of Spring Branch Families First / PIPELine SBISD, the district’s most virulent book-banning group. Cone is also a donor to Spring Branch Families PAC–in turn, many of his early endorsements come from the PAC’s regular donors. Cone is also endorsed by current board member John Pérez.
• On the “Platform” page of his website, Cone writes that he wants to “ensure school board positions remain at-large. We represent all students!” It’s an interesting phrase to describe one of America’s least representative school boards.

• David Slattery ran for the board in 2022. He is running on a platform of conservative values and protecting the at-large electoral system.

• There’s not a lot of information available on candidate Ronald Hanson.

Alternative Candidate(s)

Position 3

• SBISD parent and Army veteran Ben Drews is hitting the current board hard on their lack of transparency and questionable priorities in a time of financial crisis. He is also insistent on the values of inclusion and representation, and not afraid to say that “attacks on students who fit a minority profile — whether LGBTQIA+, people of color, those with learning differences, or anyone who is otherwise marginalized — should never be the focus of any school district, period.”
• Drews has spoken out against the district’s librarian firings, and connected them to the lack of respect the board has given librarians over the past few years, observing, “I’d be remiss if I said I wasn’t a little jaded since librarians have been at the forefront of political attacks over the past three years when it comes to nonsense over books.”
• Donate to or volunteer for Ben Drews.

Contacts on the Ground

• Families 4 Every Child is fighting the good fight against the very well-funded reactionary PACs and their allies operating in the district. They don’t shy away from addressing the very obvious disparities in the district’s North/South divide; nor do they ignore the ways those disparities play into controversies about books and “CRT.”
• Support them in any way you can.

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!

Contested Races

Candidates

District 2

Bridgette Marshall (I)

Andy Rokovich  

Notes on Red Flag Candidate(s)

District 2

• Andy Rokovich recently came under fire for an anti-Semitic post on Facebook that read, "They [Jewish people] have been allowed to morally skirt law for 2,000 years, seem like a coincidence?" Rokovich later apologized.
• Rokovich responded to the EveryLibrary / Texas Freedom to Read Project survey on censorship. He strongly agreed with the statement “I worry about the types of books and materials available in my district school libraries,” and disagreed with the statement “I trust librarians are looking out for the best interest of students and I generally trust them to oversee and curate school library collections in my district.”
• He also strongly disagreed that “School libraries with robust and diverse collection that include age relevant books that address topics like race, social justice, sexual assault, sexual education, consent, LGBTQ+ issues, etc., are important to serving and meeting the needs of our students” and responded that students should never have access to age-relevant books with LGBTQ+ characters, books about race or racism, books about social justice, or books about puberty and sexual education. Let me say that again: he said students should never have access to those books. “These books did not exist in school libraries until 10 years ago. These questions are worded as gotcha questions,” he wrote.
• Rokovich has the support of the leaders of a private Facebook group called (ironically) Freedom Over Fear Citizens Unite, which has followed the predictable path of culture-war obsessions: vaccines and COVID restrictions to critical race theory to “porn” in libraries to drag queens.

Alternative Candidate(s)

District 2

• Bridgette Marshall was appointed to the board in the summer of 2023. She has lived and worked in Victoria all of her life, and is an English instructor and Department Chair of Humanities at Victoria College.
• I’m still looking for Marshall’s website. Will update if I find it.

Contacts on the Ground

• TBD

Organizing steps/upcoming events

• PLEASE CONTACT ME TO ADD–Canvasses, organizing meetings, other events!