What were you doing when you were 18 years old? Probably not running for school board.
Mike Floyd
Michael Floyd isn’t your typical high school senior.
The Dawson High School student says he’s been involved in politics since he was in fourth grade.
“I was the one kid who had a Barack Obama bumper sticker on my bike as I rode around town,” Floyd said. “Since then, I’ve worked on two Congressional campaigns, I’ve managed a state representative race, and I worked on a presidential campaign, managing it for our county.”
This spring break, while his classmates are enjoying their time off, he’s campaigning for a position on the Pearland ISD Board of Trustees.
“As a student, I’ve seen a lot more than the trustees have,” Floyd said. “I’ve been with teachers, students and faculty members for nine and a half months out of the year for 40 hours a week. I just see flagrant issues in our district.”
The 18-year-old is running against two-term incumbent Rusty DeBorde, who served as president during four of his six years on the board.
The Chron has also taken notice.
Floyd said one of his goals as a trustee is to improve the district’s communications efforts and allow improved access to information for tax payers.
“We need to open up and be as transparent as possible,” Floyd said. “I firmly believe that our district needs to be far more transparent than they are today both in regards to posting videos of board workshops online as well as disclosing what’s going on during closed-door meetings. Now, I understand there are several things that the State of Texas will not allow school board members to talk about publicly. But, I want to reduce the amount of business that the district does behind closed doors. We are a district that is funded publicly and I firmly believe that tax payers have a right to know how the district is operating.”
Unlike the Pearland City Council, Pearland ISD does not post videos of board workshops on their website. If elected, Floyd said he would work to change that. In addition, he said he supports posting more information on the district website such as the names of trustee candidates and campaign finance reports.
You know I support those last two items. Floyd’s campaign webpage is here, and his campaign Facebook page is here. His issues page addresses student rights, among other things, which is a topic I doubt you’ll see covered by other candidates. One issue I would have liked to have seen addressed there is Pearland’s pro-potty bill superintendent, whom Mike Floyd would have a role in overseeing if he gets elected. Having said that, he has made his opposition to SB6 and his support for transgender students very clear on his campaign Facebook page. Floyd was endorsed by the Texas Democratic Party in its first round of support for local candidates in the May elections. His father John Floyd was a candidate for State Rep in HD29 last November, so despite his young age he at least has some campaign experience. I wish him good luck, and I’ll be keeping an eye on this one on May 6.
I met him last Monday. Very bright, speaks extremely well, and there’s a lot to be said for having someone on the board who is literally in touch with what is going on inside the school.
I’m glad to see a young person interested in politics, and, while I am generally anti-incumbent, especially when it comes to those most directly responsible for trying to tax me out of my home, I don’t think I’ll be voting for this young man. Transparency is the only thing he mentions that resonates with me. Everything else I read in the article, and on the Facebook link is a no go for me. If he had a platform to reduce PISD taxation, I’d consider voting for him in spite of all of that, but nowhere does he give any opinion on that. Sorry.
I do, however, want to thank Kuff for posting this kind of stuff. I’m sure many of his readers live in the burbs, and it’s nice to have info about what’s going on there, too.
Edit:
Just clicked on the OTHER link, the “About Mike” website. Perused his issues section. I may need more time to evaluate him. Disregard my first comment, excepting, of course, my appreciation for the discussion of suburb candidates.
I’ve met Mike a few times and he’s the real deal. Not just smart and articulate but well-prepared, mature beyond his years and has a real grasp of PISD issues. This is a young man that is going to stand up for public schools, for students and for teachers. He’s already called attention to legislation that could threaten teacher pensions, for example. And Bill D., please remember that the school board doesn’t set tax rates, so that wouldn’t be an appropriate issue for his site. He’s also been picking up endorsements left and right as he meets more people. I say GO Mike F. – we need your kind of fresh approach in Pearland.
We moved to Pearland two years ago from ITL. The individual schools in Pearland are great, but the superintendent and school board leave something to be desired. They are unresponsive to the community and seem to think Pearland is still a small town with 20k people who all think like them (and, of course, the voters are partially to blame for that). I’m happy to see this young man take a stand against business as usual, and will vote for him. He’s bringing attention to issues that need to be talked about. I doubt he will win, but I’d like to see him garner enough votes that maybe the school board members will take note and pay more attention.