TUSD Governing Board
Three seats, five candidates
It can be really difficult to find information about school board candidates so hopefully this post is helpful.
As a general bit of info, here is a forum you can watch with all 5 candidates answering questions. This is a great way to get a feel for each candidate all at once. I really enjoyed hearing them each speak about why they are running and what they see as the problems in TUSD. Even if you don’t have children or your children don’t attend this district but this is where you vote, this is still important. Public schools shape our communities. If you don’t have time to watch the entire thing, you can learn a lot from the last 15 minutes, (starting at 1:06) in which each candidate is asked what they love about TUSD and then they get a chance to give a closing statement.
Three of the candidates (Sadie Shaw, Ravi Shah, and Natalie Luna Rose) are currently on the TUSD Governing board, and thus are running for re-election. All the candidates are parents, and all except for Esteban Flores have children that attend or attended TUSD schools (one candidate mentioned that her daughter recently graduated from high school.) I could not find any info about where Esteban Flores’ daughter attends school, and I don’t think that’s necessarily my business, but I’m assuming she doesn’t attend in TUSD since all the other candidates made a point to mention that their children do attend in this district.
Natalie Luna Rose (Incumbent) - Currently serves as President of the TUSD Governing Board. She is a product of TUSD schools (she attended the same elementary and high school as I did!) and her daughter also attends in TUSD. Throughout her daughter’s K-12 education, Natalie has been very involved in the schools through PTA, booster clubs, site council, etc.
As President of the Governing Board, Natalie supported providing TUSD employees with 12 weeks of paid parental leave, the first district in Arizona to do so. She supported raising teacher wages, funding increases for improving campuses, adding more counselors to schools, and expanding JTED programs. She supports the district’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and believes that all students learn differently and should not be judged solely by standardized tests. She says that standardized tests place too much pressure onto teachers and students and that funding and teacher salaries should not be based on standardized testing scores.
From her website:
I continued to support families with students with disabilities and the assurance that they are receiving their free and appropriate education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
I will advocate for better policies, sustainable funding, and strong public schools at the AZ State Legislature.
I support TUSD's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Programs, including student service departments, magnet schools, transportation, family outreach, curriculum, and extracurricular activities, are designed to fulfill this commitment.
I am committed to overseeing and keeping the district leadership focused on racial integration, academic achievement, and fair and just discipline policies for students of color.
I will continue making meaningful changes toward providing a healthy work environment for teachers and staff.
She also has a Facebook page that she updates regularly with information related to what the board is doing.
Dr. Ravi Shah (Incumbent) - Dr. Shah is a family physician in Tucson and has 3 children currently attending TUSD schools. He has previously been involved in the PTA at his children’s schools and previously served as the TUSD school board president. He also mentions that he has an MBA and has used that to help manage the TUSD budget. From his website: “As a result of focusing spending on students and schools, TUSD's administrative spending has gone from 11% at its peak a few years ago to nearly 8%, the lowest in Pima County.
“And thanks to my leadership, every major decision with financial implications TUSD makes looks at a 5-year projection so that TUSD administrators and the Governing Board know the long-term financial implications, positive and negative, of these decisions.”
During his time so far on the board, he led the district in creating the Budget Advisory Committee, which reviews evidence on class sizes and literacy programs, he helped create the Substance Use Task Force that makes evidence based recommendations on how to use funds to improve student mental health.
He mentions on his website being part of the expansion of teaching staff to add reading and math interventionists and coordinators and more teacher training. He mentions that school letter grades have improved throughout TUSD, where we now have no schools rated at an F and 80% of schools are rated at A, B, or C. He also talks about how the school board has worked to increase teacher and support staff pay over the last few years. He listened to teachers and worked to find better health care options for TUSD employees and expanded access to arts and music education in all TUSD schools.
Also from his website: “I have always stood firm against those who want to ban books they object to, focus on conspiracy theories not based on science, or attack minority students (including LGBTQ+ students).”
He promises to “continue the work to reduce disparities in educational achievement among students of color. I will continue the work to ensure LGBTQ+ students feel safe and valued in TUSD.”
He lists as his top issues for another term:
Evidence-based interventions for student success
Supporting teachers and staff
Fiscal Responsibility
Ending Inequities in TUSD
Sadie Shaw (Incumbent) - was first elected to the board in 2020 and has since worked to raise salaries of TUSD employees and reduce the fees required of students to participate in extracurricular activities, so that finances do not bar them from opportunities. She feels strongly that we must raise the bar at TUSD, and expect more from students and administration. Sadie initially ran for school board because her daughter’s school did not have an art class and she wanted to do something about it. After 6 months on the board, she was successful in making sure all students in all TUSD schools had access to the arts.
Sadie is an artist who previously served as the president of her neighborhood association and also serves on the League of Women Voters board of directors.
Her major priorities include maintaining arts programs at all TUSD schools, improving them where they are still lacking, and enhancing the connection with the greater Tucson arts community. Making sure each school has a librarian and a funded library, as well as physical education courses is another goal.
She also mentions the importance of transparency, accountability, and responsible use of TUSD resources. She feels that the board needs to do a better job of reaching out to parents and making sure they have sufficient input from parents before making decisions. She also says that she wants to shift away from and eventually eliminate standardized testing.
If you want more of Sadie, here is an interview I found with just her.
Pilar Acosta-Ruiz - Before I started my research, the main thing I knew about her is that she has signs EVERYWHERE. I mean, if you haven’t seen one of her signs yet, you may be living under a rock. You can’t leave your house without seeing one of her signs. Pilar is a graduate of TUSD schools and has children who also hav been through TUSD. She has actively attended board meetings as a parent for the last decade. She has served on site councils and in booster clubs.
In the forum I linked above, Pilar mentioned that she feels it is important to reduce the administrative budget and put more of that money directly into classrooms. Her website lists her priorities as “Accountability, Building the Future, and Common Sense Leadership.” She lists that school safety is a big priority and says that “teachers and support staff deserve a workplace free from retaliation and fear.”
Her website is pretty bare bones so I’m not intentionally writing less about her, it’s just there was less information to write about.
Esteban Flores - his website includes a lot of religious language, and he mentions that he is working on a degree in Biblical Studies so he can go into full-time ministry. He attended TUSD schools growing up and does have a daughter but he did not mention where she attends school on his website.
During the forum linked above, he continiously brought up things such as trans students using bathrooms not in line with their biological sex, pronouns, and how transitioning causes problems that many people later regret. (This is not true). Dr. Shah called him out once on some false and disparaging statements made towards the LGBTQ community.
His website lists his priorities as “Parental authority, Stop the Sexualization of our children, Transparency, Academic Achievement and a return to American Civics.”
He says we must put parents “back in charge” and make sure their voices are heard. He says that “sexual perversion” is happening in our schools and we must put a stop to it, removing books or curriculum that are problematic and he also lists “sterilization, and mutilation of minors, drag queen story time, or drag shows, especially without parental awareness or consent” which is interesting because I am not aware of any of that happening at school. He also says “teaching about gender ideology is not a place for schools, especially without parental approval. There should be no secrets or hidden indoctrination agendas.”
When he says “transparency” is a priority for him, he doesn’t mean about funding or spending. No, he’s talking about curriculum and what is being taught in schools (which is already required to be easily available to parents). He says this “I promise to promote the transparency of online curriculum and hardcopy textbooks. Along with the total transparency of all the teachers and staff with precisely what they are teaching our students. Anything a parent does not consent to or does not want taught to their children's regarding learning material should be respected and submitted to promptly.”
He also says we must return to teaching Civics, beginning with the Arizona State Constitution Preamble.