By Piper Rutherford | Staff Writer
Republican incumbent Tom Maynard won over Democratic candidate Dr. Racquel Saenz Ortiz for the District 10 State Board of Education, in an area encompassing the Greater Houston and Austin regions and the counties of Bell and Williamson.
Upon victory, Maynard said that he looks forward to serving the 5.5 million students in District 10 for another term.
“We have a lot of big projects and things we are working on,” Maynard said. “We get four more years to do the work we have been doing for the past 12 years.”
Most of Maynard’s plans are influenced by his experience in the classroom as a former agricultural science teacher who, according to an interview from The Texas Tribune, plans to continue his work with a library book review process and revising curriculum standards for social studies and mathematics.
Challenger Saenez-Ortiz was confident 40 minutes after polls closed with 32.5% of the votes.
“I was out poll greeting for today and had positive feedback from the public,” Saenz-Ortiz said.
Like her opponent, Saenz-Ortiz has teaching experience. She was a sixth-grade social studies teacher before switching to a political career.
Saenz-Ortiz is heavily influenced by her service with the Ethnic Studies Network of Texas and hoped to incorporate more project-based learning initiatives that promote cultural and ethnic diversity in the classroom.
However, with a final result of 68%, Maynard will continue serving as the district’s Board of Education representative for years to come.
“This is the process, and you have to put yourself out in front of the voters periodically to see the results,” Maynard said. “Early voting and the polls showed that we were going to win the race, so now it is time to get back to work.”
In the months to come, Maynard will face public questions about whether or not he will support or reject school vouchers, a highly contentious debate in Texas following the Board’s decision in Feb. 2023 to remain neutral on school choice funds, effectively passing this decision on to the state legislature.
