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Vanessa Pacheco

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Vanessa Pacheco
Image of Vanessa Pacheco

Nonpartisan

Richardson Independent School District school board District 2
Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2028

Years in position

3

Predecessor
Elections and appointments
Last elected

May 3, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Dallas Baptist University, 2001

Graduate

University of Texas, Dallas

Personal
Birthplace
El Paso, Texas
Contact

Campaign Twitter

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Vanessa Pacheco is a member of the Richardson Independent School District school board in Texas, representing District 2. She assumed office on June 30, 2022. Her current term ends in 2028.

Pacheco ran for re-election to the Richardson Independent School District school board to represent District 2 in Texas. She won in the general election on May 3, 2025.

Biography

Pacheco earned her bachelor's degree in management information systems from Dallas Baptist University in 2001 and her MBA in global leadership from the University of Texas at Dallas. Pacheco's career experience includes working as the vice president of Ohana Cottonwood, LLC.[1]

Elections

2025

See also: Richardson Independent School District, Texas, elections (2025)

General election

General election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2

Incumbent Vanessa Pacheco defeated Pamela Hughes and Elaine Bonavita in the general election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2 on May 3, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Vanessa Pacheco
Vanessa Pacheco (Nonpartisan)
 
50.1
 
2,713
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
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Pamela Hughes (Nonpartisan)
 
43.2
 
2,339
Image of Elaine Bonavita
Elaine Bonavita (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
6.7
 
364

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 5,416
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Pacheco received the following endorsements.

2022

See also: Richardson Independent School District, Texas, elections (2022)

General runoff election

General runoff election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2

Vanessa Pacheco defeated Sherry Clemens in the general runoff election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2 on June 18, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Vanessa Pacheco
Vanessa Pacheco (Nonpartisan)
 
57.9
 
2,420
Image of Sherry Clemens
Sherry Clemens (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
42.1
 
1,757

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,177
Candidate Connection = 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.

General election

General election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2

Sherry Clemens and Vanessa Pacheco advanced to a runoff. They defeated incumbent Eron Linn in the general election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2 on May 7, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Sherry Clemens
Sherry Clemens (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
41.8
 
1,726
✔
Image of Vanessa Pacheco
Vanessa Pacheco (Nonpartisan)
 
40.8
 
1,684
Image of Eron Linn
Eron Linn (Nonpartisan)
 
17.5
 
721

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,131
Candidate Connection = 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2019

See also: Richardson Independent School District, Texas, elections (2019)

General election

General election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2

Incumbent Eron Linn defeated Vanessa Pacheco in the general election for Richardson Independent School District school board District 2 on November 5, 2019.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Eron Linn
Eron Linn (Nonpartisan)
 
55.4
 
2,248
Image of Vanessa Pacheco
Vanessa Pacheco (Nonpartisan) Candidate Connection
 
44.6
 
1,813

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 4,061
Candidate Connection = 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

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Vanessa Pacheco did not complete Ballotpedia's 2025 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Vanessa Pacheco did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2019

Candidate Connection

Vanessa Pacheco completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pacheco's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Vanessa Pacheco grew up in the bi-national community of El Paso, TX & is a proud student of public-school education. She was taught that no industry/field of study is out of reach, tolerance, and diplomacy at an early age. She earned a Global Leadership MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas, was awarded the scholar with distinction certificate and was inducted to the Phi Kappa Phi honor society. Vanessa also has an undergraduate in management information systems from Dallas Baptist University. Vanessa understands what it takes to make dreams into realities. It has not been an easy path, but it has been rewarding. Vanessa is a passionate, firm believer that education improves our socio-economic condition, increasing with each generation. Her prior experience as a professional translator give her a unique understanding of the needs of language learners. Additionally, her experience working in the commercial real estate industry focusing on due diligence procedures for acquisitions and dispositions, and budget knowledge will prove valuable to help find solutions for efficient use of funding. She has a strong record of staying on budget and tracking costs carefully
  • I will strategically make well-informed and fiscally responsible decisions that will bring value to our tax payments to provide improved education. With fiscal responsibility, transparency & community engagement we can achieve our goals.
  • Educating our students holistically will improve their learning experience with a solid foundation. Our investment will give us well-rounded, tolerant, and educated young adults able to compete in in this world economy and excel in all industries.
  • Work to increase support for career-ready programs and community commitment in Richardson ISD. Students need mentors and meet industry leaders and career professionals.
Mental Health to resduce conflict and stressors so that our students can focus on learning.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - expanding and improving while reaching all Richardson ISD.
Early childhood program expansion, incrased readiness by 3rd grade and solid educational foundation for all our students.

