Place 6

Francis Jackson

Q. What made you decide to run for board of trustees?

A. I said to myself years ago, whenever I retired, I wanted to be on the school board. I couldn't think of a better time to do it than now. I want to continue to serve, and I want to continue to be involved. I'm opposed to the cuts of all these teachers that they are making. I think that teachers and aides are the heart and soul of the district. They are the future-builders, and when you cut teachers, you degrade the quality of education. I don't care what anybody says. I've read it in the newspaper. You don't cut 60 or 80 [teachers] and not have a problem. The teachers are stretched. These people work hard. All my kids went through the school system here, and we came down here because of the schools.

Q. What in your background makes you a strong candidate for school board?

A. I taught for 17 years. I recently retired, so I know exactly what's going on. I have a feel for the teachers and the aides and what's going on in the district. This is a second career for me. I was in the military and retired from that. The military had a Troops to Teachers [program]. I've been involved in budgeting while in the military. I saw drastic cuts to the budget in the military that we had to go through and do big reductions. Everybody else is talking about the big picture, but to me, I'm thinking about people that it affects. When we are looking at the big picture, everything else gets kind of mired in that fog of battle. I'm not losing my focus of being opposed to the cuts of teachers.

Q. What are the top issues in the school district?

A. I'm opposed to cutting the teachers. There are a lot of positions—senior-level positions—that we need to take a hard look at and ask, 'Do we really need these positions?' They're real nice to have when everything is going along well and there is plenty of money, but now that we are in an austere budget, I say we cut those positions that do not impact education. I'm not saying the other positions are not important, but teachers and aides are the top priority. I was looking, and there have been two people in the Place 7 position in 18 years; that's too long. We need to get more people involved in the process. I think we need to have term limits. I also believe that the at-large positions in Georgetown need to be [single-member districts, so] if you represent Place 6 or 7 it is an actual area that you are required to live in and the people there vote for you.


Greg Eady

Q. What made you decide to run for board of trustees?

A. A lot of unfinished business that requires a strong financial background is left to do with the district. Where I come in with my financial background has helped us with our budget issues, our audit issues and our challenges we've had with our CFO. We still have an interim CFO, and we will need to go out and look for a qualified CFO. It's a very critical part of the school district having that key person to know the accounting side. We still have the rest of the bond to implement. We still have a lot of construction and development under way. It's my opinion that my individual talents are a good addition to help us have a diversified board. We have a board that communicates well together.

Q. What in your background makes you a strong candidate for school board?

A. I have 25 years in banking. That background fits that niche if you look at the whole pie of running the school district. We go ask the taxpayers for money through a bond, and then you get a bond. Well, then you have to find the best way to implement that so you get a [qualified] firm, but you have to know if they are telling you the right thing. Just because they say something doesn't mean it's right. We saw that with our audit firm, which we are no longer using. Just knowing the right things to ask and requiring them to do the right things and the audit is a unique document. It's very critical. It helps with bond rating and how our accounting is set up.

Q. What are the top issues in the school district?

A. The state wants us to be efficient. Well, how do we do all that and looking at everything possible without having to go back to the taxpayers and ask for more money? We are doing more with a lot less. We need to have an investment policy in place to have better policies and procedures of how we manage those bonds and how we pay down debt when we have the ability to pay down the debts. We do want to methodically build back the reserves. We've been reactive, and we want to be strategic and proactive going forward. It's one of the toughest things that a lot of taxpayers don't realize is that it's an $80 million company with employees, and your revenue stream is dictated by somebody you can't control, and the most critical thing that you produce is a child's education. Trying to get all that working together is a tough thing to do.


Place 7

Paul Newton

Q. What made you decide to run for board of trustees?

A. I've been interested in it for many years. I traveled for many years, and that sort of prevented me from being able to do it where we lived previously. I had an opportunity to hear a talk by the Toronto school district superintendent. One of the things this guy got across to me was the significance of leadership in any organization. I spent 10 years working as a consultant for small- and medium-sized companies and nonprofits, and part of what that was all about was helping them improve their organizational performance. I think education is a vital piece of the future of the country, and I've got a skill set at working with organizations and people figuring out ways to do things more effectively.

Q. What in your background makes you a strong candidate for school board?

A. I taught algebra in high school for a short time after I got out of college. Then I was responsible for managing all weapons training for the advanced infantry training brigade during Vietnam. I got meaningful background in managing the education process in a vital area at an early age. When I worked for the printing company, I was responsible for organizing and implementing a total quality program. The work I've done for the last 18 years, working with companies to make them better—is all about what is important, what are our problems and issues, what can we do about it, and how do we go about doing it. I think I've got extraordinarily good people skills in terms of working with people to get things done.

