Tarrah Lantz
Tarrah Lantz is a member of the Plano Independent School District school board in Texas, representing Place 4. She assumed office on May 16, 2023. Her current term ends in 2027.
Lantz ran for election to the Plano Independent School District school board to represent Place 4 in Texas. She won in the general election on May 6, 2023.
Lantz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Tarrah Lantz was born in Kansas City, Missouri. Lantz earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2007. Her career experience includes working as an advocate. Lantz has been affiliated with the Plano ISD Council of PTAs, the Plano ISD Education Foundation, and Leadership Plano Class 39.[1]
Elections
2023
See also: Plano Independent School District, Texas, elections (2023)
General election
General election for Plano Independent School District school board Place 4
Tarrah Lantz defeated Lydia Ortega and Margaret Turner-Carrigan in the general election for Plano Independent School District school board Place 4 on May 6, 2023.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Tarrah Lantz (Nonpartisan)  | 50.5 | 11,921 |
| Lydia Ortega (Nonpartisan) | 40.7 | 9,601 | ||
| Margaret Turner-Carrigan (Nonpartisan) | 8.8 | 2,078 | ||
| Total votes: 23,600 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2023
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Tarrah Lantz completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Lantz's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Leadership Plano, Class 39 (2023)
Plano ISD Council of PTAs: President (2020-22), Advocacy Chair (2022-23), Secretary (2018-20)
Plano ISD Education Foundation, Board Member (2022-23)
Plano ISD Future Forward Task Force, Career and Technology Education Subcommittee Chair (2022)
Plano ISD Teacher of the Year, Judging Panel (2021-22)
Plano ISD District-Based Improvement Committee (2020-2022)
Plano ISD Student Health Advisory Committee (2022-23)
Plano ISD Safety & Security Committee (2021-22)
Hickey Elementary PTA: President (2017-19), Treasurer (2022-23), Vice President (2019-20), Silent Auction (2016-19)
Bowman Middle PTA: Programs Chair (2022-23)
- Plano ISD’s history is built upon collaboration between the board, district staff, parents, students, and the community. This success is due to nonpartisanship leadership that avoids unnecessary conflict that distracts us. We need to be intentionally inclusive when engaging our community and seek out different voices. Plano ISD is a majority minority district with changing demographics. We must embrace our diversity and find innovative ways to engage our families. Family engagement is key to driving student success. If we want to see academic improvements for all students, we must work with campus administrators to build family engagement plans.
- Our teachers are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. As a result, we’re losing great teachers to neighboring districts, other states, and early retirement. Teacher shortages are a nationwide problem, not only a challenge in Plano ISD. We currently have 267 unfilled teacher positions. Our budget constraints caused by recapture prevent us from offering competitive compensation packages with other districts. The growing attacks on public education and the hostility toward teachers contribute to teachers leaving the state or the profession. The Plano ISD Pathway to Certification program provides current staff and substitutes with support in becoming certified teachers. We should continue to seek innovative ideas like this.
- The pandemic highlighted and exacerbated mental health issues our students struggle with daily. I support teaching the whole child with the soft skills necessary to be well-rounded and well-grounded students. Early identification and treatment is key as well as putting social emotional learning at the center. We need to add resources in our counseling departments so our students feel like they belong and are valued. Voters approved $40M in the bond election to prioritize added safety and security measures. Every parent and every student should feel safe and welcome in our schools.
Plano ISD’s budget is built every year through a fiscally responsible zero-based budgeting process where every dollar is evaluated to determine how to best allocate it to the current needs of our students. 87% of our budget goes to payroll. There’s not much left to cut before schools and programs would have to be eliminated. I want that to be our last option.
The Collin Chapter of the Texas Faculty Association
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.
See also
2023 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 28, 2023
