![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AHISD-School-Board-Forum_-jn_005.jpg\")
Lindsey Saldana speaks during an Alamo Heights ISD school board candidate forum put on by the parent teacher organization at the Alamo Heights Junior School auditorium on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. She\u2019s running against incumbent Ty Edwards (left). Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
In January, district officials canceled an author\u2019s visit to its two elementary schools after a handful of parents complained about the mention of the LGBTQ+ community in one of the writer\u2019s other books. The cancellation quickly drew backlash from families concerned that the complaints had an outsized effect on all students.<\/p>\n
But officials said they were being cautious in response to Senate Bill 12<\/a>, a parent choice bill passed during the 2025 state legislative session that limits classroom discussion of gender identity, sexual orientation, race and topics of diversity, equity and inclusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Unsatisfied with the district\u2019s response, parents informally picked two moms from their ranks to run: Lindsey Saldana<\/a> for Place 3 and Bianca Cerqueira<\/a> for Place 4, who have been supporting each other\u2019s campaigns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Read more about the AHISD candidates in our 2026 Education Voter Guide.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Edwards, a financial adviser and parent of two AHISD grads, was first elected in 2023 in an uncontested race. Now, he\u2019s running against Saldana, an assistant principal at a school in Edgewood ISD and an AHISD mom of three.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kingman works in real estate development, is a district alumnus and father of four AHISD students. He was appointed in 2024 to fill a vacant seat<\/a>, a position Saldana also applied for.\u00a0<\/p>\n Following board policy, Kingman technically had to run for the seat in 2025, but was uncontested and thought he might run unopposed again until Cerqueira filed right before the deadline to get on this year\u2019s ballot.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cerqueira, a neuroscientist and mom of two AHISD elementary students, says she filed last-minute after encouragement from other parents who rallied around the author issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n Politics of a nonpartisan election<\/p>\n While the author issue is the biggest to draw public attention recently, the district faces other challenges.<\/p>\n AHISD is ground zero for the current legal fight<\/a> over whether or not to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, following the passage of Senate Bill 10<\/a> in Texas.<\/p>\n Like most school districts in San Antonio, AHISD is also feeling the financial pressures of staying afloat amidst inflation and little increase to base public school funding from the state. Located in a property-rich area, the district had to pay the state back more than $20 million last year under what\u2019s known as the \u201cRobin Hood\u201d program.<\/p>\n Running a deficit last year, AHISD had to cut 10% of its budget<\/a>, about $5 million, to reach a balanced budget. This eliminated student programs and several staff positions, losses that were then offset by volunteers and a vast school foundation.\u00a0<\/p>\n At the same time, AHISD is making progress on a $371 million bond from 2023 and trying to keep up with a diversifying pool of students.<\/p>\n This is all against the backdrop of an increasing number of state policies tightening in on classroom content, library book lists, hiring practices and more.<\/p>\n \u201cThe state is definitely trying to usurp some of our local control away from school districts. There\u2019s no doubt that that\u2019s happening,\u201d Kingman said during a recent interview. \u201cBut our purview is very tight, and so our job is to interpret law and abide by law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Kingman\u2019s campaign centers on overseeing the district\u2019s bond projects, which have been tricky to complete as costs rise, and steering day-to-day operations like technology and academics.\u00a0<\/p>\n Edwards\u2019 campaing is similar. He says his role should be constrained to overseeing three things: board policy, budgeting and the superintendent.<\/p>\n \u201cEverything else comes from the state,\u201d Edwards said. \u201cThe politics should be in Austin, not at the school board.\u201d <\/p>\n But the recent author controversy threw the board races into a spotlight incumbents weren\u2019t expecting, drawing the attention of local political groups like the North East Bexar County Democrats, who quickly endorsed Saldana and Cerqueira and have also gotten involved in board races in the Alamo Community Colleges District<\/a> and North East ISD<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The group wants school boards to push against state policies seen as a threat to public and higher education.<\/p>\n \u201cThe school boards are so important,\u201d said Cameron Jones, the newly hired education campaign field director for NEBCD, during an April 11 event. \u201cWhile the elections are considered non partisan, these issues are our issues\u2026 there are a lot of people that are counting on us to not be engaged and to not be involved.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Fueled by the author issue, Cerqueira has centered her campaign on keeping religious ideology out of classrooms and maintaining academic freedom. <\/p>\n \u201cI think our district\u2019s interpretation of SB 12 is overly restrictive,\u201d Cerqueira said during an April 14 candidate forum organized by the district\u2019s parent-teacher organization. During the hour-long event in the auditorium of Alamo Heights Junior School, Cerqueira was the only one to talk directly about the author issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe views of a single parent should not dictate the material that an entire district can access. As a school board trustee, I will vote against book bans,\u201d she told the crowd.\u00a0<\/p>\n During an interview the next day, Cerqueira said she\u2019s religious but has purposefully refrained from disclosing her faith, because it\u2019s \u201cnot the business of public schools.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AHISD-School-Board-Forum_-jn_001.jpg\")
Bianca Cerqueira speaks during a Alamo Heights ISD school board candidate forum on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. Cerqueira is challenging incumbent Hunter Kingman (far right). Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/AHISD-School-Board-Forum_-jn_008.jpg\")
Trustee Hunter Kingman speaks during a Alamo Heights ISD school board candidate forum at Alamo Heights Junior School auditorium on April 14, 2026. He\u2019s seeking reelection. Credit: Jo E. Norris for the San Antonio Report<\/p>\n