Q. What are the top issues in the school district?

A. You can't ignore the dollars and cents issues. We've got revenue issues, we've got cost issues, we've got cash flow issues. Recognizing that school districts are pretty limited in their ability to raise revenue and figuring out organizational issues to maximize money is, today, a huge issue. I think right in line with dollars and cents subjects, school districts period have to figure out more and better ways to use technology to enhance the ability to perform effectively with the same or less dollars. I look at subjects like the one I taught, algebra, math and science as very amenable these days to the use of technology to have the best teachers teaching all students in that subject area. One of the things to me that we need to do is educate teachers on [how to teach] as opposed to [just learning a] subject.


Ronna Johnson

Q. What made you decide to run for board of trustees?

A. I've been involved for 10 years, and I felt like we have a great board of seven. Brad Smith was coming off, and we have one trustee who is a woman, so I thought that perspective would be valuable especially because I have kids in all the three levels. I'm certainly very familiar with the operations of the district from working in the schools for this long. I have relationships in the district with mostly all the principals and a lot of the teachers from being on the PTA Council and Georgetown Partners in Education board. It just seemed like this was a good time for maybe my perspective to join the conversation in the boardroom.

Q. What in your background makes you a strong candidate for school board?

A. I have a business degree from Texas A&M University, so I have a strong business background. I also have a technology and business development background. I have finance and marketing experience, and those things are all needed. I think the most important thing in my background is 10 years of experience with GISD. People know that I don't do this for any other reason than to do what's best for the schools. Because when a community has good schools, it is a community of excellence. Our schools reflect that, and people want to move to communities with strong schools, and Georgetown has always had that.

Q. What are the top issues in the school district?

A. First of all, school finance is such a big issue for the district, and certainly they've gone through a massive process of identifying where best to put their resources. Right now, certainly an issue would be to maximize every resource the school district has, whether it is a dollar resource, a human resource or facility resource to make sure they get the best value from those because resources are very tight. I think another passion for me is strategic planning because as resources tighten, there is a need to have a strong sense of direction of where the district is going. Certainly we need to be preparing our students for that global workplace and making sure they have cutting-edge curriculum and technology integrated into the curriculum.


County Commissioner Precinct 3

Greg Windham

Q. What made you decide to run for County Commissioner Precinct 3?

A. An obligation to my children and to the community. I feel like it's my duty to stand up and be a resistant force to the out-of-control Washington-style spending. It's time for Williamson County Precinct 3 to resist urban sprawl. It's not the job of government to promote growth. They have indebted us for at least three decades with the money they have already spent. They are issuing debt. It's just got to stop. We have to cap the debt. I am running to be a voice of fiscal conservatism on the Commissioners Court.

Q. What are the top issues in Precinct 3?

A. The top three issues are debt, debt and debt. Debt is associated with sprawl, and sprawl is the development of outlying areas away from urban cores. That causes more taxes because it requires more infrastructure on the part of the county. I think we need to concentrate our development—and I am a developer—in the interior urban areas that are already in the city and not lay that burden on county taxpayers. I think people who live in Precinct 3, particularly Georgetown, Florence and Jarrell, and the people that live in the outlying areas, you'll find are my biggest supporters because if they wanted to live in Pflugerville, they would live in Pflugerville. Our county government has been responsible for sprawl policies ever since 2000. You've really seen the growth come, and even though the growth is natural, it's not the job of government to induce that growth. It's the job of government to react to that growth.

Q. What makes you the best candidate for Precinct 3 commissioner?

A. I am a businessman and a family man. I have had my own business for 15 years. I have four children. I've been married to my wife for 16 years, almost 17. I am a University of Texas graduate. I'm home-grown; I'm from Austin. I grew up in Temple and a little town called Post. I understand and am in touch with Williamson County citizens and voters. They are in a position now that the tax burden has become too much. With the amount of bonds this Commissioners Court has issued, it's time that we take the infrastructure we have developed and promote it.


