Cedar Park - Leander Edition | October 2022

2022 VOTER GUIDE

COMPILED BY ZACHARIA WASHINGTON

LEANDER ISD BOARD OF TRUSTEES, PLACE 2

There is a lack of trust between parents in the community and the district. Many parents do not approve of the direction the district is going, but instead of being heard, the board cut citizen comment time in half. In order to restore trust, the district needs to operate in full transparency, welcome citizen comments, provide notice of public hearings in a format that engages the community and respects parental rights. What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve noticed within Leander ISD, and how would you work to address them?

The problems I’ve experienced with the district cannot be resolved with more money. It’s not fair that teachers are being led to believe their jobs may be in jeopardy. While it may be uncomfortable, we all deserve to better understand the noninstructional spend and examine how the district can be better stewards to the taxpayer. Appraisals have already seen an exorbitant increase, and the VATRE will be a tax increase that I don’t support. Do you support the upcoming voter-approval tax rate election ballot item (Proposition B)? Why or why not?

BRANDI BURKMAN

Occupation: health care network management

Relevant experience: PTA volunteer, Destination Imagination team manag- er, athletic booster executive board member, experienced negotiator, project management, self-taught in Texas Education Code and district policy www.brandiforlisd.com

Occupation: executive director of Jeremiah Program Austin Relevant experience: mom of three cur- rent and former LISD students, current VP of LISD board; former LEEF executive di- rector, former teacher/professor, member of every LISD PTA/PTO 512-436-3215 | www.gloriaforlisd.com GLORIA GONZALESDHOLAKIA

Our experiences during COVID[-19] conrmed most students learn best mostly in a classroom, not virtually, and we are work- ing to ll gaps left in its wake. We must support educational and mental health needs of our students and sta§, and that requires resources and time. Teachers also are being used as political pawns, and if we want to put students rst, we can’t put edu- cators last. They need higher salaries, increased support and more respect.

Through VATRE, we can reduce our overall tax rate—the main- tenance and operations side will increase to help fund teacher salaries while reduction in the interest and sinking side will more than o§set that. This will help us retain and reward teachers. It will provide more funding ¯exibility for our district. And it will support the needs of the entire LISD community. For all those reasons, I personally am voting yes.

Only candidates in contested elections are included. Go to county election websites for information on uncontested races.

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