Staci Childs

Party

Democrat

Occupation

Attorney

Address

12111 s Main Street #5203, Houston, TX, 77035

Additional Information

First elected to represent SBOE District 4 in 2022. Current term expires January 2029. Running for Texas House District 131 in the 2026 Democratic primary.

Endorsed by the editorial board of the Houston Chronicle in the 2022 Democratic primary election and in the May 2022 Democratic primary runoff election.

Candidate Survey Responses

RESPONSES TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what are your top priorities for Texas public education?

Please describe any specific goals or legislative initiatives you would pursue to strengthen the state’s public education system.

As a current State Board of Education member and former classroom teachers, I see how state policy directly affects classrooms and I am to make positive changes. My legislative focus will be on aligning funding, accountability, and workforce policies so they support learning. My top priorities would be to fully fund public schools, support educators as expert professionals, and ensuring that every students as access to high quality education.

2. Public Education Funding:

The 89th Legislature passed an $8 billion school funding bill, HB 2. However, despite years of unanswered “inflationary challenges, a large majority of that funding was earmarked to specific programs and did not supply districts with significant flexible funding, leaving the majority of Texas students in districts with deficit budgets and other significant funding challenges. Do you believe Texas public schools should receive additional funding? If so, how should the state pay for it, and should that funding be earmarked at the state level or provide districts with flexible dollars?

Yes, public schools need additional funding. Many districts remain in deficit because they cannot use state dollars to meet their individual needs. The state should increase overall public education and provide districts with more flexible dollars.

3. ESA Vouchers:

Education savings accounts (ESAs) redirect public funds to private or home schools. How do you believe Texas should fund public schools, traditional and charter, alongside ESA vouchers? How should ESA spending be held accountable to taxpayers?

Public schools, including traditional and charter schools, should be fully funded before public dollars are redirected to private or home schools. ESA vouchers divert limited resources away from the vast majority of Texas students and lack the accountability standards required of public schools.

If ESAs exist, they must be held to the same transparency, academic accountability, and financial oversight standards as public schools. Taxpayer dollars should never fund discrimination, unaccredited programs, or unregulated vendors. My priority is strengthening public education.

4. Teacher Recruitment and Retention:

Under HB 2, passed in 2025, all educators in core content courses (math, English, science, and social studies) must be certified by 2030. While this is a good start, more can and should be done to ensure high-quality teachers continue to enter the classroom. What are your suggestions to improve the quality of the new teacher pipeline?

To strengthen the teacher pipeline, we must invest in paid residencies, student teaching stipends, loan forgiveness, mentoring programs, and partnerships with educator preparation programs. We must also address the reasons educators leave the profession, including low pay, high workloads, lack of support, and excessive testing pressures. Retention is just as important as recruitment.

5. Educator Pay and Benefits:

The 89th Legislature passed legislation creating a new mechanism to provide only classroom teachers with tiered raises based on early years of service and their district’s student enrollment. While the raises were significant, they did not apply to all campus educators, and the program created a significant negative funding stream at the district level due to unfunded increased costs for non-salary compensation tied to payroll, such as TRS retirement contributions. Do you support a state-funded across-the-board pay raise for all Texas educators? How would you ensure that compensation keeps pace with inflation and remains competitive with other professions?

Yes, I support a state funded, across-the-board raise for all educators and professionals in the education world. I would ensure that research is done to keep pace with inflation. The state must fully fund salary increases, including associated costs such as TRS contributions.

6. Educator Health Care:

The high cost of health insurance for active and retired educators continues to reduce take-home pay, with educators shouldering the vast majority of their ever-increasing heath care costs. How would you address the affordability and sustainability of educator health care, particularly the TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care programs?

Healthcare is rising every year and it needs to stop. The state must increase its contribution to TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care programs to reduce the financial burden on either active or retired educators. I believe in strong preventative care, stable premiums, and ensuring sustainability in TRS health programs.

7. Retirement Security:

Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) should remain a defined-benefit pension plan for all current and future members? If not, what is your plan to provide a secure retirement for Texas educators, particularly considering that state law has been set up such that most districts do not participate in Social Security?

YES, TRS should remain a defined-benefit pension plan for all members. Educators rely on TRS for retirement and it needs to be a program that educators can trust. To maintain that trust, the state must consistently and responsibly support TRS through adequate funding and long-term planning. Educators should have the confidence that the promises made to them will be honored when they retire.

8. Accountability and Assessment Reform:

The Legislature has passed a new “through-year” multi-test model under HB 8. What role should standardized testing play in evaluating students, teachers, and schools? Should test results continue to determine A–F accountability ratings or teacher pay?

Standardized testing should be the only items that is included for accountability decisions. I support reforming the A-F accountability systems and reducing stakes of standardized testing. Teacher pay should not be tied to student scores at all.

