Meet the Round Rock ISD School Board Place 3 candidates

A current school board president and a teenager who just turned 18. Those are just two of the candidates in the race for Round Rock ISD school board, place three. Fox 7 Austin's Angela Shen sat down with them to discuss how they would approach the position. These are the four candidates running for Round Rock ISD school board, place three. Amber Feller-Landrum has been on the board of trustees since 2018. I think experience matters. You know, I've spent eight years on the board so far. My heart is in it. I would do this for all the children. Vera Southwell says her career has been in data analytics. I believe that the district needs thoughtful, responsible governance that looks beyond the current budget cycle. I want to understand the risks, consider the alternatives, and measure the results. Greg Andrew is a nurse practitioner retired from the U.S. Army Reserves. We are going to bring our teachers in and they are going to be represented far beyond any union could ever do. We're going to listen to them. Ayan Mouledina, who just turned 18, is a student and regularly does advocacy work at the state capitol. It's so important that we have a fresh voice and fresh perspective because education now in eight years ago has changed so much and to have someone who was in Round Rock ISD classrooms just a few years ago is an invaluable perspective. One of the biggest issues for the school district, a roughly $6 million budget deficit. Feller-Landrum says a problem is the state legislature not funding public education. We've made cuts and cuts and cuts and cuts. Every year we're cutting our budget by millions of dollars. Our annual budget is around $500 million, and we're cutting that on a regular basis. What we've done so far is we've tried not to touch the classrooms. We must look beyond one year budget. Budget is what we plan to spend this year and strategy is what is our plan and how are you going to sustain those choices over a long time. I think that what we should do is go out into the community and bring some big, high-profile guy like, I don't know, Michael Dell. Come and bring him in and have him help us out as a superintendent. You know, Elon Musk, somebody like that. Have him come in, you know, not work for free. I would be hesitant to proactively say anything. I would want to hear from administration on what they think first. And then based on that pushback and take back to them what I think can and can't be cut. because they know better than anyone. Round Rock ISD also has a VATRE on the ballot this year, which stands for Voter Approved Tax Rate Election. For the average median value home in Round Rock, this would be about $200 more per year. 50% of that money will go to teacher and staff raises and to supplement health care increase costs, but the other 50% will go back to the state for the state to use in their general fund. I support teachers being paid well. teachers face our students that definitely should be paid very well however my concern is with financial sustainability we're against it we don't want we vote we're wanting to vote no against that bond package and uh and and we uh these things they just rush these things through and people vote for it as an impulse because they they think that this is really what's going to make things better. And it's just another example of dumping more money into a system that we need to pull back. So I'm in full support of the Vader. I honestly think it doesn't go far enough, right? I hope that later down the line, we can work towards a $20 an hour minimum wage for our staff in Round Rock ISD. Angela Chen, Fox 7 Austin News. You can read more from each candidate on our website at fox7austin.com.