Q. What are your qualifications and experience that will make you an effective member of the School Board?

Over five years Board service – currently Vice-President, participation in regional and state level trustee activities and programs. 24+ years experience in civil engineering design, construction and program management, and municipal government. B.S. and M.Eng. in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University, Metrocrest Chamber Leadership alumni, service on numerous PTA boards, Council of PTA Board, Band Booster Board. Our oldest graduated in 2009 from Creekview High School, also have 11th grade son and 8th grade daughter.

Q. What should your school district do to assist homeless children to stay in school until they graduate?

CFB has been singled out by Region Ten for the care and service with dignity that our Homeless families receive. The district has approximately 400 students who are considered homeless. Each campus has a designated campus homeless liaison who helps to identify and meet the needs of these students. This includes mandated free breakfast / lunch and transportation. District staff personally follow-up on all homeless families and visit new families to assess their needs.

Q. What factors would you consider in setting your school district’s budget? Please include specific recommendations about programs such as arts, athletics, and pre-K, as well as personnel cuts.

Over 80 percent of the district’s budget is personnel costs. We have experienced savings through attrition, reductions in administrative staffing, energy management, and reduction in number of campuses by two. Another example is full-day pre-K which was reduced back to half-day due to inadequate funding. The Board sets the targets for the district’s student achievement and we review programs for impact on students. We will prioritize and determine which programs we can live without.

Q. What do you consider the top two pressing issues for your school district and what are your solutions or recommendations?

High Student Achievement for all students is our top priority that requires maintaining and supporting quality teachers to address our student diversity. Fiscal Responsibility/ Funding: Board works with the administration and staff on prioritizing programs to ensure we are spending limited dollars wisely and effectively. Funding projections indicate drastic reductions in school funding from the state, communicate with legislators and community regarding status of funding and challenges on continuing programs for academics, arts and athletics.

Q. Why are you running again for a school board seat?

I am committed to this district. I ran for school board in 2005 because my volunteer and professional background had prepared me for the position and as a product of public schools, I wanted to dedicate my time to help the children of this district achieve at high levels. As a parent and a taxpayer, it is important to me continue to strive to make this district even better. As a district, we are doing good things for students. We have huge challenges ahead and need experienced leadership.

Q. How will your prior education /experience prepare you to contribute to making decisions on behalf of our children, teachers, community as a school board member?

I moved to Carrollton in 1998 because of the school district. My oldest son graduated with honors from Creekview and is majoring in aerospace engineering at A&M and a member of the Texas Aggie Band. I have two younger children in our school district. The continued strength of our district and its ability to prepare students for college and/ or the workforce without remediation is important to our families, community and economy in general.

I have 25+ yrs engineering and program management experience in capital bond programs, engineering design, project management and municipal government. I am a life-long learner with a BS in Civil Engineering, an MEng in Civil Engineering, and have attended numerous leadership programs and seminars related to public school governance.

I have 6 years of board experience and currently serve as Board Vice-President. Throughout my board tenure, I have learned about the challenges presented to our district through state and federal testing requirements, state funding issues, and a student population with increasingly larger numbers of transient and/or economically disadvantaged students and ESL students. I have consistently participated in regional and state level trustee activities and programs. I use all of this background as input to looking at the needs of our district and to representing our district at a regional, state, and national level. I believe in being involved and using my skills in the community. I believe the experience and training as a trustee counts, particularly in these tough economic times.

Q. In these economic times what do you see are the most important issues in the school budget?

The challenge of projecting a school budget without knowing the results of the legislative session is the most important budget issue. In 2006, the State froze the amount of money the district receives per student at $5280. Since 2006, that number has increased only once. In 2009, the state provided money for teachers raises (teacher, counselors, nurses, and librarians only) bringing the current district funding to $5690 per student. The district has worked with the amount of money it received since then and has made reductions in the number of personnel and other fees and utilities since that time. The state legislature is currently meeting in Austin and the unknowns to finishing out this budget year and the next two are many. The state is experiencing a tax shortfall of $20 to $30 billion which would result in cuts to state public education K-12. The current estimated impact on C-FB is somewhere between 20-24 million in funding reductions. Some state elected officials have expressed the opinion that they would rather provide less funding to public schools than raise taxes. The local districts have a mechanism provided to us in the 2006 school funding changes that allows a district to establish a budget for a higher tax rate and then request a tax rollback election for voter approval after the fact. The district’s operation and maintenance tax rate is $1.04 and voters must approve any increase in the rate.

To make significant reductions in the budget, the district will need to make deep cuts in programs and personnel. The school district was recently ranked 11th in overall Educational Productivity by the Education Resource Group of Texas. This was out of the 200 largest school districts in the state when examining student achievement scores (considering background of the students) combined with financial spending. This was the second year in a row the District was ranked number 11. Our district is proud of these results but is striving to attain even greater academic achievement in the future while maintaining financial responsibility.

The challenge of projecting a school budget without knowing the results of the legislative session is the most important budget issue. This legislative session has more significant budget shortfalls than previous sessions and the challenges and unknowns to school districts are enormous.

Q. What do you see as the biggest issue facing the city/school and how do you expect to impact this as a member of the school board?

The biggest issue facing the school board is educating all children at high levels of achievement in academics, arts and athletics. The District’s Strategic Plan utilizes four supporting objectives:
1.) continuously increase student achievement
2.) continuously improve the learning environment for students and staff
3.) continuously increase operational effectiveness
4.) continuously increase stakeholder confidence and support of our school system.

Our district has a population of over 25,000 students that is very diverse (representing over 100 cultural backgrounds). This diversity is the reason our district is evaluated by the Texas Education Agency by the maximum number of accountability indicators (5 tests for 5 student groups totaling: 25). Our district exceeds state commended performance (students with a passing percentage of 90 percent or above) in math, reading, science and social studies. Our district was rated Recognized by the Texas Education Agency in 2009-2010. Over 90 percent of our schools are recognized or exemplary.

The future economy of our state depends on educating our students and preparing them to be college ready and/or workforce ready without remediation. Quality teachers and staff support are vital to ensuring the success of our educational strategies to improve student achievement. The current layoffs in neighboring school districts seems like it must distract the focus of staff on the students but our district is seeking to provide more stability through prior years of reductions and operational efficiencies that have positioned our district to be better prepared for the possible reductions. CFB has reduced staffing levels for several years through attrition and we are intending to continue this practice. I hope to retain quality committed teachers by communicating clearly with them and providing them with the professional development environment that sets them up for success, thereby supporting student successes. We recognize the successes and achievements of many of our students and teachers at Board meetings throughout the year and this reminds the Board of the real reason we serve.