This article has been updated.
Two years after cracking into North East Independent School District on San Antonio’s North Side, conservative groups were beat back in a big way Saturday night.
With five openings on the school district’s ballot, a slate of candidates backed by the local Democratic Party, the parent teachers association and public education advocates won each of them.
“They saw us coming this time,” said Crystal Keene, president of Parents United for Freedom PAC, which formed in opposition to the district’s handling of the pandemic.
North East ISD is one of 20 independent school districts in Bexar County, serving roughly 60,000 students across 70 campuses, with an operating budget of $890 million per year. The district includes some of the reddest Republican territory in an otherwise blue county in terms of political makeup.
While conservative groups have had success elsewhere in Texas electing school board candidates, the only big wins they’ve chalked up in Bexar County have been in NEISD, where they flipped two of the district’s seven school board seats in 2022 and came close to taking a third.
Several months later, the death of a longtime trustee in District 2 left the board split evenly.
Fights over sex education and parental rights over the past year were enough to send two long-term trustees packing at the end of their terms this year — and open the door to big changes at the state’s 10th-largest school district.
With all the votes counted, however, candidates backed by conservative groups fell short in every race. Conservatives lost an incumbent, Steve Hilliard, in District 6. Hilliard fell to retired educator Terri Chidgey, who took 64.18% of the vote.
Leaders of the conservative Texas Family Action PAC gathered at Taco Palenque in Alamo Heights for a watch party, where they toasted the group’s valiant — yet unsuccessful — efforts.
“It’s very disappointing,” said Mike Knuffke, the PAC’s president. “We worked very hard to raise a lot of money and a lot of awareness, but it’s hard to overcome the PTA machine.”
Unlike in 2022, PUFF and Texas Family Action, raised real money for their candidates this year. PUFF campaigned regularly at conservative events, like the launch of a new young Republican club in March.
Meanwhile, candidates with ties to the administration and PTAs had their own political action committee, Bexar County Champions for Public Education PAC, which formed in 2023. That group raised less than the conservative PACs but got help from the Bexar County Democrats.
Candidates backed by the PAC filled a party room at Blanco BBQ, with retiring District 1 incumbent Sandy Hughey and supporters cheering as results continued to pour in throughout the night.
In one of the biggest upsets of the night, one of the Bexar County Champions for Public Education PAC’s candidates, Tracie Shelton, prevailed in the District 2 special election to replace her friend, the late Terri Williams.
After Williams’ death, the board initially voted to appoint a replacement but locked horns over how the process should play out, resulting in months of deadlock and the eventual calling of a special election.
Consultant Jacqueline Klein, who was backed in conservative groups in 2022 and finished a close third for the seat that year, was the prohibitive favorite entering the night.
“There is a slate of five candidates that are running. They’re calling us political … saying that we’re backed by outside interests,” Klein said at a recent candidate forum. “Parents are not outside interests. It is not outsiders like us that you need to worry about, it is administration insiders.”
Shelton became emotional speaking about her friend, now her predecessor on the board, with the San Antonio Report outside of the Tobin Library, where she was greeting voters Saturday evening.
“The thing about Terri is, she was like me, in that she’s pragmatic,” Shelton said. “And I never worried about NEISD when she was a board member, in part because I could walk down the hall and say, ‘What’s going on?’”
“She was doing a really good job of listening and hearing, making decisions for the good of the children,” Shelton said. “And so I am hopeful that at the end of tonight and after the results are certified by the current board, I will be able to sit in her seat and continue to make really good decisions for all of our children.”
Shelton ejected the San Antonio Report from the party at Blanco BBQ later that night, where district employees were celebrating with the candidates.
As the results rolled in, cheers could be heard on and off throughout the rest of the night at Blanco BBQ.
Tom Cummins, the executive director of the North East Federation of Teachers, who attended the watch party, said he wasn’t surprised about the victories, given the “deep roots” of the candidates in the community.
“We think that the voting numbers that came in tonight reflects the respect that they have for our candidates,” he said of voters.
