Juan Juárez

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Juan Juárez

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

March 1, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Southwestern University, 2011

Graduate

Trinity University, 2014

Personal

Profession

Principal

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Juan Juárez (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Texas State Board of Education to represent District 5. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 1, 2022.

Juárez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Juan Juárez was born in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Juárez earned a bachelor’s degree from Southwestern University in 2011 and a graduate degree from Trinity University in 2014. His career experience includes working as a school principal.

Elections

2022

See also: Texas State Board of Education election, 2022

General election

General election for Texas State Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Rebecca Bell-Metereau defeated Perla Hopkins in the general election for Texas State Board of Education District 5 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rebecca Bell-Metereau (D)	63.8	419,391
		Perla Hopkins (R)	36.2	237,773

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 657,164
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Mark Loewe (R)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 5

Incumbent Rebecca Bell-Metereau defeated Juan Juárez and Kevin Guico in the Democratic primary for Texas State Board of Education District 5 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rebecca Bell-Metereau	73.7	91,899
		Juan Juárez	19.8	24,667
		Kevin Guico	6.5	8,077

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 124,643
= 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.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 5

Mark Loewe defeated Robert Morrow in the Republican primary for Texas State Board of Education District 5 on March 1, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mark Loewe	53.5	39,106
	Submit photo	Robert Morrow	46.5	33,975

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 73,081
= 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.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Juan Juárez completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Juárez's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

As a gay Latino originally from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I had to wait until I was 19 years old to hear that my identity was powerful and that I had a strong voice. Now, as a principal in Austin, I lead as an educator, as a disruptor, and as an activist so that our students know that they matter every day they walk into my school. They know that their identities are powerful, that their voices are strong, and that they will receive a high quality and equitable education. I am running for State Board of Education, District 5 so that all students in Texas have access to the same high quality and equitable education that we have provided at my school here in Austin. I am the only candidate in this race that shares the background of our most disadvantaged students in this state. I am also the only candidate currently working in a K-12 school. I have a unique and important perspective on what our families, educators, and students need to be equitable and high achieving. I am not a career politician. I am a first generation college student, an educator, a high school principal, and I have over 11 years of experience working in and leading exceptional secondary schools. I have seen first hand what a high quality and equitable education can do for students whose zip code has all but determined their future.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• I am running for State Board of Education, District 5 so that all students in Texas have access to the same high quality and equitable education that we have provided at my school here in Austin. I am the only candidate in this race that shares the background of our most disadvantaged students in this state. I am also the only candidate currently working in a K-12 school. I have a unique and important perspective on what our families, educators, and students need to be equitable and high achieving. I am not a career politician. I am a first generation college student, an educator, a high school principal, and I have over 11 years of experience working in and leading exceptional secondary schools.
• As a member of the SBOE, we have the ability to approve standards for teacher and principal certification learning standards. I will advocate to ensure that teacher and principal certain standards include the requirement that teachers in the State of Texas be trained on how to integrate culturally relevant teaching into their classroom instruction. This will be critical for principals first as they will need to be trained on how to train their teachers on how to implement this. Then, teachers who are currently becoming teachers will also have to have a foundational basis of how to implement culturally relevant teaching.
• As an SBOE member and Latino, that is not only in education, but has also already implemented an equitable curriculum within my school, I will advocate to ensure that curriculum and standards include the history of black, indigenous, and people of color. I will push back against efforts that eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion in the state standards. Diversity, equity and inclusion are important for delivering a well-rounded education.This means that I would provide robust feedback on the standards that are being proposed to ensure that the history about people of color is not white-washed and is included in the proposed standards. I will also ensure that standards have not eliminated important women.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

As a gay Latino originally from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, I had to wait until I was 19 years old to hear that my identity was powerful and that I had a strong voice. Now, as a principal in Austin, I lead as an educator, as a disruptor, and as an activist so that our students know that they matter every day they walk into my school. They know that their identities are powerful, that their voices are strong, and that they will receive a high quality and equitable.

Schools must include DEI work within their school and as an SBOE member, I would advocate to ensure that this is required in schools. The first two aspects of this work — professional development to show educators what it means to teach in an anti-racist context and a BIPOC-led Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion task force — are key. Second, a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, or DEI, task force, should be required of schools.This DEI task force should be made up of students, staff, and parents — with representatives from those who specialize in special education, mental health, and Response to Intervention. Its members make sure our school’s systems and policies are equitable, and they can recommend changes to how we do things. I see the social justice work we are doing as critical, not controversial. These labs must be mandatory for all teachers whatever their personal value systems are.

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.

Campaign website

Juárez's campaign website stated the following:

“	State Standards Juárez has been and will continue to be a fierce advocate of ethnic studies and expanding ethnic studies programs such as Mexican American Studies and African American studies. Under his leadership as principal, Juárez was one of the first middle schools in the state of Texas to allow students to take Mexican American studies as an elective. Juárez is committed to reviewing, providing recommendations, and ensuring that standards are grounded in equity so that they address the learning needs of all students. Juárez is committed to ensuring that the history of Black, Indigenous and People of Color is included in social studies standards. All children deserve the ability to see their ancestors reflected in what they learn in history classes. Juárez will work hard to push back against efforts that eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion in the state standards. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are important for delivering a well-rounded education. Parents suddenly had to become Teacher Aides during the pandemic to ensure that their children would succeed while working at home. Intensive parent involvement was and still is a welcomed development for most educators. Juarez is deeply concerned that our State Board of Education has not provided a meaningful space for parents to be involved in the process of writing state learning standards. Juan will advocate to ensure parents are also involved in the process of writing standards. Instructional Materials Juárez will fight to ensure that instructional materials are equitable and focus on students learning the content. Like the state standards, these instructional materials should include diversity, equity, and inclusion. Juárez will advocate to state lawmakers for decreased state testing. Over-testing students detracts from the intent of the state standards, which is deep understanding of concepts rather than being able to test well. Juárez will advocate to ensure that all students are represented in instructional materials including students in the LGBTQ + community. Juárez will advocate for mental health to be taught in all schools. Just recently, in November 2023 the SBOE approved instructional materials by QuaverEd that include mental health instruction for students in K-5. Juárez will continue to support efforts like this. Teacher and Principal Learning Standards Juárez will push for more rigorous teacher preparation standards to improve teacher preparation programs. All teacher programs should prepare our educators for an increasingly difficult educational environment. Juárez will advocate for teacher preparation programs to be as short as possible to prevent potential teacher attrition. Texas needs new teachers to meet school demand, and preparation programs should focus on quality rather than quantity of time teachers are in their program. Juárez will advocate to ensure that teacher and principal certain standards include the requirement that teachers in the State of Texas be trained on how to integrate culturally relevant teaching into their classroom instruction. This will be critical for principals first as they will need to be trained on how to train their teachers on how to implement this. Funding Juárez will push to maximize the amount schools can receive from the Permanent School Fund. Schools need adequate funding to provide students with a quality education. Juárez will advocate to ensure that there is more transparency on how our tax dollars are spent in our public education system and push for easier accessibility for the public such as our parents and educators. Charter Schools Juárez is a proponent for families in District 5 to have the ability to choose a high quality and equitable education that suits their children’s needs. Juárez is committed to ensuring that all applications are reviewed with a holistic approach that holds charter school applicants to the highest standards and attending and/or reviewing all TEA hearings for charter applicants.	”
—Juan Juárez's campaign website (2022)

See also

2022 Elections

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Candidate

Texas State Board of Education District 5

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