Jan Tyler, Candidate for AISD Place 6

1. Taxpayers' Dollars – please respond by February 26, 2026

Currently the AISD has the highest M&O rate of any ISD in Tarrant County. Staff has started budgeting for the paying of recapture (“Robin Hood”). How fiscally responsible should the board be with taxpayers' dollars and why? How high of a priority should fiscal responsibility be and why? What are your suggestions to be more fiscally responsible?

As a taxpayer, I know that every Arlington resident does not want to pay higher taxes, but also wants the best school opportunities for their children. Fiscal responsibility should be a huge portion of a Trustee’s position. The title “Trustee” means that the community has put their trust in you to spend their money wisely, and offer an excellent education with every dollar spent. All spending should be evaluated by its ability to support the quality of education in Arlington. First consideration, does it add value to daily instruction? Do the teachers think it is worth spending the money? Will the student outcomes be improved? I would always seek input from the teachers, administrators, and those that are supposed to benefit by the expenditure. My experience as a classroom teacher for 38 years, left many of us sometimes wondering “whose great Idea was that?” Money has be spent to meet the ever changing elements of education, and I would hope that great amounts of input and consideration would occur before spending. A good Trustee needs to have a mindset like they are spending their own money. Trustees also need to look at the bottom line and always aim to cut items that no longer yield good results. Fiscal responsibility is a must for a School Board Trustee.

2. School Closures – please respond by March 5, 2026

On January 20, 2026 the board voted to close Blanton Elementary at the end of the school year. Do you agree with this decision? Why or why not? How difficult of a decision is it to make?

Closing a school should be one of the most difficult decisions a Board member has to make. Every student, parent, and staff member works to make their school the best. As a school community, they have ownership in every way that the school functions. They have invested their time and efforts to make their school one that they are proud of. Because of the emotions attached to a neighborhood school, any changes whether it is closing or changing boundary lines, needs time, deliberation, and a great amount of communication with everyone affected by the changes.

Regarding Blanton, the Board cited many parent meetings over many months. This would be a priority in this situation. I would hope that every option was discussed and evaluated before the final decision. While making the decision to close, the next priority to consider are the impacts on the displaced students, as well as, the schools receiving the students. In the Blanton closure, there did seem to be transportation concerns and not having a safe, timely walking distance to a new school.

The final consideration would be the financial advantages or disadvantages of closing a school. With the decreasing enrollment, it would seem plausible that the enrollment could sustain one school closing, and save the money on maintaining an aging building.

These are all the factors that I would want answered and defined before voting on this issue. Since, I didn’t have any details regarding the facts about the Blanton closure, I cannot not tell you how I would have voted. I can only tell you that I would have asked that all the factors mentioned above were addressed and deliberated with the sole purpose that the closure was in the best interests of the students, parents, staff, and fiscal responsibility.

3. Teachers' Salaries – please respond by March 12, 2026

Is having the highest teachers' salaries in the north Texas area a good thing? Why or why not?

It is a very good thing to have the highest salary for beginning teachers, but once you have them you need to retain them. Recently the Board has addressed the issue of retaining good teachers. Their discussions included several ideas that I did not think were as important as discipline support and curriculum support. Teachers need an instructional environment where the teacher is respected, other students are respected, and learning can occur without disruption. I believe that when classroom disruptions are reduced, all educational outcomes will improve.

Secondly, you equip your teachers with teaching materials that are consistent across the district. When students transfer from one building to another it will benefit the student and the teacher with the ease of continuity of instruction. Another factor for consideration is that teachers feel appreciated and respected when they are listened to. I think that the district should revive the district-wide grade level team leader meetings. It is a great time to share across the district what is working and not working. Respected teacher input goes a long way to building ownership of the curriculum and loyalty to the district.

4. Student Achievement Goals – please respond by March 19, 2026

The district has performance improvement plans where the goals are for less than 50% of the students meeting or exceeding grade level expectations on the state achievement assessments. Is this acceptable? Why or why not? What are your suggestions regarding student achievement goal plans?

As a teacher in Arlington, I have worked on campus plans to determine grade level expectations for the state achievement assessments. The goal is to set a percent that is attainable for your grade level on your campus. That percent of increase has to be realistically based on last year’s performance with no change in the curriculum nor state assessment. Each campus is expected to reach that percent by the administration. It would not be prudent to raise the percent to a number that was unattainable. I assure you that not one teacher would ever have that low passing rate as their personal goal for their classes. The state assessment is so flawed that teachers do not equate their subject passing scores and achievement performance on the campus improvement numbers. Every teacher wants their students to master the TEKS, these are the skills that Texas has adopted as essential to each subject. A very high percent of the students do meet the grade level expectations by passing the subject. Teachers are teaching the TEKS, but the current state assessment does not reflect a true picture of achievement. It is hard to describe in words how it is written, but it requires reasoning that isn’t appropriate for the level being tested.

Currently, we are stuck with the STAAR test for two more years. Immediately, I think that districts should be using alternative assessments, like MAP, which assess students at the beginning, middle, and end of the year. It measures achievement and growth for each student by using normed percentile scores. MAP scores offer more up-to-date data and achievement information to teachers in real time. I believe that AISD does use it, but not sure if it is across the district. The district is starting to adopt new curriculums and they need immediate feedback to assess if they are improving learning by the choices they are making. I would definitely support new curriculums that teachers support and can be used in all schools across the district. I would hope that when our curriculum aligns with a reliable assessment, those low passing rates will be replaced with acceptable high level expectations.

5. Communications – please respond by March 26, 2026

If you receive an e-mail from a constituent on an AISD issue and the constituent logically laid out and well documented the issue, will you respond to the constituent? Why or why not? What actions will you take?

I will always respond to anyone who would contact me regarding an issue related to the AISD. Teachers were always told that we needed to return any communications sent to us regarding school business within 48 hours at the most. Many times just talking with someone can remedy the problem or misunderstanding. Over the years, the most highly respected School Board members, were those that responded to teachers and parents. I would like to be known for respectfully listening and communicating with anyone who contacted me. As to how would I help, that would depend upon the issue. I can tell you that I did a presentation for the AISD teachers that was titled “WIN WIN During Parent Conferences.” I like ending any conference or communication on a positive note.

6. Issues – please respond by April 2, 2026

What is the most important issue the board is currently facing? Why? What are your suggestions for addressing this issue?