Ed Austin Candidate Survey Answers

The Q&A below is a selection from the original survey, highlighting the questions I feel are most meaningful in helping you get to know me as a candidate. I’ve intentionally kept it concise so it can be read quickly and easily. The questions not included aren’t meant to be overlooked; this selection is simply intended to give you a genuine sense of who I am, what I value, and how I approach the opportunity.

Strong Local Governance.

Strong local governance means more than keeping the state out. It means earning the trust of our community and doing the work to govern well. That means listening to families, teachers, staff, and students; making thoughtful and transparent decisions; tracking our progress; and being accountable when something isn't working. Our goal should be to build a strong, connected district that can solve problems, improve, and stay in control of its own future.

I think that is why this election is so important. Everyone across Austin ISD has sacrificed and worked hard to reach the accountability ratings released last week. We need trustees who understand the work, the history, and the decisions that brought us here—and who are ready to take on what comes next.

We need trustees who can step in and govern effectively from day one, without spending valuable time learning the history of where we have been before they can make informed decisions about where we are going. Understanding the system, knowing its strengths and challenges, and having relationships across our schools and community allows a trustee to ask better questions, move with purpose, and stay focused on the work ahead.

What will you do to monitor the academic growth of all schools, and will you hold the superintendent accountable if growth stalls?

Academic growth starts with having a clear, current picture of what is happening in every school—not just looking at accountability ratings after the fact. As a trustee, I would want regular access to the data that helps us understand both student outcomes and the conditions contributing to those outcomes.

That includes access to teacher vacancy and retention dashboards, current enrollment and attendance numbers, budget-versus-actual spending, student achievement and growth data, and the organizational structures and interventions currently in place at each campus. We need to understand not only whether a school is improving, but whether it has the staffing, resources, leadership, and support necessary to sustain that improvement.

I also believe we need to be honest about shared responsibility for student success. Schools and the district have a responsibility to provide strong instruction, appropriate support, clear communication, and the resources students need to succeed. Families also play an important role through attendance, engagement, communication with teachers and schools, and supporting learning at home when they are able. Our job is not to blame families when students struggle; it is to remove barriers that make engagement difficult and create meaningful ways for families to partner in their child's success.

That means looking at attendance and engagement data not simply as numbers, but asking what is behind them. Are transportation, housing, health, work schedules, communication, or other barriers making it difficult for families to engage? Are we making it easy for families to understand what their child is learning, where they are academically, and how they can help?

I want the board to establish consistent academic and operational benchmarks and receive regular updates on progress by campus and student group. When growth stalls, the first question should be why. Is it staffing? Leadership? Attendance? Curriculum and instruction? Student support? Enrollment changes? Family engagement? Funding? An intervention that isn't working? We should look across all of those factors rather than assuming there is one solution.

And yes, I would hold the superintendent accountable if growth stalls—but accountability should mean asking the right questions, setting clear expectations, providing the necessary support, and expecting measurable results. The superintendent should be able to clearly articulate what is working, where we are falling short, what is being changed, who is responsible, and when we should expect to see progress.

At the same time, families deserve accountability from us, too. If we are asking families to partner with schools, we have to give them the information, access, and support to do so. That could mean clearer progress reports, earlier communication about academic concerns, family workshops, easier access to teachers and campus leadership, and proactive outreach when attendance or academic patterns suggest a student may need additional support.

Ultimately, academic accountability should not be a once-a-year conversation when ratings are released. It should be an ongoing partnership among the district, educators, students, and families—using data to understand what is happening, listening to the people closest to the work, acting on what we learn, and measuring whether those actions are making a difference.

The voters approved a $2.4B bond in 2022. What specific changes will you make to ensure projects stay on time, on budget, and schools aren’t disrupted? How will you monitor the distribution of funds that were intended for the closed schools?

If I restate this question, I'm perceiving this as how will I keep projects on time, control costs, and protect/track funds tied to closed schools. I worry about this a lot right now. There has been significant change within the department, changes to the buildings themselves, and we are operating in an increasingly expensive construction environment. That makes strong oversight even more important.

