Houston ISD’s board of managers unanimously approved the district’s 2025-26 budget. The board includes four new faces: Edgar Colón, Marty Goossen, Lauren Gore and Marcos Rosales, who were recently appointed by Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath.
The Houston ISD board of trustees has five seats on the Nov. 4 ballot in what could be considered an unusual election. The winners won’t have any governing power for at least the first 18 months of their terms.
Under a takeover by the Texas Education Agency, HISD’s elected trustees have been sidelined by a “board of managers” appointed by the TEA at the start of the takeover in June 2023. The state intervened 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.
This June, Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath said the takeover will continue until at least June 1, 2027. So the trustee candidates elected Tuesday could regain oversight of the state’s largest school district during the second half of their four-year terms. That would include control over the district’s $2 billion annual budget, employee terminations, the property tax rate and more.
Placido Gomez, who is 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 pushes 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 consequence in HISD, but we do have the power to influence the public discussion and I think that’s also very important,” Gomez said. “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.”
Two school board positions — District 1 and District 9 — have just one candidate running unopposed and will not appear on the ballot. The three other seats — Districts 5, 6 and 7 — have two candidates each vying for those seats (more on the candidates below).
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The early voting period ends Friday.
Gomez likens his time now as a non-voting trustee to an athlete’s offseason. Gomez said he attends trainings, attends nearly all the board meetings and stays as engaged as possible to stay prepared.
“Most of the time, you’re elected in November and you’re put on in January,” he said. “If there’s any silver lining, I guess it’s that, you know, instead of just being thrown into the game, per se, we have time to prepare so that we could learn the nuts and bolts of what it actually takes to be a school board member, and we’ll be able to be more effective when that time comes.”
Whenever the takeover ends, the elected trustees will be rolled back into their roles three at a time over a three-year period. Morath has control over which three are restored at each interval.
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“The takeover is not going to last forever, and that means that I and the other board members need to be engaged with what’s going on right now if we’re going to be prepared when the takeover ends, right, and, you know, if we’re listening to as many people as possible, we’re going to be ready to accurately represent the community’s vision and values when we are back behind the dais,” Gomez said.
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.
THE NOV. 4 CANDIDATES
Maria Benzon is running against Robbie McDonough for the District 5 seat.
Benzon has worked in public education for more than 25 years, including as a teacher in HISD. She is currently the assistant director of assessment at the University of Houston-Downtown. Benzon has been endorsed by the Houston Federation of Teachers, Harris County Democrats and Annie’s List, among others. The top issue listed on Benzon’s campaign website is to “restore local control.” The site says she “believes decisions about Houston’s Schools should be made by the people who know our students best, not by an unelected board of Managers with no accountability to the public and who can be replaced at any time at the discretion of the Commissioner of Education.” Benzon has been a longtime public critic of the takeover.
McDonough is a trial attorney and former business counsel. McDonough says the state takeover has “silenced our community’s voice.” On McDonough’s campaign website he outlines student success and access to opportunity, student and teacher retention, and financial discipline as his top issues. McDonough has been endorsed by nearly 50 different community leaders, parents and former education leaders.
The District 6 seat candidates include Kendall Baker and Michael McDonough.
Baker is the incumbent seeking re-election. Baker is an insurance adjuster, minister and native Houstonian. Baker’s campaign website lists no endorsements and a short list of issues that include “high quality instruction,” “school choice” and “decreased HISD taxes,” but offers nothing further on why he chose these issues.
Michael McDonough has worked as a teacher and principal and has served on an advisory body for the previous superintendent’s term. McDonough says the board needs to address the realities of the district head-on.
“There’s a stronger case to be made for public education, and it’s on us to make it clear and compelling. But we can’t hide from the current reality,” he says. “Chronic underfunding from the legislature, the launch of school vouchers, and the ongoing state takeover of our district all threaten our students’ ability to get the education and the future they deserve.”
Issues listed on his campaign website include “teacher support and retention” and “public accountability and local control.” McDonough has been endorsed by the Houston Federation of Teachers, Tejanos Democrats and Community Voices for Public Education.
Incumbent Bridget Wade and Audrey Nath are in the race for District 7’s seat.
Nath is a pediatric neurologist and HISD parent. On her campaign site she opens up about her son’s “profound dyslexia” and how she saw first hand the real implications of Texas not fully funding special education. Improving student support is the top issue listed on her site alongside “fiscal responsibility” and a “return to local control.” Nath has been endorsed by several local state representatives, the Houston Federation of Teachers and the Houston Progressive Caucus.
Wade was initially elected in 2021, during the pre-takeover days. Though trustees are nonpartisan seats, Wade’s campaign site says she is a conservative and a founding member of The Church of The Apostles. Wade has served in leadership positions on several boards, including for The Blaffer Museum of Art at the University of Houston, and she is a member for the Houston ISD Foundation Board. Wade has been endorsed by the Houston County Republican Party and the Houston Chronicle.
Districts 1 and 9
Two districts have candidates running unopposed. Felicity Pereyra will assume the District 1 seat in January 2026.
Pereyra, a data analyst and small business owner, has been endorsed by the Houston Federation of Teachers and Community Voices for Public Education — two organizations that have been active and vocal critics of the takeover and state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles. On her campaign website, Pereyra writes, “the state takeover of HISD circumvents voter choice and concentrates power in unelected ideologues in Austin, undermining the democratic foundation of public schooling.”
In District 9, Myrna Guidry is seeking re-election unopposed. Guidry is an attorney and adjunct professor at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Guidry was appointed to the board unanimously by the trustees in December 2020 after Wanda Adams resigned from the seat. She was elected to a full four-year term in November 2021.