Jennifer "JJ" Dominguez

Voting records currently not available. Please check back later.

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.

My top priorities are investing in educators, fully funding public schools, protecting local control, and ensuring every Texas child has access to a high-quality education. I would pursue legislation to provide across-the-board, state-funded raises for educators and school employees; make health care more affordable; protect TRS defined-benefit retirement security; fully fund school-safety mandates; strengthen teacher recruitment and retention through residencies, scholarships, mentoring, and competitive compensation; and increase flexible funding for districts to address local needs. I will protect academic freedom, religious freedom, and educators’ professional rights while ensuring rigorous, evidence-based standards and meaningful parental involvement. Texas should invest in public education—not privatize it—and give educators the resources, respect, and support they need to help every student succeed.

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. Texas should provide additional, sustainable funding for public schools, with more dollars flowing through the school-finance formula. Districts need flexible funding to address inflation, staffing, special education, transportation, facilities, and local priorities. I will support targeted statewide investments while giving districts greater flexibility and reducing reliance on local property taxpayers to fund a quality education.

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?

Texas should fully fund traditional public schools and public charters before expanding taxpayer-funded ESAs. If ESAs continue, every taxpayer dollar must be transparent, independently audited, and subject to strong accountability standards. Parents deserve educational choices, but public funds require public accountability, and no ESA program should undermine the resources needed by public schools.

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?

Texas should strengthen the teacher pipeline through paid residencies, "Grow Your Own" programs, university partnerships, scholarships, loan forgiveness, and mentoring. We should recruit from our communities while improving salaries, benefits, workloads, and professional development. Certification matters, but preparing, supporting, and retaining high-quality teachers is essential to long-term success.

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 pay raise for all Texas educators, including teachers, counselors, librarians, nurses, special education staff, and paraprofessionals. The state should fully fund salary increases and related TRS and payroll costs, establish regular cost-of-living adjustments, and regularly compare educator compensation with inflation and other professions to recruit and retain high-quality educators.

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?

Texas should make educator health care more affordable by increasing state support for TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care while controlling medical and prescription costs. I will support protecting educators from excessive premium increases, expanding preventive care, and negotiating better rates. Educators and retirees should not have to choose between affordable health care and financial security.

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 for all current and future Texas educators. Because many Texas educators do not participate in Social Security through their school employment, TRS is a critical source of guaranteed retirement income. I will support protecting and fully funding TRS, providing responsible COLAs, and strengthening educator representation in retirement decisions. Texas should not shift investment risk onto educators through 401(k)-style plans.

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 measure student growth and identify learning needs—not define a teacher, student, or school. I support HB 8’s through-year approach if it reduces unnecessary testing and provides useful instructional feedback. Test scores should be only one factor in school accountability and should not determine teacher pay or be the sole basis for A–F ratings.

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 should have a strong voice in their child’s education, but that voice must be balanced with educators’ professional expertise and the needs of the entire community. I support transparency, meaningful parent involvement, and consistent, evidence-based policies. Parents, educators, school boards, and communities should work together to provide every child a safe, high-quality education.

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?

I will support fully funding all state-mandated school-safety requirements. Funding should cover security personnel, facilities, technology, mental-health services, and emergency preparedness. Safety must be comprehensive—not just armed officers—and the state should regularly adjust funding to reflect actual costs so districts and local taxpayers are not left with unfunded mandates.

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?

Texas should maintain rigorous, evidence-based academic standards while preserving strong local control and a clear separation between church and state. The State Board of Education should establish TEKS with educator and community input, while TEA provides guidance and oversight. Local districts and educators should select age-appropriate, evidence-based instructional materials and tailor teaching to student needs. Students have the right to practice their faith—or no faith—without government pressure. Public schools should respect religious freedom, remain inclusive, and never promote or mandate a particular religion, prayer, or religious instruction.

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?

I support allowing educators and other public employees to voluntarily join professional associations and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks. This is a voluntary employee choice, costs taxpayers nothing, and provides educators with a meaningful voice on professional and workplace issues. Government should not interfere with employees’ freedom to associate, organize, and support organizations they choose. Public employees should decide for themselves whether to join and support a professional association—not have that choice restricted by politicians.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS FROM THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

JJ’s mother was a dedicated elementary school teacher for 27 years and she was JJ’s 1st grade teacher in the small rural town she was raised in. JJ’s 4 children attended Floresville public schools and benefited from the tailored services ranging from the Gifted & Talented program to special support services for dyslexia. JJ fully supports increasing public school funding, increasing educator pay/benefits, repealing private school vouchers and improving working conditions. TX consistently ranks among the bottom 10 states nationally for state spending on education. Despite the pay raise system passed in HB 2, teacher pay lags the national average and should be indexed for inflation. Retired teachers should receive regular COLA adjustments