As a trustee, I would want to make sure we have the right people at the table—including trustees, staff responsible for the work, finance and facilities expertise, and appropriate community voices—to consistently review and track projects. My role would not be to manage construction, but to make sure the systems for managing it are strong, transparent, and accountable.

The CBOC is the group tasked with providing consistent, project-specific bond oversight, including tracking project status, budget versus actual spending, projected completion dates, percentage of work completed, change orders, and emerging risks. From what I understand, the committee continues to meet and do this important work. However, I believe there is an opportunity for trustees to be more engaged with that work and, equally important, for the district to do a better job communicating it to stakeholders and the broader community.

If a project is falling behind schedule, exceeding its budget, or facing an emerging risk, I want the board to know early enough to ask questions and make informed decisions—not after the problem has become difficult or expensive to correct.

I would also want to monitor the distribution and use of funds associated with closed campuses to ensure those resources remain aligned with their intended purpose and that the community can clearly see where those dollars ultimately go. That means maintaining a transparent accounting of funds from the original allocation through the final expenditure.

I recognize that, given the number and complexity of projects underway, this level of oversight is a significant lift. I want to applaud the District in its efforts to learn from each project we complete and use these lessons to improve the next one rather than simply repeating a model because it worked—or seemed to work—in the past.

Ultimately, I want a bond program where the community can answer three basic questions at any point: Where is the money? Where is the project? And if something has changed, what are we doing about it?

What is your top priority if elected?

What do you think the AISD Trustee's role is if the state takes over our school district?

This is a really tough question because so much of Austin ISD’s financial picture is shaped by factors we don't fully control—enrollment shifts, attendance, property-tax legislation, and the level of funding provided by the state. And then there is the significant burden of recapture. In the 2024–25 budget, we were projected to send approximately $821 million in locally generated property-tax revenue back to the state. That is a huge amount of money and a reality we have to account for in every conversation about the district’s financial sustainability.

Historically, roughly 85% or more of the district’s budget has gone toward people, making personnel the largest and most consequential area to examine. Our teachers and staff are our greatest asset, so any discussion of personnel costs has to balance fiscal responsibility with our ability to recruit, retain, and reward high-quality educators and employees.

I’ve been on every campus in Austin ISD, and I believe we need to continue investing in our people while becoming more disciplined about how we hire, develop, retain, and support them. That includes refining and documenting our hiring processes, building a strong and diverse pipeline of candidates, improving onboarding, and creating the conditions that help people feel confident and supported in their decision to work here.

Hire thoughtfully. Develop intentionally. Retain our best people. And when a position or program is no longer serving students effectively, be willing to make a change.

Austin ISD has an extensive administrative and organizational structure. Legislative changes may create legitimate additional demands for compliance and oversight, and those responsibilities matter. But we should also be able to clearly connect every layer of leadership and every significant expenditure to student success, educator retention, operational effectiveness, or a necessary legal or compliance obligation.

Given the weight of the deficit, we need to continually ask whether every position, program, and expenditure is delivering sufficient value to students, campuses, and the people who serve them. That isn't about cutting for the sake of cutting. It is about making sure our resources are aligned with our highest priorities—and that we are making those decisions transparently, thoughtfully, and with an eye toward both today's needs and Austin ISD's long-term financial stability.

AISD will likely continue to face budget problems. What do you think the district should do to move towards a balanced budget?

If a board of managers is appointed, elected trustees are temporarily suspended from functioning as the governing board, and the appointed managers assume the powers and duties ordinarily held. That said, our responsibility to the community should not have to stop. As elected trustees, we can continue to listen, remain accessible, build relationships, and advocate for meaningful participation and transparent communication about progress.

Takeover or not, our responsibility is to honestly identify where we are falling short and continuously refine, substantially invest in, or eliminate systems that are not contributing to a culture of student success—academically and socially—while fostering curiosity, belonging, and opportunity from the perspectives of students, teachers, staff, leadership, and families.