The No Child Left Behind Act as we once knew it is gone. The Every Student Achieves Act keeps some measures in place from the old policy, but now will empower states to determine how to evaluate teachers and how to hold schools accountable for their performance, among other things.

This is good news for students and better news for concerned citizens; when it becomes law, we will have to ability to hold Texas lawmakers more accountable for their actions with regard to public education. They can’t hide behind the “one size fits all” rhetoric. We now can determine how far our students succeed. This goes for the local school district level too.

FBISD will need better representation in Austin now more than ever to ensure our voice is heard. As your board member, I will be a strong advocate alongside the other trustees to make sure FBISD is not forgotten.