9. Parental Rights and Community Voice:

Recent legislative debates have focused on “parental rights” in education. In your view, what is the appropriate balance between accommodating the often conflicting wishes of individual parents while maintaining policies that reflect the broader community’s educational priorities and still providing consistency and an appropriate level of professional deference to educators?

Parents are essential partners in education, but public schools must serve entire communities, not individual preferences alone. Educators should be trusted as professionals to make instructional decisions within established standards. Policy should balance parental input with local governance, professional expertise, and consistency across schools. Public education works best when families, educators, and communities collaborate rather than compete.

10. School Safety:

HB 3 (2023) imposed new school safety requirements but did not fully fund them. Although the 89th Legislature increased the School Safety Allotment, many districts continue to face substantial unfunded staffing and facility costs associated with school safety laws. How would you make schools safer and ensure the state provides adequate funding to meet safety mandates?

School safety requires comprehensive approaches that include mental health supports, adequate staffing, and secure facilities. Any safety mandates imposed by the Legislature must be fully funded. The state should provide districts with flexible funding to implement safety measures that meet local needs, rather than imposing one-size-fits-all requirements. Safety investments should support both physical security and student well-being.

11. Curriculum and Local Control:

What do you believe is the proper role of the State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and local school districts in setting curriculum standards and selecting instructional materials?

The SBOE should set clear, rigorous statewide standards through the TEKS, informed heavily by educator input. The Texas Education Agency should implement and support those standards, while local districts should retain authority over instructional materials and classroom implementation. As an SBOE member, I believe educators should have the strongest voice in curriculum development, and local communities should have flexibility in how standards are taught.

12. Educator Rights and Professional Associations:

State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose allowing public employees to continue exercising this right? Why or why not?

Yes, I fully support the right of educators and public employees to voluntarily join professional associations and have dues deducted through payroll. Efforts to restrict this right are unnecessary and undermine workers’ ability to organize, collaborate, and advocate for their profession.

DID NOT RESPOND TO THE 2024 CANDIDATE SURVEY.

BELOW ARE THE CANDIDATE'S RESPONSES TO THE 2022 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what do you believe your primary role and responsibility as a state board member should be?

I believe my primary role would be to ensure that the curriculum standards chosen accurately reflect what students ought to be learning, that my review of charter school applications is fair, that the graduation standards are rigorous but take all potential graduates in mind, and that textbooks and other materials we adopt for students is culturally relevant, interesting, and creative.

2. In your opinion, what is the most pressing issue facing public education in Texas?

To me, the most pressing issue facing public education in Texas is providing learning standards and a learning experience that considers ALL students including students with disabilities, students of color, and students that are facing different home situations.

3. What role should educators and educator groups such as ATPE play in policy decisions made by the State Board of Education (SBOE)?

Groups should as ATPE should make sure educators' voices are amplified and heard and that they feel protected while trying to complete their jobs. Groups such as ATPE should bolster the concerns their educators have so they won' fall on deaf ears.

4. How much weight should the SBOE give to educators’ input when it comes to setting curriculum standards (known as the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills or “TEKS”) and evaluating instructional materials?

It seems simple, but educators should be given the majority of the weight! As a teacher, I felt like the TEKS were just handed down to me and I had no choice in what to teach--but I better had done it! Educators are the ones who have first hand knowledge of the students struggles, concerns, and gaps in learning, therefore, it would make sense if they played more of a role in what they were learning.

5. Do you believe our state’s public education system, including current regulations on testing and accountability, graduation requirements, and curriculum standards, enables students to receive a well-rounded education throughout all grade levels? Would you recommend any changes?

Texas does a generally good job with the public education system, however, I think to provide a more wellrounded education, things like financial literacy, history, and culture should have a stronger weight in the curriculum system. Students should leave 12th grade knowing about credit, taxes, how to purchase a home, how to run an online business (if they'd like), cryptocurrency, etc.

6. What role, if any, should charter schools have in the Texas public education system?

Charter schools play a role in providing unique educational experiences for students. They should work together, with public schools, to provide optimum education for students in any given community.

7. What role should the SBOE play in overseeing charter schools, such as approving or denying new charter applications and expansion requests of existing charters?

The SBOE should continue to oversee charter schools and require applicants to do a thorough assessment of the community in which they plan to serve. The SBOE should support charter school applicants through the process, and also be liaisons between charter and public schools to make sure they work hand and hand to provide all kids in a given neighborhood with an optimum educational experience.

8. Do you believe the SBOE should continue to have the authority to review and potentially veto any rulemaking actions taken by the State Board for Educator Certification (SBEC)?

Yes. It contributes to a strong balance of power. The SBOE is comprised of people that are elected by the people, therefore, I feel i appropriate.

Additional Comments from Candidate on Survey

FROM THE 2022 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

Thank you for this opportunity! I understand I am the youngest candidate, but I am indeed ready to serve!