Language learning, arts and humanities, consistent support for special education.

Mother Teresa is a person whom I consider an example of what I always aspire to be. Her dedication to her calling, vision to help, focus on her mission are all valuable traits.. I see in her an example of principled inspiration. She didn't bend on her core values to benefit herself or others. I strongly believe that tolerance and understanding reduce conflict, we can all make choices that improve ourselves and society, that we must be keepers of history and establish improved processes that have a positive influence everywhere.
Governance, Transparency, Strategy, and Innovation.

We must be fiscally responsible with what we have and spend it strategically.
We must be transparent on our decision making, how money is spent, changes, etc.
We can strategize the plans/prgrams that have impact on many, use what works and improve and support our educators.

We need to have innovative ideas, include our community, listen to our teachers, find flexibility to enhance education.

My strengths include financial analysis, strategic planning, business process improvement, project management, strategic data analysis, and collaborative problem-solving. I've implemented national level improvements of processes for efficiency and cost savings with success. I'm committed to deliver high quality results and am capable of leading teams through projects and tight deadlines to meet on-time.

I consider the long-term horizon of cost & debt implications for projects and their success. I would add that my Interpersonal strengths include team building, strategic thinking, leadership, and collaborative problem solving. I am a natural thinker/relater and make decisions based on strong due diligence research while encouraging communication (listening with understanding) to make decisions.
My goal is to inspire and help others find their best path to success.

1. Improving the support to core education provided to all PK-3rd students so they have the strongest foundation for success, including an increase to PK access.
​
2. Increased investment in programs that teach life/work skills, college bound, STEM, arts/humanities, and special education.
​
3. Improving tolerance with continued district-wide DEI education and mental health services.
​
4. Increase community involvement to provide business leaders and residents the opportunities not only to sponsor programs, but also mentor our students. Thus, providing students the opportunity to learn about careers, corporations, and future workforce pipeline professions.
​

Educating our students holistically will improve their learning experience with a solid foundation at RISD. Our investment will give us well-rounded, tolerant, and educated young adults able to compete in in this world economy and excel in all industries.
I would want to further improve the level of education received in Richardson ISD.

1. Improving the support to core education provided to all PK-3rd students to they have the strongest foundation for success, including an increase to PK access.
2. Increased investment in programs that teach life/work skills, college bound, STEM, and fine arts/humanities.
3. Improving tolerance with continued district-wide DEI education and mental health services.
4. Increase community involvement to provide business leaders and residents the opportunities not only to sponsor programs, but also mentor our students. Giving students the opportunity to learn about careers, corporations, and future workforce pipeline professions.

Educating our students holistically will improve their learning experience with a solid foundation. Our investment will give us well-rounded, tolerant, and educated young adults able to compete in in this economy and excel in all industries.
I have exceeded the perceived limits of an economically disadvantaged minority. My mom and grandmother were factory workers and although that is a noble and hard work, I wanted more. When I was eight, my mom got married, and I call him dad, he is a navy veteran now and taught me I had no limits to what I wanted to achieve. I received encouragement from my parents and excellent teachers who helped me harness my strengths and improve on my weaknesses. Although I have achieved two of my biggest educational goals and improving my life experience, I have had struggles.

My struggle with confidence in my youth lead to hardships, I had to take a few years in between to re-assess my plans during my undergrad. It was difficult and at times felt impossible. With perserverance and self-reflection - I was able to improve on my confidence, complete my education and use my stregths to open paths towards my success.
Governance of how the budget is distributed. A school board member should support plans/strategies/funds that improve the education we provide students. Ensuring teachers have the tools, space, support necessary to provide quality education to each student. Decisions made can increase graduation rates, school performance, improve teacher retention/recruitment, and engage the community.
Richardson voters and residents within the District 2 boundary lines will get an opportunity to vote. I would also include voters and residents outside of the boundary lines living within Richardson ISD because the school board collectively makes decisions that affect all schools in the districts.
With adequate budget allocation, efficiency, and collaboration, we can support long-term efficient programs that can add value to our district.

• Increased planning, we can reduce high costs incurred in district operations that also mitigate risk and disruption.
• Debt restructuring, we can use the cost savings to help fund PreK to serve more families and improve on academic needs by specific grades.

