El Pasoan Gustavo Reveles and Michael “Travis” Stevens, a resident of the San Antonio suburb Helotes, are facing off in the Nov. 5 election for the District 1 seat on the Texas State Board of Education.
The district encompasses much of West and South-Central Texas, including El Paso.
Revels, 49, is a Democrat who works as the communications director for the Canutillo Independent School District.
He was a journalist for the El Paso Times and the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covering education and local government for 14 years, then worked for the El Paso Independent School District as a communications director.
Now, Reveles wants to represent “the voice of the border” when the board makes decisions that affect public education throughout the state. He has received endorsements from the Texas American Federation of Teachers and the Texas State Teachers Association.
Stevens, 43, is the Republican candidate who works as the academic dean for the San Antonio Independent School District.
Stevens has over 14 years of experience in education in various positions ranging from teacher to administrator.
The winner will replace SBOE member Melissa Ortega of El Paso, who decided not to seek reelection. Ortega, a Democrat, defeated Stevens in 2022.
Stevens started his career as an English teacher at the Henry Ford Academy Alameda School for Art + Design, a charter school in San Antonio.
Now, he wants to bring an educator’s perspective to the board.
A pro-secession group known as Take Back Texas previously listed Stevens as a candidate who signed the Texas First Pledge, promising to advance legislation to help Texas become an independent nation.
Stevens posted on Facebook on Oct. 9 that he is not associated with the organization and does not agree with their views.
Both candidates ran unopposed in the March 5 primaries.
The SBOE has been at the center of culture war controversies, as it’s held debates over how evolution and climate change are taught in school, banned school libraries from possessing books that are considered “sexually explicit,” and considered a K–5 reading and language arts curriculum that would include Bible teachings.
Some of the board’s duties include setting curriculum standards for the state, reviewing and adopting instructional materials, establishing graduation requirements and overseeing the Texas Permanent School Fund, an endowment fund established in 1845 to help boost public education.
District 1 spans 30 counties in west to south-central Texas including Bexar, El Paso, Atascosa, Hudspeth, Webb, Medina, Uvalde, Val Verde and Pecos counties. It covers more than 900 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border and has a diverse set of communities ranging from urban city centers to remote agricultural communities.
SBOE members serve two or four-year terms of office and represent about 1.8 million Texans. The candidates are running for a four-year term on the board.
Early voting runs from Oct. 21 to Nov. 1. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Here is a look at the candidates and their stances on issues that affect Texas public education:
Curriculum
Both Reveles and Stevens strongly emphasized the need for a diverse curriculum in Texas.
If elected, Reveles said he wants to ensure the board adopts a history curriculum that also reflects the experiences of the LGTQ community, people of color, immigrants and other marginalized groups.
“There have been efforts on the SBOE by some extreme members to silence the experience of minorities in Texas,” Reveles said. “Texas has a proud tradition of impact by minorities … and we have to make sure that when it comes down to approving content and advocating for textbooks, they reflect that experience.”
Stevens said he wants the state’s curriculum to show multiple perspectives and doesn’t want it to shy away from showing the ugly parts of history.
Michael Stevens
“We need to make sure that we come to history, that we’re not afraid to teach the facts,” Stevens said. “ We’re not leaving things out because it may seem too harsh, or it may seem that somebody was an aggressor or somebody that was a dominator.”
Both candidates said they are against including religion in Texas’ public school curriculum.
“We need to respect the differences among students and realize that our classrooms are populated by students of many backgrounds, many religions,” Reveles said. “Students should be able to showcase and be proud of their religion. I just don’t think that it needs to be part of a curriculum that is imposed.”
“We have a very diverse population in the state of Texas, with that comes a very diverse belief system,” Stevens said “If you want that religious and that faith-based instruction environment, there’s plenty of private schools that can offer it … but it does not belong in the public school curriculum.”
Testing
Both candidates said they hope to reduce the state’s emphasis on standardized testing to determine if a student should advance grades or graduate.
Though the SBOE can set graduation requirements, it would be up to the Texas Legislature to do away with standardized testing under the Foundation High School Program.
Reveles said the state needs to develop an assessment system that uses testing along with several other factors to decide if a student should advance in school.
“The way (the test) is measured and rolled out is meant to punish school districts like the ones here in El Paso. The ones along the U.S.-Mexico border. So we need to make sure that we create opportunities for students to be measured in a fair way,” Reveles said.
Stevens said he feels the focus on testing has deteriorated the quality of education in Texas.
“We’re losing that rigor in that in our instruction, in our content, because teachers and schools are afraid of (failing) the test because that’s a major component of school ratings,” Stevens said
Stevens said the state should stop using standardized testing altogether to determine if a student should move forward in school, and instead focus on grades and other signifiers of student success.
Funding
Texas schools are funded based on enrollment and attendance. The state Legislature has not increased the basic allotment the state contributes per student since 2019.
Both candidates agreed that Texas schools are underfunded.
Though SBOE members have no control over the basic allotment, Reveles said he hopes to use the position to advocate for funding increases for public education and against voucher programs, which would allow parents to pay for private school using state funds.
“School districts throughout the state, especially those with neighborhoods struggling to make ends meet, struggling to balance their budgets given the formulas. It is criminal for the state not to adjust the funding of schools, and hold them hostage because of vouchers,” Reveles said.
Stevens said he did not have a stance on vouchers.
“When it comes to vouchers, I remain neutral. I don’t think that’s something the SBOE will ever vote on,” Stevens said.
Charter schools
Reveles and Stevens said they are proponents of school choice, a movement that allows students and families to select what school they go to and the type of education they receive.
The candidates also said charter schools, which have drawn criticism for drawing students away from traditional public schools and not offering the same resources they do, should have stricter requirements.
The SBOE has the authority to veto charter school applications that were approved by the commissioner of education.
Reveles said the board should set a moratorium on the approval of new charter schools until it can create a system to ensure they offer the same services and resources as traditional public schools.
“There is a place for charter education. It just needs to be equal, and it needs to be on par with the expectations that we place on traditional public schools,” Reveles said.
Stevens said he also wants to ensure charter schools offer the same services and resources as traditional public schools, by making the approval process more rigorous.
“We need to ensure that we’re holding these schools accountable for the education of the students that come through their doors and that we’re setting them up for long-term success,” Stevens said.
The post El Pasoan, San Antonio resident run for Texas State Board of Education District 1 seat appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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