District 1
In District 1, which was left open after Hughey didn’t file for reelection, substitute and PTA president Lisa Thompson won with 70.17% of the votes cast. Thompson was backed by Bexar County Champions for Public Education.
Former math teacher Michael Gurwitz, backed by PUFF and the Texas Family action, trailed with 29.83%.
District 2
Shelton prevailed in the District 2 special election with 57.44%. Klein followed at 26.94% and Rhonda Rowland ended with 15.62%.
District 4
In District 4, incumbent David Beyer beat out his opponent, cybersecurity professional Jack Hoyle, with 69.71% of the vote to Hoyle’s 30.29%.
During a speech at Blanco BBQ, Beyer thanked his family and supporters, as well as “whoever sent text messages” to all his neighbors in the waning days of the campaign, a move he credited with galvanizing support for him.
Beyer said it was sad to see the political attacks that have entered school board races.
“It’s sad to see that as a school board election we have to stoop to those kinds of things,” he said. “I tried to run as clean a campaign as I can.”
District 5
In District 5, which was vacated by board President Shannon Grona, Bexar County Champions for Public Education PAC’s candidate Melinda Cox beat out two challengers with 54.41% of the vote.
Trailing her were Dick “Raz” Rasmussen with 38.55% of the vote and Chris Evans, with 7.04%. Rasmussen, who wallpapered the district with signs, faced critics who called the police on his campaign for allegedly bringing excessively large signs to the polling location at Encino Library Saturday.
District 6
Hilliard, who was backed by Parents United for Freedom and Texas Family Action, finished with 35.82% of the vote while his challenger, Chidgey, had 64.18%.
Two incumbents elected in 2022 with the help of conservative groups, Marsha Landry in District 7 and Diane Sciba Villarreal in District 3, will be on the ballot in 2026, along with the winner of the special election in District 2.
Southwest ISD
Incumbents in the Southwest Independent School District held comfortable leads in unofficial final election results for at-large seats on a seven-member board.
Incumbents Florinda “Flo” Bernal was at 22.5% in the unofficial final tally posted to the district’s Facebook page, James Sullivan Jr. was at 21.16% and Daniel Ray Carrillo was taking 20.95%.
A slate of challengers who ran on changing the way the district runs elections to be more in line with other school districts failed to garner the necessary votes to oust the incumbents for three at-large seats in the 13,000-student district.
Yolanda Garza-Lopez ended with 11.24% in the unofficial final tally, and Pete “Pedro” Bernal was at 11.12%, with Carla Reyes Medina at 10.15%.
Unlike other school districts in the region, which partner with Bexar County to run elections, Southwest ISD has for years instead partnered with the City of Lytle. The arrangement means some voters have to visit two polling locations to participate in both Southwest ISD board races and other local elections.
Last May, incumbents Garza-Lopez and Bernal lost their seats in an election decided by fewer than 2,000 voters. Garza-Lopez was first elected in 2008 and Bernal in 2020. Even when on the board, the pair advocated for a change to the voting method.
Medina Valley ISD
Medina Valley, which includes parts of Medina County and Bexar County west of San Antonio, didn’t have any contested school board races. It adds one new member, Joe Biediger, who ran unopposed for District 2, replacing Beth Zinsmeyer.
The district had two bond proposals totaling $290 million on the ballot, and each was approved by voters Saturday.
Proposition A was for the issuance of $249 million in bonds for school facilities and land, while Proposition B was for nearly $41 million in bonds for Panther Stadium at Medina Valley High School and stadium facilities at a new high school.
Alamo Colleges District
The nine-member Alamo Colleges District board of trustees featured a single contested race this year, in which the incumbent prevailed.
Longtime trustee Gene Sprague, who represents the Northwest Side and northwestern Bexar County in District 6, fended off a challenge from Nicolette Ardiente, president of the Bexar County Young Democrats.
Sprague took 54.04% to Ardiente’s 45.96%.
The race grew contentious in the final stretch as Sprague accused Ardiente and her supporters of bringing politics into an apolitical position. Sprague, who teaches pre-med classes at UTSA, received help from the Republican Party of Bexar County.
