Bianca Cerqueira, 39, is a neuroscientist who works on federally sponsored biomedical research. She’s also a member of the parent teacher organization and a homeroom mom at Cambridge Elementary. She’s challenging incumbent Hunter Kingman for the Place 4 seat on the AHISD school board.
Hear from the candidate
Please tell voters about yourself.
I am an AHISD parent of two children in the Spanish Immersion Program at Cambridge Elementary. My family is from San Antonio, but I grew up as an Army brat and attended 15 schools before graduating from high school. My parents have lived in AHISD since 2005, and I moved here with my husband and children in 2020. I earned my BS in Neurobiology and Physiology from the University of Maryland College Park and my PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas Health Science at San Antonio. Professionally, I am a contract research scientist supporting the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, and NASA sponsored research. My research focuses on understanding how the aerospace environment or military occupational exposure affects the brain and how we can mitigate it to maximize neurocognitive and physical performance. In my free time I like to read, quilt, and spend time with my family and friends.
Please describe the relevant work experience you bring to this job and any endorsements voters should note.
In my professional experience, I have been part of the Project Management Office team for a federal government contract, which included planning and reviewing budgets up to $83M. In my role, I also provide guidance to senior leadership on translational science, intellectual property protection, and technology review for our company’s research & development portfolio. I am trained as a researcher, so I am experienced in searching and reviewing data to make informed decisions for next steps of action. Within AHISD, I have been a member of the PTO since 2020 and a homeroom mom at Cambridge from 2021-2026.
Why did you decide to seek this office and how you would approach the role?
I am running for school board because I believe in maintaining local control of curriculum and enabling instructional flexibility which allows us to best meet the needs of our community (against TEA proposed state wide required reading lists that include biblical texts). I believe in the separation of church and state – parents should be in charge of their child’s religious education, not the state. We should establish district policies where teachers and librarians are enabled to do their job and not worry that they are the next target of controversy. If parents have concerns about specific library material, we already have a system that allows parents to control which material their child can access. The views of a single parent should not dictate what material the entire district can access. Our children should have developmentally-appropriate factually-correct curriculum that is not ideologically framed (see proposed TEKS Social Studies changes).
How would you solicit input and feedback from constituents?
Although community members currently can email the AHISD trustees concerns and participate in public comment at school board meetings, I feel that AHISD board engagement with the community can be improved. During public comment at school board meetings, community members are limited to a couple of minutes and trustees are not permitted to respond, so it is essentially a one-sided conversation. I propose to host office hours, where community members can meet with members of the board in a more informal setting to allow discussion.
What do you see as the biggest challenges your school district is facing and what strategies would you want to implement as solutions?
As a School Board Trustee, I will advocate for increased funding to the basic allotment and provide outreach and education to our AHISD community about upcoming bills related to school finance so we can come together to voice our concerns to our elected representatives.
I think that our district’s interpretation of SB12 is overly restrictive. Our district has interpreted this law as meaning that visiting authors must commit to “not mention any book that recognizes the existence of race, color, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation”. If this logic was applied to this year’s Texas Bluebonnet Award reading list, most authors of these books would also be prohibited from visiting.
SB13, passed in 2025, requires additional review of library material. As a School Board Trustee, I would vote against book censorship. If parents have concerns about specific material, we already have a system that allows parents to control which library material their child can access. The views of a single parent should not dictate what material the entire district can access.
Additionally, I have concerns about the TX State Board of Education (SBOE) proposed required reading list that includes over 10 passages from the Bible. The proposed rule would take effect in schools during the 2030-31 school year to ensure sufficient time for the transition for publishers & curriculum writers, school systems, and teachers. On January 28th, the SBOE voted to delay consideration until April 6-10th meetings to allow members time to consider the list and solicit feedback. I believe the SBOE proposed reading list would violate the First Amendment of the US Constitution and Article 1 of the Texas Constitution that protects our right to freedom of religion. I believe that parents and their faith community should be in charge of our children’s religious education, not the state.
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