Two weeks after defeating incumbent Brian Allen in the race for Pflugerville ISD Board of Trustees Place 5, Alissa Molina announced she will resign from the board.
In a video released Wednesday night, May 25, via her Facebook campaign page, Molina said her husband, a teacher in Austin for the last 10 years, is seeking a position within PfISD that creates a conflict of interest for her seat on the school board.
Molina said her husband has a great chance at receiving the position, and she wanted to do everything she could to help his chances.
“He is as devastated, if not more, than I am because he saw how hard I worked in campaigning,” Molina said in the video. “He was out there putting signs up with me. He was ... the only person watching the [May 7 election] returns with me. He understands what a difficult decision this is that we’re making. But, this really is a position that hasn’t come open in the 10 years that he’s been in Austin, and we don’t know that it will [come open] again.”
Molina served as the Place 5 Trustee for only one meeting on May 19, but said the experience was invaluable.
“I did love being able to give input and learn and really just gain some empathy and also some respect for the amount of work that goes into the governance of a school district and the guidance of a school district,” Molina said in the video.
Molina said the job her husband is applying for came open this week, and she wrote a letter of resignation to the board the morning of May 25.
Molina also clarified that district rules state it is not until the PfISD board replaces her that her husband can apply for the job.
PfISD Public Information Officer Tamra Spence said the board of trustees will convene May 31 during a special meeting to accept Molina’s resignation and discuss appointment of her replacement.
Spence said it is not yet known if the board will appoint a replacement May 31 or at a later date. However, Spence explained that because Molina was sworn in on May 19, the board can appoint a replacement who will serve Place 5 until the next general election in May 2023.
Whoever ends up winning the Place 5 seat in 2023 will serve the remainder of what would have been Molina’s term—two years instead of three—Spence said.
Fighting back tears, Molina said this has been one of the hardest decisions she has ever had to make.
“The good news is that PfISD is hopefully getting the better of the Molinas,” she said. “He is going to be an absolute rock star for this district.”
