Outside of recent politics hindering our children’s education and growth, the biggest challenge is teacher retention. Teacher retention impacts the entire educational experience and has a compound effect when considering the growth and student-to-teacher ratio. I would address this by reviewing ways to appropriately recognize and pay our teachers. I believe pay should be based on years of service—this will help us retain and support our veteran teachers.

Student outcomes is my budgetary priority. This includes: equitable access to programming and extracurricular activities; special education; mental health; and at-risk youth. We must provide programs equally across the district, improve early detection for dyslexia and autism, including adding dysgraphia testing. We must also focus on the appropriate resources for mental health and find ways to support our at-risk youth. Student outcomes also rely on teacher retention.

First, we need to be completely transparent and communicate the reasons for the bond, [and] drive home the expected result and impact on our district. Bonds are a functional way to get the funds we need to support our rapidly growing district while minimizing risk and avoiding using cash on-hand.

Our first priority will always be the safety of our students. Those numbers have increased dramatically in the last few years, so we’ll need to apply some immediate resources to alleviate overcrowding. CISD is known for quality education, and quality is all about our teachers and staff. Our strategic financial planning must address the attraction and retention of the best educators in the country.

My budgetary priorities this next fiscal year are to complete all the safety and security requirements outlined by the governor following the events in Uvalde. In addition, I will continue to look for ways to offer sustainable competitive pay and yearly increases or incentives and retention stipends to retain the most qualified teachers. I will continue to look for ways to maintain competitive educational programs while being fiscally conservative with our tax dollars.

In previous studies, the projected growth for CISD was an average of 1,500 students each year; the district has surpassed that average and doubled it. Therefore, due to the high growth of residential development in the Conroe, Caney Creek and Grand Oaks feeder zones, and along the [FM] 1488 and [Hwy.] 242 corridors, a bond will be needed to add essential capacity in buildings and campus security.

The district is growing faster than budgeted. The expected 1,500 students that were planned for has already grown to 2,000 new students. The challenge is two-fold: We need teachers and staff to support this growth, and we need physical facilities to adequately meet their educational needs. We will need to hire more staff and add additional buildings to meet these needs. Long-term planning is needed to address the expected continued growth.

Teachers help raise our children. Do we really want them working two jobs just to make ends meet? We can’t afford to pay teachers like Luxembourg ($101,000), but we can certainly pay them equitably for doing their job. Every year we ask them to do more for less. Teachers use their own money to make their classrooms welcoming and to create a positive educational environment. A $500 stipend for classroom use is not unreasonable.

Growth is our No. 1 problem. It’s not a question of will we need a bond issue, but how much. That should be determined by a committee of board members, staff, parents [and] district taxpayers without kids in CISD; [and] representatives of groups who favor and do not favor a bond issue—all sides should have input, and the process should be transparent. How much are we asking for, and what will the taxpayers get for their money?

CISD is considered a “B” school district, according to the [Texas Education Agency]. The unfortunate truth is that although we have parts of the district that are A-rated, parts of the district are C-rated. I will focus on what it takes to make us an “A” district. We must reduce the student-to-teacher ratio, which is above the state average, and ensure all our schools have the resources and support they need to help our children succeed.

The district has grown much quicker than expected over these past several years. We now have over 70,000-plus students in CISD. If we believe the education of our children is important in our district, and I do, we must focus on hiring more teachers and ensuring we have enough classrooms to teach them in. We must do this while remaining fiscally responsible.

The district has grown so quickly these past several years. Last year alone the district enrolled over 3,000 new students, and now almost half of our schools are over capacity. This growth issue needs to be addressed, and a bond is how you address it. So the district must grow, but again we must remain fiscally responsible.

The lack of transparency. Transparency should be present in everything we do as a district and ought to be evident in the budgeting process, curriculum selection, what is being taught in our classrooms, and the hiring of administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals at every level. Taxpayers should be able to trust the district, and further trust between teachers, students and parents is needed. This can be developed though open and honest communication.

Transparency and good stewardship are essentials to a fiscally responsible budget, which should reflect a conservative approach beginning with the no-new-revenue property tax rate. From this starting point, the board must continue to offer competitive salaries to attract, and keep, high-quality teachers and paraprofessionals to handle the forecasted student growth that is expected.

CISD is continuing to see student expansion, but I am concerned that our debt is expanding quickly as well. Despite lowering its tax rate over the last two cycles CISD has failed to keep pace with rising appraisals, resulting in a higher net property tax bills for district taxpayers.