Issues

My philosophy

I am a conservative taxpayer advocate who believes that education should serve parents and students. I listen carefully to what parents and teachers are telling me, and advocate for their interests and the values of our community.

keeping money in the classroom

I have consistently voted to reduce administrative spending and waste and increase teacher salaries, and in each budget cycle have advocated to limit deficits and identify opportunities for savings. As state funding is continually threatened, my fiscally responsible approach will be more important than ever to preserve the people and programs that make us great. I will re-establish the process by which programs are reviewed to assure that are effective and beneficial to students, and that they have the funding they need to be world-class. I especially want to ensure that our GT and Special Education programs are fully funded and continue to improve.

keeping politics out of the classroom

In recent years, political activists have attempted to use public schools to push a radical agenda upon children all over the country. This is wrong, and I introduced our district’s Critical Race Theory (or CRT) ban, which passed months before the Texas Legislature decided to act on the issue, to prevent it from happening here. School districts can avoid arguments over politics by keeping politics out of classrooms entirely. By ensuring our policies are strictly enforced, we will avoid distractions and focus on achieving educational excellence for all students.

maintaining high academic and behavioral standards

I have consistently voted against policies that lower standards and allow students to advance without passing essential classes, and I opposed the move to pass/fail grading in Spring 2020. Our grading should be honest, rigorous, and easily understandable for students and parents, especially since a low grade can be an early indicator that a student needs additional help. The board and administration should stand behind teachers’ professional evaluations of students’ academic progress.

expanding career education

As an engineer in the petrochemical industry I have seen the countless great job opportunities that our region’s economy offers skilled laborers and tradesmen. Everybody talks about supporting students who go into industry instead of to four-year college, but we need to act––to buckle down and develop an academic blueprint that emphasizes work readiness for students who choose that path, and to expand the programs we already offer. A diploma from any of our high schools should be enough to indicate to employers that a graduate is ready for a career.

keep lowering tax rates

Since I was elected we have cut tax rates from $1.40 to $1.1797 per $100 of taxable value–a 15.7% decrease. However, as a homeowner and taxpayer I know as well as anyone that these cuts are more than swallowed up by appraisal growth. CCISD gets much of its tax revenue from homes, not from industry–so our families bear most of our costs. We need to continue cutting rates to provide relief to homeowners, especially seniors, and when legally possible we need to adopt the no-new-revenue rate to ensure we are not increasing taxes on our citizens.

ending covid-19 restrictions

If you have followed the board’s actions at all, you know exactly where I stand. From lockdowns, to online education, to quarantines, to masks, COVID mitigation has dominated nearly two years of all of our lives. Our children and families depend on the stability that school provides, and that stability must be restored. No more threat levels. No more dashboards. No more emails. No more quarantines. No more signs and social distancing placards. It has to end, and as we exit this phase of the pandemic I will demand a total return to normalcy. Our children deserve nothing less.

ABOUT SCOTT