McAllen school board candidates sound off on priorities, school vouchers

1 week ago 41

As McAllen ISD voters are set to vote on two board seats in May, the five candidates seeking those positions spoke with The Monitor about why they chose to run, their priorities and private school vouchers.

Place 3 has Allena Cano and Robert Carreon running for the seat held by longtime board member Debbie Crane Aliseda who decided not to run for reelection.

Cano was born and raised in McAllen, is an attorney by training and works in her family’s property management business.

Carreon is the vice president of public affairs for Teach for America for Texas with a focus on government relations.

For Place 7, it is a three-way race between Roberto Haddad, Tiffany Ramos and Rojelio Aleman II.

Haddad was raised in McAllen and is the vice president and counsel for Government Affairs and Policy at DHR Health.

Ramos is a pharmacy benefit manager and a McHi alumni.

Aleman is disabled veteran who served in the army from 2001 to 2010 and was born in La Villa but was raised in McAllen.

WHY RUN?

Each candidate was asked why they decided to run. They provided a range of responses ranging from willingness to be a leader in the community, bringing their experience to the table and their point of view to the board, and to make a few changes.

Cano said she has a strong desire to serve the community, with no personal agendas.

“My main thing is that I am an MISD loyalist,” she said. “I was born and raised here and educated here. My children are being educated here. I believe in the system. I think they did a great job with educating me. I think they did a great job of educating my kids.”

Carreon said he had thoughts about running for years. He said recent challenges such as staff satisfaction, declining enrollment or school budgeting led him to feel now is a good time to run.

Haddad said his involvement in public policy encouraged him to run for office.

“I think our public schools are vitally important to our communities,” he said. “I see that public schools are in some turbulent times in terms of state and now potentially federal funding, so I wanted to be proactive. I believe I have experience, the skills, the commitment to do the job.”

Ramos said a main reason he is running is the allocation of how money is being spent. She cited her disapproval of the new press box at the McHi stadium.

Aleman ran for the school board two years ago and said he has the same drive to better the schools for students.

“I fought for our country to make it better and I will fight for our students and our parents to make sure that … McAllen ISD is the best,” he said.

PRIORITIES

The candidates also have similar priorities such as keeping a balanced budget, increasing teacher and staff pay, improving facilities and addressing declining enrollment.

Cano said the fight over state funding lands on the backs of teachers and staff. She said one of her priorities is securing new funds to go toward campus facilities and staff. Cano also said it’s important to figure out how to boost teacher pay as well.

Carreon said his priorities including ensuring decisions are student-based in areas of academics, educational experience and satisfaction while saying he wants to improve staff compensation, retention and recruitment.

Haddad’s priorities include transparency, fiscal responsibility, increasing teacher pay to fairly reflect their work and providing healthy food for students.

He cited the Valley’s chronic issues with obesity and diabetes and said he wants to ensure free, healthy meals are provided to students.

“Healthy food equals a better learning environment,” he said.

Ramos shares that sentiment and wants to implement healthier options for students and brought up a farm-to-market program for the district.

“I feel like a lot of those things on the menu (have) too much sugar, and that really does affect the children’s development, their mental health … so it’s very important we implement healthy unprocessed food and start buying from our farmers,” she said.

One shared topic by Ramos and Aleman is the need to improve special education in the district.

Aleman said he was a special needs student during his time in school and wants to be an advocate for the community.

“I want to be a role model and an advocate for them on the school board,” he said. “If you see me around and you have a problem, you can come up to me.”

SCHOOL VOUCHERS

A hot topic right now is private school vouchers and candidates said they are aware of the implications and shared thoughts on the proposals.

Carreon and Aleman said they are against school vouchers.

“My entire career has been directly in support of and in service with Texas public schools,” Carreon said. “This is where my heart is, and this is where my career will be. And I believe public schools are the foundation of any community and the foundation of our democracy.”

Aleman said he protested a visit by Gov. Greg Abbott regarding school vouchers two years ago at a private school.

Ramos and Haddad didn’t provide a stance on the topic, but said it’s important to plan for the inevitable and focus on the cards the district is dealt. Both candidates want the district to be prepared.

Haddad said he is worried the loss of funds from a decline in enrollment will impact services to the community such as after school programs, fine arts and athletics.

Cano and Carreon shared they’re worried about the implications a voucher program can have in the future but also brought up the loss of enrollment to neighboring school districts, including public charter schools, being a top issue for the district.

“We are losing so much money to charter schools,” she said. “So, my stance is that vouchers will definitely hurt us in the future, but we’ve been hurt already, and we’re continuously being hurt by charter schools.”

Cano said with all the schools and programs in the district, if elected, she would pursue investing more into marketing the choices available to curb declining enrollment.

Carreon said he would first want to speak to the community and understand the common reasons families are leaving the district and also what is pulling them in.

“I think we should do everything within our power as a school district and as a community to really understand what is attracting those families and ensure that we continue to build upon the programs that are serving as the greatest attractor of students in our community,” he said.

Early voting starts on April 22 and runs through April 29 with Election Day on May 3.

The post McAllen school board candidates sound off on priorities, school vouchers appeared first on MyRGV.com.

Read Entire Article