It used to be hard to find someone, anyone, to run for the board of the Harris County Department of Education. Now that the department has a higher profile, not only did Harris County Republicans find someone to run, they have contested primaries for both positions that will be on the November 2014 ballot. And the Democrats will also have someone running for each position in that election. No more freebies.
In the County School Trustee At Large Place 5 Republican primary, we have former Trustee Mike Wolfe going up against RW Bray.
In the County School Trustee At Large Place 7 Republican primary, we have former Harris County Tax Assessor Collector Don Sumners going up against Dianne Williams.
On the Democrat side, they have incumbent Debra Kerner in At-Large Place 5 and a contested primary between Lily Leal and outgoing Houston City Council member Melissa Noriega. I have to tell you the truth, the Noriega filing surprised the heck out of me. In a good way! To get someone of her stature interested in the HCDE will increase the visibility on the entity and help reform it.
I hope that Republicans pay attention to this race and don’t treat it as a castoff. It is critical that we change the public’s perception of how Republicans view education on the whole and if we have candidates sending the wrong message in this race, it will hurt the party overall. I promise you that I will focus on it.
Mary Grace Landrum says
I hope the canddiates do focus on the services that HCDE provides to school districts. I haven’t heard anyone ask local ISD superintendents if they can do without the High Point program, the CASE after school program or the joint purchasing program. I’d be interested in hearing their perspective. Does HCDE provide services and programs of value to local ISD’s?
Dianne Williams says
Mary Grace,
I suspect the local ISD superintendents cringe at the thought of losing the services of this organization. I wish they would speak up.