Valerie Covey

Q. What made you decide to run for County Commissioner Precinct 3?

A. I am running for re-election because I believe that we need to have a conservative voice on the Commissioners Court. As the county continues to grow—and we have seen 69 percent growth in the last 10 years, but even though it has slowed down, we anticipate it to continue to grow—we need someone with business experience as well as conservative principals to help guide the county in future decisions. There are a lot of important issues in a county of our size. Road projects are an issue that we spend a good amount of money on just because of the nature of how expensive they are. I'm also involved in mental health. I've also been involved in habitat issues.

Q. What are the top issues in Precinct 3?

A. One of the main things that county commissioners are entrusted with is the budget, and, I think, balancing growth with fiscal conservative policies and principals. Transportation issues will continue to be an issue in a growing county. Those have continued to be issues as we continue to grow—planning and trying to stay ahead of the growth to encourage positive development and smart growth. The habitat issues are definitely at the top of the list of importance, and that is why I am spending a lot of time learning about these issues and trying to help direct the discussion using good science and trying to let science encourage the decision. I think mental health will continue to be an issue as more and more troops come back and settle here in Williamson County. One of the things I was involved with was to help pass a bill giving [the Texas Department of Transportation] deadlines for review of environmental documents.

Q. What makes you the best candidate for Precinct 3 commissioner?

A. I am a CPA. I believe those skills are in line with what we need because the Commissioners Court is the executive body of the county, and we make all the decisions on the budget, the tax rate as well as other financial decisions. I believe it's important, not just the knowledge, but a conservative set of principals that I live by and help me in all my decisions. I believe it takes a while to understand how county government works, but also what we are able to do and not able to do based on what the state has given us authority to do and also the issues at hand.


Texas State Senate District 5

Ben Bius

Q. What made you decide to run for state senate?

A. I've been a lifelong conservative and activist my entire adult life. I believe that we need to elect true lifelong conservatives and business people who will get things done. We face a lot of pessimism in America today. I think back to the time of Jimmy Carter when our country was looked upon as incapable; our military was not strong and we had runaway debt and runaway inflation. Then we elected Ronald Reagan, and things got better almost overnight. I believe we need to elect more conservative Republican candidates who will get the job done and not moderates and centrists, and that's why I'm in this race.

Q. What is the biggest issue in District 5?

A. My No. 1 goal is to secure our border. Most of the problems we face with budgets that can't be balanced, schools that don't work, prisons that are overcrowded, health care systems and hospitals bursting at the seams can be traced directly to the government's failure to protect our borders. And I mean business when I say we are going to stop that. The second most important issue is we have got to make our schools work again. We have to realize that every child is not going to go to college, and we need to strengthen our vocational and technical programs and teach our children the value of the Christian work ethic. Make them proud to be workers and proud to hold jobs.

Q. How do you plan to serve all of your constituents?

A. It's a full-time job. Being a state senator of the fifth senatorial district is a total commitment. I live in the eastern part of this district. I cannot get to Austin without driving through 100 percent of this district. It's not 30 miles down the road from me. I am also a pilot and have been a pilot since I was 16 years old, and I tell you being able to fly really makes a big difference in the ability to serve the needs of these smaller and rural counties. I'm a hard worker. I'm a small businessman I'm used to working smart. I don't just throw money at things. I think about how to do the best I can with what's available. I believe I can stretch a dollar farther than anybody, and that's what we need in government today. I understand the folks in this district. I've met them. I know them. I'm kin to a lot of them.


Charles Schwertner

Q. What made you decide to run for state senate?

A. First I would like to say Senator Ogden served with a lot of statesmanship, and he is a very principled leader and has an independent mind set about him. I think the senate district and Williamson County has benefited greatly from his leadership. I am running because I think the senate district needs to have a senator that has a proven conservative leadership track record as their next state senator. I am that person.

Q. What is the biggest issue in District 5?

A. I think the top issue in Senate District 5, across the state and across the nation is jobs and the economy. Fair regulation, predictable regulation, low taxation and a Right to Work state sets the groundwork so that companies can come and small businessman can grow their business. There are issues such as illegal immigration. There is also the issue of public school financing that will need to be addressed. Finally, I'm a physician and orthopedic surgeon, and Obamacare passed two years ago and is going to lead to higher costs, rationed care and limitations of care. In addition, it's going to increase the ranks of Medicaid by 1.3 million individuals in the state of Texas.

Q. How do you plan to serve all of your constituents?

A. Those constituents, they care about the same things. They care about good community, good schools and their principles and values upheld. I'm going to go there, and I'm going to fight for jobs, the economy, quality health care, quality schools and our conservative values and principles that are so strong in our senate district.