Mike Villarreal is running for school board because he’s on a mission to bring positive change to SAISD.
Together, here's what we can achieve:
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Let's create schools that students love: Schools where educators and children have the resources they need to thrive. This means moving beyond our obsession with standardized testing toward balanced schedules with adequate time for meals, physical activity, recess, and enrichment programs that nurture the whole child.
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Let's graduate students equipped with marketable skills and confidence to pursue college and careers, empowering them to shape their own futures.
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Let’s maximize funding for SAISD students and schools. Every dollar raised must go where it matters most—to our children’s education.
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Let's attract community partners to bring more resources to our students by creating meaningful collaboration opportunities that benefit our schools and their surrounding communities. These partnerships can provide not only additional funding and materials, but also mentorships, real-world learning experiences, and career pathways that connect classroom education to community needs.
Here are the changes we need to make to set excellence as the standard in SAISD:
1. Leaders Listen: We must create a line of communication between our school communities and the board, unfiltered by the Superintendent's Office.
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2. Build Bridges: We need to foster strategic partnerships with local colleges, businesses, neighborhood associations, and nonprofits to mobilize more resources and volunteers. They can help us recruit reading tutors, mentors, job-shadowing opportunities, and internships for our students.
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3. Drive Innovation: We must create conditions that empower educators to innovate by providing time, access to quality research, and adequate funding. This requires reducing administrative burdens, making research accessible, and allocating resources for experimentation and careful scaling of promising ideas. We should also learn from high-performing schools that exceed expectations within and outside of SAISD.
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4. Everyone Rowing Together: All district staff outside of campuses must substitute teach once per semester to gain a frontline perspective and save costs.
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5. Transparency: Publicly share district data so we can track our progress. Stop making decisions without genuine public input and participation. Ask questions at board meetings to shed light on issues and hold each other accountable. Limit executive sessions to only those circumstances legally required or fiscally prudent.
What makes Mike ready for this role?
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15 years of education policy leadership in the Texas Legislature, fighting for public education.
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Proud SAISD parent: Two children advanced from Bonham Academy to ALA at Fox Tech.
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Former UTSA professor and Assistant Commissioner of Higher Education
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Data Scientist and founder of an AI startup
More about Mike.
Mike was the first in his family to earn a college degree–from Texas A&M, followed by a Harvard Master's, and a UT Austin Ph.D. He's not just talking about the transformative power of education – he knows firsthand how we can break down barriers and create opportunities for ALL our children!
