Adam Zuvanich/Houston Public Media
Community members walk into Hattie Mae White Educational Support Center for a school board meeting on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024.
Maria Benzon, Michael McDonough and Bridget Wade are leading their races to join the Houston ISD board of trustees, which will not have voting power until at least 2027 amid the state’s ongoing takeover of the district.
Early voting results released Tuesday night by the Harris County Clerk’s Office showed that Benzon was leading Robbie McDonough in the District 5 race, while Michael McDongough was ahead of Kendall Baker in District 6 and Wade held a lead against Audrey Nath in District 7.
Two more positions — District 1 and District 9 — each had one candidate running unopposed and did not appear on the ballot. The terms for those candidates, Felicity Pereyra, along with incumbent Myrna Guidry, will begin in January.
Under the current Texas Education Agency (TEA) takeover, none of HISD’s nine elected trustees will have any governing power until at least June 2027. But the newly elected trustees could gain voting power on the board before the end of their four-year terms.
The TEA sidelined HISD’s elected trustees for a “board of managers” who were appointed by the TEA at the start of the takeover in June 2023. The state took over the district after Wheatley High School received a string of failing grades, triggering a state law requiring the TEA to close the campus or replace elected trustees with appointed leadership.
After the end of the takeover, elected trustees will regain oversight of the state’s largest school district. That includes control over the district’s $2 billion annual budget, employee terminations, its property tax rate and more.
Placido Gomez, who was not on the ballot this fall, was elected as a trustee in November 2023 and could gain voting power near the end of his term. He pushed back on the notion that the trustees are powerless.
“It’s technically true that we don’t have the power to vote on things that have consequences in HISD, but we do have the power to influence the public discussion and I think that’s also very important,” Gomez said during early voting. “So even during the takeover, people deserve active representation and it’s our obligation as elected board members to be as active as our schedules allow us to be, because people deserve to have their voices heard.”
When the takeover ends, elected trustees will be rolled back into their roles three at a time over a three-year period. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath has control over which three are restored at each interval.