Elizabeth Santos
2017 - Present
2025
8
Elizabeth Santos is a member of the Houston Independent School District in Texas, representing District I. She assumed office in 2017. Her current term ends in 2025.
Santos ran for re-election to the Houston Independent School District to represent District I in Texas. She won in the general runoff election on December 11, 2021.
Santos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Elizabeth Santos was born in Houston, Texas. Santos received her bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Houston Downtown in 2008. Her professional experience includes working as a teacher.[1][2]
Elections
2025
Santos did not file to run for re-election.
2021
See also: Houston Independent School District, Texas, elections (2021)
General runoff election
General runoff election for Houston Independent School District, District I
Incumbent Elizabeth Santos defeated Janette Garza Lindner in the general runoff election for Houston Independent School District, District I on December 11, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Elizabeth Santos (Nonpartisan)  | 50.5 | 2,223 |
 | Janette Garza Lindner (Nonpartisan) | 49.5 | 2,175 | |
| Total votes: 4,398 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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General election
General election for Houston Independent School District, District I
Incumbent Elizabeth Santos and Janette Garza Lindner advanced to a runoff. They defeated Matias Kopinsky in the general election for Houston Independent School District, District I on November 2, 2021.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Elizabeth Santos (Nonpartisan) | 41.6 | 3,940 |
| ✔ | | Janette Garza Lindner (Nonpartisan) | 35.0 | 3,315 |
 | Matias Kopinsky (Nonpartisan) | 23.5 | 2,225 | |
| Total votes: 9,480 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
To view Santos' endorsements in the 2021 election, please click here.
2017
Six of the nine seats on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. Candidates in Districts I and III advanced to a runoff election scheduled for December 9, 2017, after no candidate received a majority of the vote. The District III seat was up for special election to fill an unexpired term following the death of Manuel Rodriguez Jr.[3] The incumbents in Districts VI, VIII, and IX filed for re-election, while the incumbents in Districts I and V opted not to seek additional terms.[4][5][6]
In District I, newcomer Elizabeth Santos defeated fellow newcomer Gretchen Himsl. They defeated Monica Richart in the general election. In District III, newcomer Sergio Lira won against Jesse Rodriguez in the runoff election. They defeated Carlos Perrett and Rodolfo Reyes in the general election.[7]
Newcomer Sue Deigaard defeated three other newcomers—Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, and Susan Shafer—for the open District V seat. District VI incumbent Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca defeated challengers Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin for the seat with 50.42 percent of the vote. Incumbent Anne Sung defeated challenger John Luman in the District VII election. District IX incumbent Wanda Adams defeated challengers Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe.[4][5]
Results
| Houston Independent School District, District I Runoff Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Elizabeth Santos |
60.60% | 2,506 |
| Gretchen Himsl | 39.40% | 1,629 |
| Total Votes | 4,135 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report — Official: Harris County, Texas — Joint Runoff Election — December 09, 2017," accessed September 19, 2019 | ||
| Houston Independent School District, District I General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Elizabeth Santos |
44.80% | 3,994 |
| Gretchen Himsl |
34.04% | 3,035 |
| Monica Richart | 21.16% | 1,887 |
| Total Votes | 8,916 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017 | ||
Funding
Santos reported $46,419.00 in contributions and $46,315.20 in expenditures to the Houston Independent School District as of November 30, 2017.[8]
Endorsements
Santos was endorsed by the following organizations:
- Community Voices for Public Education[9]
- Greater Heights Democratic Club[10]
- Harris County AFL-CIO[11]
- Harris County Tejano Democrats[12]
- Harris County Young Democrats[13]
- Houston Federation of Teachers[14]
- Houston GLBT Political Caucus[15]
- Houston Stonewall Young Democrats[16]
- Houston United for Strong Public Schools[17]
- Our Revolution Texas[18]
- Our Revolution Texas Gulf Coast Region[19]
- Texas Organizing Project[20]
- Texas Students United[21]
Campaign themes
2021
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Elizabeth Santos completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Santos' responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Our district has struggled to pay teachers and staff enough to recruit and keep the most talented educators. While in office, I led multiple successful efforts to raise teacher and support-staff salaries. The largest employee organizations in the district are endorsing me because they know how important it is to have someone on the board that gets the job done. And in that respect, my track record speaks for itself.
- My priorities have always derived from my belief that our tax dollars should be used where they have the greatest impact on our students—in the classrooms. To that end, I will continue to push for more competitive pay and better working conditions for our educators. I will continue advocating for additional funding for students with special needs, students learning English, and students striving to overcome the challenges of poverty.
