Hall Pass: Your Ticket to Understanding School Board Politics, Edition #154

By

Ballotpedia staff

Welcome to Hall Pass, a newsletter written to keep you plugged into the conversations driving  school board governance, the politics surrounding it, and education policy. 

In today’s edition, you’ll find:

  • On the issues: The debate over teacher union partisanship
  • In your district: Religious charter schools
  • School board filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications
  • Texas to become 16th state to pass universal school choice program
  • Extracurricular: education news and numbers from around the web
  • Candidate Connection survey
  • School board candidates per seat up for election

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On the issues: The debate over teacher union partisanship

In this section, we curate reporting, analysis, and commentary on the issues school board members deliberate when they set out to offer the best education possible in their district. Missed an issue? Click here to see the previous education debates we’ve covered.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten published a “Where We Stand” column in the March 2025 publication of American Educator, the AFT’s quarterly magazine. The column made statements about Donald Trump, the COVID-19 recovery, book bans, and other partisan issues.

Robert Pondiscio wrote a response in opposition to the column in an April 4 piece published in his newsletter. Weingarten replied to Pondiscio on April 17. 

Today, we’re looking at the arguments about AFT and its role in education.

What are the arguments?

Pondiscio writes that AFT has deemphasized its function as an instructive and helpful resource for teachers. He says the AFT’s political stances and the opinions expressed in Weingarten’s piece do not provide value to teachers and distract from more substantive, apolitical conversations. 

Read on

A Missed Opportunity: How the AFT Could Have Changed Teaching and Learning (and maybe still can) | Robert Pondiscio, Substack

“It’s fashionable in education reform and political circles to blame the unions for all of education’s ills, but I’ve never faulted them for looking out for their members’ interests. The greater sin of the AFT, at least in the decades since Al Shanker’s retirement, has been its failure to lead on curriculum and instruction—or even give it much oxygen at all. Worse, AFT President Randi Weingarten routinely takes to the pages of American Educator to unburden herself of predictable political rants, complaining about the Trump administration’s “chaos, confusion, corruption, and cronyism” in the current issue, for example. Such partisan tub-thumping does little for teachers more eager to learn about cognitive load theory than how “the Biden-Harris administration guided the country to the strongest post-COVID economy in the world.”

Meeting the moment: A response to Robert Pondiscio’s essay on AFT’s “American Educator” | Randi Weingarten, Thomas B. Fordham Institute

“While I’m glad he values our articles on curriculum and instruction, I find it odd that he singles out my one-page “Where We Stand” column as detracting from a union-sponsored magazine. This one-page space is where I speak directly to our members about contemporary issues most affecting them and their students. To suggest that this somehow undermines our commitment to instruction misses the moment we are living in—and frankly not just the threats, but the core purposes of public education. … So, yes, I use my column to speak plainly about what’s at stake—not just in our classrooms but in our democracy. The real missed opportunity here isn’t a column. It’s the refusal to recognize that defending public education means defending the conditions that allow it to thrive—including democracy itself.”

In your district: Religious charter schools

We want to hear what’s happening in your school district. Please complete the very brief survey below—anonymously, if you prefer—and we may share your response with fellow subscribers in an upcoming newsletter.

One of the noteworthy K-12 education cases the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) will decide this term is Oklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. Drummond, about the country’s first religious charter school. We summarized the case and explained the stakes in last week’s edition of this newsletter. SCOTUS oral arguments in the cases on April 30, with a decision expected in June. 

In what ways do you think religious charter schools could enrich or threaten the mission of public education?

Click here to respond!

You can read our previous reader surveys and responses here. 

School board update: filing deadlines, election results, and recall certifications

In 2025, Ballotpedia will cover elections for more than 30,000 school board seats. We’re expanding our coverage each year with our eye on covering the country’s more than 80,000 school board seats.  

Upcoming school board elections

  • May 3—Texas
  • May 6—Montana, Ohio
  • May 13—Arkansas and Delaware
  • May 20—New York, Pennsylvania, Oregon

Texas’ May 3 school board elections

This Saturday, voters across the Lone Star State will head to the polls to decide local elections—including for school boards. Texas is the most populous state holding school board elections this year. 

Ballotpedia is covering all Texas districts holding school board elections in 2025. In some circumstances, Texas law allows local authorities to cancel unopposed elections. When that happens, the district releases an order of cancellation and certifies that the unopposed candidates won their elections. Since those races do not appear on the ballot, Ballotpedia does not count them in our statistics. 

On May 3, Ballotpedia is covering 779 elections with 1,727 candidates. Of those 779 elections, 502 are contested and 277 are uncontested. 

Districts holding elections include:

You can learn more about the Texas districts holding elections here.

Not all Texas districts are holding school board elections on May 3. Some, such as the Houston Independent School District, the state’s largest by enrollment, will hold its elections on Nov. 4. State law stipulates that independent school districts in Texas must hold regular general elections either on the first Saturday in May or on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

On Nov. 5, 2024, Ballotpedia covered 412 Texas school board elections featuring 1,089 candidates. We’ll bring you more information about Texas’ upcoming November elections in the months ahead. 

Texas to become 16th state to pass universal school choice program

What’s the story?

The Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill (SB) 2 on April 24, and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has said on social media that he will sign it at a ceremony on May 3. When Abbott does so, Texas will be the 16th state to enact a universal education savings account (ESA) program providing public funds for alternatives to public schools.

Texas will be the fourth state to enact a universal school choice program so far in 2025. All four states have Republican trifectas. Texas will be the 16th state overall to enact universal school choice, and the 13th with a Republican trifecta.

