Jesse Rodriguez (Houston Independent School District, District III seat)
Jesse Rodriguez was a candidate for District III representative on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas. Rodriguez was defeated in the by-district runoff election on December 9, 2017.
Rodriguez participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Biography
Rodriguez attended the University of Houston. He has worked in radio as a host and manager. He has been associated with the Knights of Columbus, Talento Bilingue de Houston, the Pine Valley Civic Association, Hispanic Women in Leadership, and the Texas Hispanic Council on Aging Board.[1]
Elections
2017
Six of the nine seats on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. Candidates in Districts I and III advanced to a runoff election scheduled for December 9, 2017, after no candidate received a majority of the vote. The District III seat was up for special election to fill an unexpired term following the death of Manuel Rodriguez Jr.[2] The incumbents in Districts VI, VIII, and IX filed for re-election, while the incumbents in Districts I and V opted not to seek additional terms.[3][4][5]
In District I, newcomer Elizabeth Santos defeated fellow newcomer Gretchen Himsl. They defeated Monica Richart in the general election. In District III, newcomer Sergio Lira won against Jesse Rodriguez in the runoff election. They defeated Carlos Perrett and Rodolfo Reyes in the general election.[6]
Newcomer Sue Deigaard defeated three other newcomers—Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, and Susan Shafer—for the open District V seat. District VI incumbent Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca defeated challengers Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin for the seat with 50.42 percent of the vote. Incumbent Anne Sung defeated challenger John Luman in the District VII election. District IX incumbent Wanda Adams defeated challengers Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe.[3][4]
Results
| Houston Independent School District, District III Runoff Election, 2-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Sergio Lira |
57.01% | 854 |
| Jesse Rodriguez | 42.99% | 644 |
| Total Votes | 1,498 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report — Official: Harris County, Texas — Joint Runoff Election — December 09, 2017," accessed September 19, 2019 | ||
| Houston Independent School District, District III Special Election, 2-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Jesse Rodriguez |
39.92% | 1,247 |
| Sergio Lira |
33.74% | 1,054 |
| Rodolfo Reyes | 14.05% | 439 |
| Carlos Perrett | 12.29% | 384 |
| Total Votes | 3,124 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017 | ||
Funding
Rodriguez reported $40,961.00 in contributions and $33,248.03 in expenditures to the Houston Independent School District as of November 30, 2017.[7]
Endorsements
Rodriguez was endorsed by the Harris County Young Democrats and the Houston Association of Realtors/TREPAC.[8][9]
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
Jesse Rodriguez participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[10] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 15, 2017:
| “ | Top Priorities: - Make our students be college, career and work ready when they graduate. - Support, strengthen, and empower the underserved and underperforming HISD communities to increase student achievement. - Hold our Superintendent and Board accountable by controlling expenditures in the HISD budget. - Provide leadership training and resources to principals, counselors, teachers, and staff. - Bring together, the parents, PTO, teachers, principals, counselors, and student to bring the community into the school.[11][12] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Texas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| No. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Offer additional training options. Offer additional training options. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion should be used only when the safety and well-being of students, teachers, and staff are being threatened. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement. |
Campaign website
Rodriguez highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:
| “ |
|
” |
| —Jesse Rodriguez (2017)[13] | ||
Houstonians for Great Public Schools
Houstonians for Great Public Schools asked candidates if "increasing teacher compensation, increasing the per unit allocation (PUA), and addressing the goals, funding, and reach of the current magnet school program" would be candidates' top priority. Rodriguez said that increasing the PUA and addressing the goals, funding, and reach of the current magnet school program would be his top priorities.[14] He also provided the following candidate statement:
| “ |
HISD is dealing with a lot of challenges at this time from the damage and costs of repairs of our schools from Hurricane Harvey, the budget shortfall, and its underperforming schools. It’s going to take the new HISD board to work together with our Superintendent to find solutions very quickly. The future of our HISD District depends on it. The job of the board will be to bring the community and the local school system together. The board will have to understand the difference of governing and managing. It is up to the board to set policies that will help increase student achievement and help the Superintendent to accomplish his plan. Plus, the board will need to hold the Superintendent and itself accountable. If we fail to provide success in our schools, we will need to make some necessary changes. It is important that all board members be honest and transparent. We must hold all board members to the highest ethical standards. Board members must be servant leaders who can lead by example and serve their community. All board members must be able to attend all board meetings, committee meetings and community meetings when requested. All board members must be accessible to their communities and be able to communicate with all PTOs, civic clubs, children’s organizations, non-profit organizations and community organizations.[12] |
” |
| —Jesse Rodriguez[14] | ||
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Jesse Rodriguez Houston Independent School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Jesse Rodriguez for HISD District 3, "Meet Jesse," accessed November 2, 2017
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "HISD trustees appoint José Leal to fill District III seat until special election in November," accessed August 21, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Houston Independent School District, "Election Information," accessed September 12, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Three HISD incumbents prevail on election night, one open seat filled, and two open seats head to runoffs," November 8, 2017
- ↑ Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Unofficial, Joint Runoff Election," accessed December 9, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Election Information," accessed January 24, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Harris County Young Democrats," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ HAR.com, "HAR Announces Recommended Candidates For Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees," October 2, 2017
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "Jesse Rodriguez's responses," October 15, 2017
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Jesse for HISD, "Issues," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Houstonians for Great Public Schools, "District 3: Jesse Rodriguez," accessed November 29, 2017
