Forty-four candidates are running for 22 school board seats in six local school districts for the May 1 election. Incumbents face challengers in many races, and six seats are uncontested.
The San Antonio Independent School District board elections are among the most hotly contested, with the district’s largest teachers union backing a slate of candidates to unseat three incumbents and replace a departing trustee on the seven-member board.
District 3 Trustee Debra Guerrero is not seeking reelection, so the race for the open seat pits former City Councilwoman Leticia Ozuna against Judit Vega, who is supported by the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel.
Current school board members in Districts 1, 4, and 7 also face challengers backed by the Alliance. District 1 Trustee Steve Lecholop is opposed by Sarah Sorensen, a COVID-19 case investigator. District 4 incumbent Arthur Valdez faces Burbank High School teacher Luke Amphlett. In District 7, former San Antonio Mayor Ed Garza, the incumbent, faces Yasmín Parra Codina, an administrative assistant at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
In Northside ISD, the city’s largest, three of seven seats are up for election. District 5 trustee Katie Reed, first elected to the board in 1990, is not seeking another term. Four candidates have filed to fill her seat: retired NISD administrator Sharon Chumley, educator Jakub Kosiba, retired NISD principal Corinne Saldaña, and Irma Iris Duran de Rodriguez, senior housing policy coordinator for the City of San Antonio.
In District 6, board president Carol Harle, first elected in 2013, faces Thomas Leger, a college administrator. Board Vice President Karen B. Freeman, the District 7 trustee, has served since 2005 and drew three challengers. They are banker Kevin Escobar, human resource specialist Kevin McEachirn, and software engineer Blake Rawitt.
Three of the four races for Harlandale ISD’s seven-member board initially were contested, but District 3 incumbent Esequiel “Zeke” Mendoza died in February and another District 3 candidate, Lillian Zapata, was deemed ineligible to run because her voter registration had lapsed. Harlandale teacher Louie G. Luna will run unopposed for the seat.
In District 2, incumbent Christine A. Carrillo faces Orlando Salazar, an automotive insurance agent. In District 4, board President Norma Cavazos faces former HISD trustee David Abundis, who resigned in 2019 while the Texas Education Agency was investigating the district. The remaining board members appointed Cavazos to the seat after Abundis resigned. In February 2020, the TEA placed Harlandale ISD under the authority of a conservator who can override board decisions, finding after an investigation that trustees failed to monitor the district’s finances and violated the Texas Open Meetings Act.
Three of the seven seats on the Alamo Heights ISD school board are up for election. Place 6 incumbent Lisa Krenger is the only incumbent seeking another term, and she is running unopposed. For Place 5, general contractor Clay Page is running against Elissa Sangster, CEO of Forté, a nonprofit that aims to steer women into business. Engineer Travis Wiltshire faces Carey Watson Hildebrand, a volunteer and substitute teacher, for Place 7.
Judson and Southwest ISDs also are holding elections. Below is a full list of all candidates running for school board elections in Bexar County.
Some terminology may differ by district depending on whether trustees are running for at-large places or single-member districts. Candidates are listed alphabetically.
Early voting for the May 1 election runs from April 19-27.
Alamo Heights ISD:
Place 5: Clay Page, Elissa Sangster
Place 6: Lisa Krenger (incumbent)
Place 7: Carey Watson Hildebrand, Travis Wiltshire
Judson ISD:
District 2: Shatonya King (incumbent)
District 3: Debra Eaton (incumbent)
District 4: Evette Livingston, Jose A. Macias, Jr.
District 5: Jennifer Rodríguez (incumbent)
District 7 At-Large: Rafael Diaz Martinez, Jr. (incumbent), Emilio Silvas
Harlandale ISD:
District 1: Juan Mancha (incumbent)
District 2: Christine A. Carrillo (incumbent), Orlando Salazar
District 3: Louie G. Luna
District 4: David Abundis, Norma Cavazos (incumbent)
Northside ISD:
District 5: Sharon Chumley, Irma Iris Duran de Rodriguez, Jakub Kosiba, Corinne Saldaña
District 6: Carol Harle (incumbent), Thomas Leger
District 7: Kevin Escobar, Karen B. Freeman (incumbent), Kevin McEachirn, Blake Rawitt
San Antonio ISD:
District 1: Steve Lecholop (incumbent), Sarah L. Sorensen
District 3: Leticia Ozuna, Judit Vega
District 4: Arthur V. Valdez (incumbent), Luke Amphlett
District 7: Yasmín Parra Codina, Ed Garza (incumbent)
Southwest ISD:
Three at-large seats available: Florinda “Flo” Bernal (incumbent), Daniel Carrillo, Jeanet Reyes-Gomez, Raul Leonides Nuques, Stefanie Ann Salinas, Terri Solis, James Sullivan Jr. (incumbent)