- I have long advocated for the community-schools model because it creates the social power necessary for us to close the longstanding gaps caused by decades of inequity. Schools are the souls of our communities. When properly supported, they amplify the power that comes from the unique and rich identities of our people. They become a resource and a rallying point. We saw that when our community schools distributed food and medical services at various times during the pandemic. One thing I’m very proud of is that we have budgeted for every school in the district to have a wraparound specialist—a person working in the school dedicated to connecting students with community resources.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
2017
Candidate website
Santos highlighted the following issues on her campaign website:
| “ |
Trustees on the HISD School Board are responsible for governing the largest school district in Texas, in the most diverse city in the country. If elected, I will use my office to develop that diversity into a great advantage. We have spent tremendous time, effort, and money looking outside our boundaries for what works in other places. It’s time to look within and release the untapped strength of our students, families, teachers, schools, and communities to revolutionize urban education in Houston, not merely reform it. Community Schools The community schools model requires a shift in our mindset. We have to believe that in order to put kids first, we have to value the unique and rich identities of our children and our neighborhoods. We have to recognize that building relationships between a community and its school ensures their growth and sustainability. If elected, I will ensure that HISD seeks input from parents, students, and teachers who already live and work in these neighborhoods. Every school has dedicated stakeholders who have valuable insight into the strengths and needs of their communities. Ethics In January 2016, the board voted to increase the amount vendors could donate to campaigns before trustees have to recuse themselves from a vote. I believe this was a step in the wrong direction for a board who has a troubled history with vendor influence. In fact, I feel so strongly about this issue that I have pledged not to accept any donations from those who do business or seek to do business with HISD. I want to ensure that my community never has reason to question where my loyalty lies-with them. As a trustee, I will work to strengthen ethics rules. Investing in Quality Educators Instead of thinking of payroll as the district’s largest expense, we need to recognize our teachers and principals as our most valuable assets. If we don’t invest in them, we stand to lose our most qualified educators. But investment means more than just competitive pay--it means relevant and worthwhile professional development and shared decision making. Many teachers dedicated to staying in the classroom also have the experience and knowhow to improve administrative matters. As a trustee, I will push for career pathways for teachers that encourage their greater input into school wide decision making while allowing them to stay immersed in the environment where students spend most of their time, the classroom. Keeping Tax Dollars in Classrooms HISD trustees are responsible for a $2 billion budget, yet only $1 billion of that budget goes to our classrooms. HISD has lost focus on its most important responsibility: providing a high quality classroom for every student. As trustee, I will make sure our tax dollars are working for our children first.[22] |
” |
| —Elizabeth Santos (2017)[23] | ||
Houstonians for Great Public Schools
Houstonians for Great Public Schools asked candidates if "increasing teacher compensation, increasing the per unit allocation (PUA), and addressing the goals, funding, and reach of the current magnet school program" would be candidates' top priority. Santos said that addressing the goals, funding, and reach of the current magnet school program would be her top priority.[24] She also provided the following candidate statement:
| “ |
I would like to take this space to discuss the recent news that the Texas Education Agency is threatening to close schools in HISD or even take over the district and unseat its elected board. This action shows just how precarious our entire system of public schooling finds itself in today. How have we allowed our district to get to the point where a handful of schools are performing so poorly year after year? One factor comes from the very legislature that enacted this policy of punishment: the decreasing share of education funding coming from the state. It would be ironic if it didn’t seem so intentional. The board is bound by whatever decision TEA makes, but that doesn’t mean the trustees cannot influence their decisions. What I will not do is bow to fear tactics by enacting policies I know are not right for our students, simply to keep my seat on the board. I am not running for school board to launch a political career. Our first step is to give the so-called chronically underperforming schools the support they need to succeed going forward. The Achieve 180 program seems to be a good start, but we need more systemic changes. We need to take a hard look at attendance boundaries, magnet programs, special population weights, and how Average Daily Attendance disproportionately hurts the same schools that need the most support. Only then can we really say we’ve done everything we can for every student, regardless of political cost.[22] |
” |
| —Elizabeth Santos (2017)[24] | ||
See also
2021 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Santos 4 HISD, "About Elizabeth," accessed November 3, 2017
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 17, 2021
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "HISD trustees appoint José Leal to fill District III seat until special election in November," accessed August 21, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Houston Independent School District, "Election Information," accessed September 12, 2017
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Three HISD incumbents prevail on election night, one open seat filled, and two open seats head to runoffs," November 8, 2017
- ↑ Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Unofficial, Joint Runoff Election," accessed December 9, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Election Information," accessed January 24, 2017
- ↑ Community Voices for Public Education, "2017 CVPE Endorsements," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Greater Heights Democratic Club," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, "Elections: Nov. 7, 2017 Ballot endorsements - Harris County," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Harris County Tejano Democrats," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Harris County Young Democrats," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ Marielle Bricker, "Email communication with Zeph Capo," October 18, 2017
- ↑ The Caucus GLBT, "Endorsement Announcement, Public Forum and Endorsement Vote," September 10, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Houston Stonewall Young Democrats on October 3, 2017," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Houston United for Strong Public Schools, "Our Candidates," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Our Revolution Texas," accessed November 13, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Our Revolution Texas Gulf Coast Region," accessed November 10, 2017
- ↑ Facebook, "Texas Organizing Project," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ Texas Students United, "Upcoming Elections," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Santos 4 HISD, "Vision Statement," accessed November 29, 2017
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 Houstonians for Great Public Schools, "District 1: Elizabeth Santos," accessed November 29, 2017
