2024 Dripping Springs ISD School Board Candidates

In light of ALL FIVE May 2024 DSISD School Board Trustee candidates having disappointingly and publicly indicated that they supported the May 2023 DSISD Bond Proposition in survey responses to Dripping Springs' local Democratic Party Club, CEEDS has again decided against conducting candidate surveys and endorsements/ratings this year.

 

Remember that the May 2023 DSISD Bond Proposition was virtually identical to—and an even more expensive repeat of—the November 2022 Bond Propositions that were rejected and defeated by the silent majority of our community's voters and taxpayers, who numbered over 10,000 strong. After that widespread and resounding rejection—to pass the May 2023 Bond, DSISD resorted to abhorrent political gamesmanship and the politics-of-division that's inimical to CEEDS' foundational values. So not only is all five May 2024 DSISD School Board Trustee candidates' support of the May 2023 DSISD Bond in direct conflict with the November 2022's bond election mandate of and by a majority of our District's voters, but also in direct conflict with CEEDS' commitment to increasing DSISD's fiscal responsibility and accountability.

 

Indeed, we at CEEDS are disappointed that NONE of these 2024 school board candidates have the political courage to proudly and resoundingly stand up for and with our community's silent majority of fiscal responsibility and good government voters, and as such, we will not evaluate or recommend candidates based on "lesser/least objectionability."

Unfortunately, this means the DSISD School Board will remain a fundamentally unrepresentative and special-interest driven body of RULERS, not REPRESENTATIVES, for the foreseeable future, and a body in which taxpayers and the majority of our community's voters lack meaningful advocates and true representation. THAT also means DSISD's forthcoming bond proposition(s) will almost certainly be another fiscally irresponsible assault on the pocketbooks of the hardworking taxpayers of our community, and the best interests of students, parents, and teachers!

 

Additional information on the May 2024 DSISD School Board Trustee Candidates and their positions can be found at the links below.

 

And while we are not advocating for or against any particular candidate, we will however reiterate the following facts:

• Shanda DeLeon is the only candidate who voiced public concern, if not opposition, to the November 2022 Bond after it was put on the ballot (for instance, HERE).
• Incumbents Mary Jane Hetrick and Stefani Reinold TWICE voted for and supported the most expensive bond in DSISD history.
• Incumbent Mary Jane Hetrick on Election Night 2021 disparaged we at CEEDS and our supporters in implying that anyone who was not among her "supporters" in that election was guilty of fear-mongering, allowing "themselves to get drawn into the mob-like fervor," and even engaging in "insurgency." To date and to the best of our knowledge, Ms. Hetrick has not retracted, apologized for, or even attempted to clarify/roll-back those "victory" statements. Less than a month following Ms. Hetrick's statements that were largely directed at a least a majority of Ms. Reinold's supporters/voters, Ms. Reinold at her first meeting as a DSISD Board Member nominated Ms. Hetrick as DSISD School Board President as one of her, if not her very, first action on the Board.
• Since that surprising and disappointing nomination of Ms. Hetrick, Ms. Reinold has failed to meaningfully attempt, let alone achieve, the vast majority of the campaign representations and commitments she made in our 2021 Candidate Survey—promises that earned her third place in our candidate rankings that year, and our endorsement, which was essential for her successful election to the Board.
• Ms. Hetrick sits on the Board of TASB, which it and its many entities is one of, if not THE, largest vendor of/to Dripping Springs ISD, which is an inherent and irrevocable conflict-of-interest/fiduciary duty.
• Ms. Hetrick is also the only 2018 School Board candidate who failed to respond to our inaugural candidate survey, and she also did not respond to our 2021 candidate survey—both of which are counter to true good-government transparency and accountability.
• John Adams is a de facto Incumbent, due not only to his role as a DSISD Board Member, but also due to his roles in intervening years as former President of the Dripping Springs' Teachers Union as well as his role as former Hays County's Democratic Party Boss/Chairman, where we believe he worked closely with State Representative Erin Zwiener, former DSISD Board President Barbara Stroud, and others to drive policy and decision-making in DSISD Schools, especially as related to COVID-19 protocols/shutdowns/remote learning/masks/etc. So while Mr. Adams may have left the Board roughly a decade ago, been without a seat at DSISD's decision-making table since.

Terri Purdy has publicly advertised her support of both the November 2022 and May 2023 Bond Propositions, as well as that she is proud of her leadership role in the special-interest and DSISD-vendor-funded Friends of Dripping Springs Education PAC that outspent us at CEEDS by multiples and was pivotal to ultimately achieving passage of the May 2023 Bond, despite a majority of our community and over 10k strong opposing it just months before

 

So in situations such as this, what is a good-government voter and CEEDS-supporter to do?

 

Unfortunately, given candidate selection and the up-to-three votes but without three candidates we can recommend, we are left with four options:

1) Don't vote, and hope decreased turnout sends a message;

2) Go to the polls and cast a blank ballot, and hope your "undervotes" send a message;

3) Go to the polls and cast your votes against the three actual/de facto incumbents (i.e., the Dripping Springs Uniparty status quo), and hope that and what would be one undervote sends a message; or

4) Go to the polls, cast your ballot for any minimally acceptable candidate(s) having done your due diligence, and hope that and any undervotes send a message—importantly, "minimally acceptable" is a purposefully greater measure/higher standard than the "least bad/objectionable" metric advocated by some.

 

And regardless of which option one (1) through four (4) you select, please know that if we, collectively, want to avoid being taxed out of our homes by the special-interest and bureaucrat-controlled Dripping Springs School District, then we must be prepared to stand up and wholeheartedly oppose—with our wallets, time, and energy—DSISD's future bond propositions that are swiftly coming down the pike, likely before or concurrent with the next DSISD school board election!

And finally, we must to elect true fiscal-responsibility and taxpayer advocates to the school board in the future, instead of the self-serving and special-interest-beholden individuals that currently comprise much of our school board and the 2024 list of school board candidates.

 

Don't forget to cast your a ballot, regardless of its contents!

Election Day is Saturday, May 4th.