• By creating partnerships and evaluation we can best support students in programs like special education, DEI, mental health awareness, and campus safety.
I would target everyone - we not only want support from everyone, we need mentors, business leaders, parents, and residents to engage with our students and educators. We must communicate appropriately with our diverse community, demonstrate the benefits business leaders gain by supporting our schools, and engage parents/residents to attend performances and mentoring programs to help our kids feel they have an extended family unit.
We should have more flexibility with parent meetings. Our schools have different demographics and we should plan in a way that also gives parents opportunities to attend. We should consider alternate schedules, create communication in more diverse languages as introductions. To educate parents the importance and impact they have on their child's education.
Yes, Richardson ISD recently completed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policy. This policy is a living organism that should be followed, expanded, and used throughout all levels in the district, including our students. To engage parents and the community, we should have administrators, teachers, and staff that can help us all to communicate. When students see educators like them, when parents can communicate with less difficulty, we all win. We win their trust, we build stronger relationships and encourage much needed participation.
Access to PreK for all students - it is imperative we provide this service to all our young Richardson residents. It is proven that this experience enhances learning for future success.

Class size and class time allotted - measure our real-estate, find expansion opportunities, create more classrooms, improve on class time to allow for discussion and critical thinking.

Teacher retention: Create additinal avenues for career growth, expand recruitment in more diverse institutions, expand life balance benefits, provide them the necessary support systems/plans needed based on classroom size, demograaphics, performance goals.

Community engagement: Form relationships with business and community leaders, flexibiity for parent participation and provide communication in diverse languages and expand opportunities for engagement.

DEI and Safety :Having seminars and incorporating positive decision making and conflict resolution in all classes can help to improve the academic performance and safety of all students.
Students of all capacities, demographics, and identities should feel safe and included throughout all aspects of their educational career at Richardson ISD.

I would help build a long-term plan to enhance the experience our students have at school, communicating with teachers and administrators, and to overall improve the culture of the district.
Great teachers teach the information in a way that students can re-apply their learning in other aspects of their lives or other classes.

Performance measures - did the student learn to critically think about the issue, use methods to calculate, etc. We can measure the impact of the teaching method, how many student achieved success. Can our student perform post graduation - how many completed their certificates or 4yr degrees and how long did they take.

Our teachers are the experts, we should listen to their ideas and help them carry out strategies that improve all of our students' performance.
In addition to having core subject learning, students should be technology savvy, have problem solving skills, language learning, and ability to collaborate within teams. To enhance creativity and critical thinking, all students should learn and participate in a fine-arts programs and world view studies. We are a global economy, workers today compete with workers from everywhere in the world - our students must be ready to meet these challenges.
Educating the parents and the students of the many programs available at school is a must. There are many certification opportunities for students, that alone adds value. They can graduate with a diploma and be a certified pharmaceutical tech, pilot, beauty technician, among other great programs Richardson ISD offers. There are also STEM and other college-bound programs like AP courses and OnRamps that help students gain college credit, while in high school. In addition to core, fine arts, and sports, students can experience these avenues prior to committing to a traditional college path and even use the skills gained or support their future endeavors and educational goals.

Currently, we have a lot of different programs available to our students. I believe promoting them and engaging more students to find a track that interests them is crucial to developing their future plan after high school. As for innovation - we can have local business leaders mentor and even fund projects or initiatives toward programs that improve the student experience. Businesses win because they can identify and support talent for their workforce pipelines.
Data provides us with so much information. By looking at the impact of plans/strategies have on how much of the student body, what was the progress, cost, length of time. We can adequately measure the needs of schools, fund programs that work and provide the adequate support to our educators. I would also look at the concerns of parents, community, educators - they may see a need that is not being considered. I would also want to look at costs and debt - what are we spending and can debt be restructured - calculate savings and allocate the funds adequately.
Respect, conflict resolution and current safety measures. Our schools have good plans in place, they communicate with families adequately and do all they can to ensure all information provided is accurate. By adhering to an expectation from leadership to the students - we can provide them with ways to resolve conflict - quick messages, short lessons, examples during a class discussion. Engaging our students to help one another, teaching them to find alternate solutions, reminding them of respect.
We need to expand on providing mental health experts to create programs that can be integrated in the classroom, quick talks in pep rallies. We can help teachers recognize depression, unhealthy stress so they can direct those students to the proper services. We also have to build trust so our students feel safe to speak and explore solutions from conflicts and depression. We can expand existing programs, like peer mediatos and peer helpers to more students - starting early, demonstrating empathy and teaching our students how to communicate - we can avoid some safety issues and create an environment of inclusion and safety for all.
We have to ensure we have a great IT team, select adequate support experts to manage the data/tech needs in our district. We must maintain network/internet safety and be a step ahead of our very savvy students. Technology is everywhere, our educators are key to helping us understand their needs and strategize on how to use technology as a tool. For long-term, we should plan for upgrades, including reducing the environmental impact of old hardware.

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.

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 23, 2019
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