Austin ISD voters to decide District 8 school board seat in runoff. Meet the candidates.

After none of the six candidates vying for the District 8 Austin school board seat clinched a majority in the Nov. 5 election, the top two vote-getters — Fernando Lucas de Urioste and Lindsey Stringer — will face off Dec. 14 in a runoff.

The candidates are hoping to win the seat being 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 whole school district. Anyone living within the Austin school district who is registered to vote can cast a ballot in the runoff election.

During the Nov. 5 general election, de Urioste and Stringer pulled ahead in a crowded field, but neither candidate achieved the 50% support necessary to clinch a victory outright. De Urioste was the top vote-getter, with almost 32.5% of the 200,412 votes cast, while Stringer received 26% of the tally.

De Urioste, who has lived in Austin for almost 30 years, is the director of advocate services at Cirkiel Law Group, an advocacy firm that represents students, especially those receiving special education services. De Urioste previously worked as an Austin district special education teacher and paraprofessional.

If elected to the school board, he has said he wants to approach the position like an advocate, which to de Urioste means empowering families to have ownership of the decisions the district makes.

De Urioste also wants to spend time empowering more parent-teacher associations and families to become more involved in their campuses.

“That concept of a legacy family, we need to rebuild that reality for the community,” de Urioste said.

He’d want to make a policy to ensure parents of special education services had access to paperwork earlier and in more convenient ways, he said.

De Urioste also noted that as a board member he’d want to help protect the Austin school district values, which include separating religious instruction from public schools and helping value LGBTQ+ students, he said.

“Austin might have to fight a little harder for what it believes in,” de Urioste said.

Stringer, who grew up in Austin, graduated from Austin High School. A mother of three children, Stringer is a former fifth grade teacher and is vice president of technology and business operations at the national Math and Science Initiative, a nonprofit aimed at improving student performance in science, math and technology.

Stringer wants to ensure teachers and classrooms have needed resources to help students close achievement gaps, she said.

“Parents want their kids to be able to read and do math,” Stringer said. “We have a wealth of data around those topics.”

If elected, Stringer hopes to create policies to enhance support for students struggling to meet grade-level standards, including through tutoring, more resources for teachers and aligning curriculum across schools, she said.

Stringer is also concerned about the district’s declines in enrollment, she said.

Between 2013 and 2023, the district’s enrollment dropped from 86,233 to 72,198, a 16.3% dip, though district officials have said enrollment is leveling off.

“That should be a wakeup call for us as a district to ask, ‘Why is that? What can we learn from that?’” Stringer said. “I don’t know that that’s understood right now.”

Whoever wins the District 8 runoff will take their position as the school board prepares to tackle a 2½-year plan to slash the district’s $92 million deficit.

Both de Urioste and Stringer agreed that closing the district’s deficit will require bringing in additional revenue streams.

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 departing board member Ofelia Zapata’s seat during the Nov. 21 meeting.

Early voting begins Monday. Election day is Dec. 14.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin ISD runoff: De Urioste, Stringer vie for District 8 board seat

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