After none of the six candidates vying for Austin’s District 8 school board seat won a majority in the Nov. 5 election, the top two vote-getters — Fernando Lucas de Urioste and Lindsey Stringer — will face a runoff on Dec. 14 face each other.
The candidates hope to win the seat vacated by Noelita Lugo, who is stepping down from the board. As one of two at-large positions on the nine-member board, the District 8 seat represents the entire school district. Anyone who lives in the Austin school district and is registered to vote can vote in the runoff election.
In the November 5 general election, Urioste and Stringer led in a crowded field, but neither candidate achieved the 50% support needed to achieve an outright victory. The Urioste was the biggest vote getter, with almost 32.5% of the 200,412 votes cast, while Stringer received 26% of the votes.
De Urioste, who has lived in Austin for nearly three decades, is director of attorney services at Cirkiel Law Group, a law firm that represents students, especially those receiving special education services. De Urioste previously worked as a special education teacher and paraprofessional in the Austin district.
If elected to the school board, he has said he wants to approach the position as an advocate, which for De Urioste means giving families power over the decisions the district makes.
De Urioste also wants to spend time empowering more parent-teacher associations and families to become more involved on their campuses.
“That concept of a legacy family, we need to rebuild that reality for the community,” De Urioste said.
He would like to create policies to ensure parents of special education institutions could access paperwork earlier and in easier ways, he said.
De Urioste also noted that as a board member he would like to help protect the values of the Austin school district, including separating religious education from public schools and helping to value LGBTQ+ students, he said.
“Austin may have to fight a little harder for what he believes in,” De Urioste said.
Stringer, who grew up in Austin, graduated from Austin High School. A mother of three, Stringer is a former fifth-grade teacher and vice president of technology and operations at the national Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit organization focused on improving student achievement in science. mathematics and technology.
Stringer wants to ensure teachers and classrooms have the resources needed to help students close achievement gaps, she said.
“Parents want their children to be able to read and do math,” says Stringer. “We have a wealth of data on these topics.”
If elected, Stringer hopes to create policies to increase support for students who struggle to meet grade-level standards, including through tutoring, more resources for teachers and tailoring the curriculum to all schools, she said.
Stringer is also concerned about the district’s enrollment decline, she said.
Between 2013 and 2023, the district’s enrollment fell from 86,233 to 72,198, a decline of 16.3%, although district officials say enrollment is leveling off.
“That should be a wake-up call for us as a district to ask, ‘Why is that? What can we learn from this?’” Stringer said. “I don’t know if that is understood now.”
Whoever wins the District 8 runoff will take their position as the school board prepares for a two-and-a-half-year plan to reduce the district’s $92 million deficit.
Both De Urioste and Stringer agreed that closing the district’s deficit will require additional revenue sources.
The winner of the District 8 race will join LaRessa Quintana as a new member on the board. Quintana was elected to the District 2 seat on Nov. 5 and took over the seat from outgoing board member Ofelia Zapata at the Nov. 21 meeting.
Early voting begins Monday. Election day is December 14.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin ISD runoff: De Urioste, Stringer vying for District 8 board seat
