Texas State Board of Education seats are up for grabs in a runoff election

Two Republican primaries for the Texas State Board of Education are scheduled for the May 28 runoff elections, including the race for District 12, which includes parts of Dallas and Collin counties.

Early voting begins Monday, May 20th and continues throughout the week. The primaries will determine the candidates for the general election on November 5th.

The State Board of Education's responsibilities include setting curriculum standards for public schools and reviewing and implementing instructional materials. Discussions about a new Native American Studies major were recently postponed, and in recent years the board has become more conservative. Ten of the panel's 15 members are Republicans. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott last year appointed Aaron Kinsey, a Midland Republican and business leader, as chairman.

Races on May 28 include:

District 12

Pam Little, the Republican incumbent and vice chair of the board, is running against Jamie Kohlmann in the runoff in the district, which represents a swath of North Texas that includes Collin and Parker counties and parts of Dallas and Tarrant counties. Little, a businesswoman, has served on the board since 2018.

Little said if she is re-elected, she would like to review math standards and what students learn in social studies classes in each grade, implement policies for reviewing instructional materials and expand career and technology courses.

“My experience makes me the better candidate,” Little said.

Kohlmann, a real estate agent, wants to ensure the state's schools are “equipped with rigorous TEKS” and “teaching materials that align with Texas values,” according to her responses to the Dallas Morning News Voter Guide.

“We need to focus on going back to basics and taking back education. We should focus on empowering parents, improving student outcomes and removing harmful ideologies from our classrooms,” she said in an email.

The winner will face Democrat George King in the Nov. 5 general election.

District 10

Republican incumbent Tom Maynard, who was first elected to the board in 2012, is running against Mary Bone for the seat that represents parts of Central Texas, including Williamson and Bell counties. The largest cities in these counties include Georgetown and Killeen.

Maynard is a former agricultural sciences teacher and serves as chair of the committee that oversees the Permanent School Fund.

If re-elected, Maynard's priorities, according to his campaign website, include ensuring students are not exposed to inappropriate content in class and reviewing Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) social studies among the state standards for what students should know in various subjects.

Bone is a school board member for Round Rock ISD, northeast of Austin. Her term is scheduled to end this year. According to her campaign website, if elected, she promised to work to improve student achievement and ensure parents have access to all materials presented in schools.

The winner of the May 28 runoff will face Democrat Raquel Saenz Ortiz, Green Party candidate Daniel Caldwell and Libertarian candidate Gerald McAlexander. It is unclear whether McAlexander will run in the election. He currently appears as a candidate on the Texas Secretary of State's website, but a line notes that he has not paid any filing fees.

To be considered for nomination by the convention, Libertarian and Green Party candidates must either submit a filing fee or submit a petition to the Secretary of State's office or county judge. If they do not do this, they may not be allowed to stand.

The DMN Education Lab deepens reporting and discussion on pressing education issues critical to the future of North Texas.

The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of Education Lab journalism.