Four incumbents running for reelection to Texas State Board of Education

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(The Center Square) – Four incumbents are running for reelection to the Texas State Board of Education. 

There are nine seats overall on the ballot. Eight are regular elections; one is a special election. 

The four incumbents are running for reelection to a board whose majority have no teaching experience, The Center Square reported. Five are open seats.

Three incumbent Republicans and one incumbent Democrat are running for reelection. 

The SBOE is the policy-making body of the Texas Education Agency, which is statutorily required to adopt policies, rules and regulations; approve budgets; execute contracts to purchase textbooks and instructional materials; direct the investment of the Permanent School Fund; among other actions. Members serve on three committees.

Each member represents roughly 1.8 million Texans in 15 districts. The majority are located in the eastern half and most populated areas of the state. District 15 in the Panhandle has the most counties (87); District 11 in the Dallas area has the least (five). 

Members are elected to four-year overlapping terms. Of the incumbents, including outgoing members, all but five are Republicans. Eight are women. Nine are Caucasian, four are Black and two are Hispanic. 

District 4: part of Harris and Galveston counties

This seat was vacated earlier this year after Democrat Staci Childs resigned to run for Texas House District 131 in Houston.  

Gov. Greg Abbott appointed Republican Tammie Nielsen to fill the seat through Dec. 31. As the incumbent, Nielsen is running to fill the seat through the end of Childs’ term. 

She has no teaching experience and is a longtime nonprofit executive. Her campaign website has no education platform but states, “She is committed to educational excellence, supporting parents and teachers, and helping ensure every Texas student has the opportunity to succeed.”  

The Texas Democratic Party nominated Dr. Coretta Mallet-Fontenot, a former Houston ISD educator of 27 years. Her campaign website doesn’t list priorities either but states, “we cannot allow noneducators to make important decisions that govern the direction of our school communities” and our kids should be taught the truth about our history and respect fact-based science. … Our schools have been hit hard by extremist views and those who would erase the history of African Americans and other marginalized groups.” 

District 7: Southeast Texas and the upper Gulf Coast

Incumbent Republican Julie Pickren is being challenged by Democrat Tiffany Perkinz, a teacher of ten years.

Pickren, who has no teaching experience, has a platform that prioritizes “four fights worth having.” Two relate to SBOE responsibilities: “providing Texas children with exceptional educational opportunities” and advocating for strong conservative values. The other two have nothing to do with SBOE priorities, including advocating for “safe communities and honest elections” and decreasing taxes on small businesses. Other non SBOE-related priorities she highlights include fighting crime and corruption, prosecuting violent crime, and securing the border.

Her campaign focus has been on “literacy, the Bible’s place in our history and classical education.” She also argues that parents, not the district, are children’s “first teachers.” 

She has also championed a charter school system in the Houston area with ties to an Islamic Turkish imam and the Gulen movement.

Perkinz, who has taught middle and high school students in public and private schools, also served as an adjunct English instructor at Lamar University. She says she understands “education from both sides of the desk.” She says she’s running because “Texas students deserve strong public schools free from partisan political agendas … rigorous academic standards, respect for local communities, transparency, and a curriculum that teaches students how to think, not what to think.”

She hopes to “restore trust in public education,” by putting students, teachers, and families first, and teaching history “honestly,” literature that “broadens perspectives” and “science that follows evidence.”

District 8:  East Texas and parts of the Greater Houston region

Incumbent Republican Audrey Young is being challenged by Democrat Dana Van De Walker. 

Incumbent Republican Dr. Audrey Young is being challenged by Democrat Dana Van De Walker who works at Lone Star Community College.

Dr. Young has 30 years of experience as a public educator as a Speech Language Therapist, classroom teacher, school administrator and district director. Her platform includes strengthening academic achievement and student readiness, improving gifted and talented education and advancing literacy and cross-curricular alignment. 

In 2021, she worked to improve the Dyslexia Handbook, aligning for the first time Texas law with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, her website states. She also says she worked to “stop liberal, out-of-state companies from introducing Common Core curriculum into Texas schools” and rejected Science TEKS, Health TEKS, and textbooks which sought liberal indoctrination of Texas public school students” when evaluating and approving curriculum.

Van De Walker, a 20-year educator, has worked overseas, at Sam Houston State University and now at Lone Star overseeing a student program, according to her website. She hasn’t outlined a platform but says she is “passionate about affordable and accessible education for all Texans and is committed to serving the interests of all community members.”  

District 13: Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex

Incumbent Democrat and educator Tiffany Clark is being challenged by Republican educator Carlos “Charlie” Garza.

Clark is running for reelection to ensure “a fighter who will represent Democratic party values, especially in Austin where radical, right-wing MAGA conservatives control the agenda,” is elected. She has 13 years of experience in the K-12 sector as a science teacher and counselor and also as an adjunct professor and school board trustee. Her platform prioritizes a “balanced curriculum” with better testing, “equal opportunities” for college and career readiness, mental health for students and staff and protecting “the integrity of the diverse needs of our students.” 

Garza, a 20-year U.S. Navy veteran, served as a public school teacher and superintendent. He says he’s running to support “strong academics, safe and disciplined classrooms, meaningful accountability, and a curriculum that prepares them for college, careers, military service, skilled trades, and citizenship.”

His priorities include reducing classroom screen time, and refocusing public schools “on rigorous academics, informed citizenship, and respect for civic traditions” by requiring a civics course to be taught “rooted in founding documents.” He also wants to better prepare students for college, including revising the Advanced Placement program by reducing the need for non-credit remedial math and English. He also wants required teaching about the 9/11 terrorist attacks. He also supports amending the law to allow the SBOE to determine if school districts should be taken over by the state.