Early Voting Has Begun in the May Local Elections

Tip O’Neill wisely once said “All politics is local.” Nothing is more local than a school board election. Electing people to the Board of Trustees has a daily impact on tens of thousands of lives.

Now, more than ever.

As the state legislature contemplates sending insufficient funds to the state’s school districts, quite against the constitution I might add, and school boards have to decide how to allocate increasingly scarce resources, now it is more critical than ever that voters go to the polls and vote in school board elections.

Now I don’t live in Lamar CISD but I know two remarkable women who are running for two seats on Lamar’s Board of Trustees. I couldn’t recommend more highly that voters in that school district cast their votes for Julie Thompson and Lynn Franklin. Thompson is running for re-election. She knows the job inside and out, sincerely cares about education, and has children attending schools in the district. Lynn Franklin I remember from the days when the Grand Parkway  was going to be extended to the south as a toll road. Franklin worked actively to put a stop to that one.

In the Fort Bend ISD BOT election, which I just voted in, I voted for Dr. Jonita Reynolds. Her opponent simply did not care enough to put up a campaign at all and no one knows much about her. Dr. Reynolds has a PhD in Education and is a former classroom teacher. We need teachers on the board of education.

I also voted for Kevin Daniels, also an educator, who has taught at several levels in public education. He’s raw and will need training up, but he is also very sincere. He is also the only educator running for that seat, and like I said, we need educators on the BOT.

And finally I voted against Susan Hohnbaum. If I wanted a rubber stamp on the school board, I would have gone and bought them one.

Early voting numbers are low, as always. I believe the first day saw 571 voters show up in Fort Bend ISD polls, with numbers higher in areas where there are city elections as well as school board elections.

So go and vote. And if you want to vote my slate you could do worse.