How the bill passed

SB 2 passed the Texas House of Representatives 86-61 on Apr. 17, 2025, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposing it. Three representatives were absent.

Democrats stated they would vote against all legislatively-referred state constitutional amendments for the rest of the session if House Republicans did not amend SB 2 to become a ballot measure for voters to decide in the coming November election—the amendment to make SB 2 a ballot measure did not pass.

The Senate passed SB 2 19-12 on Feb. 5 and voted to concur with House amendments on Apr. 24, sending the bill to Gov. Abbott’s desk.

What the bill does

SB 2 creates an education savings account (ESA) program set to start in the 2026-2027 school year. The program will provide public funds for students that families can use on approved educational alternatives to assigned public schools. All Texas students who are citizens or nationals of the United States are eligible for the program, which is capped at $1 billion until 2027. The state must give priority to students who are siblings of program participants, students with disabilities below a certain income threshold, and all other students below a certain income threshold. 

For students enrolled in a private school, SB 2 will provide families with money in an ESA equal to 85% of the estimated statewide average amount of state and local funding per public school student for the most recent school year— estimated to be about $10,330 per student in 2027— with more for students with disabilities. SB 2 provides up to $2,000 for homeschooled students annually.

The bill places various requirements on both participating private schools and the state government. Those include:

  • Requiring private schools to have existed for at least two years before participating in the program.
  • Authorizing the state auditor to review the activities of organizations contracted to administer the program.
  • Requiring the state to annually report on the program, including information regarding dropout, expulsion, and graduation data on participating students with disabilities to be broken down by grade, age, sex, and race or ethnicity.

Background

Governor Abbott has made a priority of expanding access to private school choice. In 2023, the Texas Senate approved SB 8 and SB 1. Both bills would have enacted ESA programs, but the bills did not pass in the House. Texas House Bill (HB) 1, introduced in a 2023 special session, initially contained provisions that would have created an education savings account (ESA) program. However, 21 House Republicans joined all Democrats in voting to remove the ESA provision.

During the 2024 election cycle, Gov. Abbott campaigned in primaries against Republicans who had voted against ESAs in 2023. In 2024, 14 legislators supportive of private school choice were elected to the Texas House of Representatives, replacing Republicans who had voted against ESAs in 2023.

Abbott endorsed 12 Republican candidates who supported school choice in the primary. Seven won their primary, while the other five advanced to the May 2024 run-off. Two additional candidates who supported school choice won their primary or went to the runoff. 

Of the Republicans who opposed ESAs during the 2023 legislative session, nine lost in their 2024 primaries, five opted not to run again, and seven returned to the Texas House for the 2025 legislative session.

One returning House Republican representing a district with rural schools, Jay Dean, expressed concerns about whether universal school choice would help families in rural areas in 2023 and did not support ESAs in that vote. Rep. Dean voted for SB 2 this year.

Both Republicans who voted against the bill, Dade Phelan and Gary VanDeaver, represent areas with rural school districts. 

Fifty-one percent of Texas’s state legislative districts contain rural school districts. Twenty-nine percent of rural Republican representatives voted to remove ESAs from HB 1, a higher ratio than the 18% of urban or suburban Republicans. All Democrats opposed the bill. Click here to read more about the legislative vote history of Texas legislators regarding school choice bills, with information about how rural and urban legislators voted.

To read more, visit Ballotpedia’s project on the effect school choice has on rural districts, including case studies on legislative support for and opposition to universal school choice in Texas.

Extracurricular: education news from around the web

This section contains links to recent education-related articles from around the internet. If you know of a story we should be reading, reply to this email to share it with us! 

Take our Candidate Connection survey to reach voters in your district

Today, we’re featuring survey responses from the three candidates running in the May 3 general election for Position 3 on the Fort Bend Independent School District school board in Texas. Fort Bend Independent School District is one of 430 districts in the Lonestar State holding school board elections this week. 

Fort Bend is the sixth-largest district in Texas, with roughly 79,000 students. The district is located southwest of Houston in Sugar Land. 

Incumbent Rick Garcia, Afshi Charania, and Angela Collins are running to represent Position 3. Garcia was first elected in 2022. 

Here’s how Garcia answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

“College, Career and Military Readiness (CCMR). I want to continue the good work we are doing to help our students become productive members of society. I want our students trained and ready for life beyond high school, whether they attend college, join the workforce or join the military.”

Click here to read the rest of Garcia’s responses. 

Here’s how Charania answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”

“I’m passionate about education, particularly ensuring that all students have access to quality education, regardless of their background or circumstances. I also care deeply about mental health and student wellness, as the emotional and psychological well-being of children is integral to their academic and worldly success. Additionally, I am committed to fiscal responsibility in education—ensuring that resources are used efficiently to benefit all students while maintaining transparency and accountability in decision-making.”

Click here to read the rest of Charania’s responses. 

Here’s how Collins answered the question, “What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?”

“I believe public policy should be developed at the local level, with direct involvement from those who are familiar with our community’s needs. It is essential that policy decisions reflect the unique challenges and priorities of our school district. Allowing external organizations, disconnected from our schools, to dictate policies could result in solutions that are not tailored to the specific needs of our students, educators, and families. Local input is vital to crafting effective, relevant policies.”

Click here to read the rest of Collins’ responses. 

If you’re a school board candidate or incumbent, click here to take the survey.

The survey contains more than 30 questions, and you can choose the ones you feel will best represent your views to voters. If you complete the survey, a box with your answers will appear in your Ballotpedia profile. Your responses will also appear in our sample ballot.