2026 Texas General Election

2026 Texas General Runoff

Nonpartisan

Why are you running for this position?
Austin ISD can do better, and I’m running to help make that happen. I’m a father of three, including a child in special education. I’m tired of watching problems ignored until they become crises. The warning signs were visible for years. Children, families, teachers and staff deserve better.

Q&A: Meet the candidates for Austin ISD District 4 ahead of Nov. 3 election

Edward M. Bradfield is a father of three, including a child in special education.

Meet the candidates for Austin ISD District 4 ahead of Nov. 3 election

Edward M. Bradfield
Special Ed Advocate and Brand Manager. Lamar PTA President Two Years; Special Ed Liaison; Districtwide parent advocate; AISD campus volunteer.
Website:www.edward4aisd.com

Edward M. Bradfield is a special education advocate and brand manager.

Edward is a special education advocate and brand manager.

We've Seen This Movie Before

This is one of the things that really bothers me because we have seen a version of it before with Special Education.
Austin ISD spent years failing to complete special education evaluations on time. Kids who needed to be evaluated for services were waiting. In some cases they were waiting so long that they were also waiting for services they might have been legally entitled to receive. TEA eventually intervened, Austin ISD got serious about fixing the problem and the district changed staffing, scheduling and tracking systems. By January 2026, AISD reported zero overdue evaluations.

If a campus gets its first F, I want to know exactly why. After the second, I want to know what changed after the first one and whether it is working. By the third, if the answer is still no, I don't want another committee explaining that there is a problem. I want to know what we're changing again and what measurable result we expect from it.

Things to Think About: Austin ISD Is In A Mess. Here's How We Start Fixing It. — Edward M. Bradfield 4 AISD

That's the operating model I want to change. Find the problem earlier. Spend the money when it can still prevent the crisis. Measure whether it's working. Change it again if it isn't. Don't wait until State law leaves us with two terrible choices and then suddenly discover urgency.

Proposes early, measurable intervention at low-performing campuses, with changes reassessed after repeated F ratings.

- Proposes early, measurable intervention at low-performing campuses, with changes reassessed after repeated F ratings.

School Curriculum

How would you support students, families and staff amid ongoing budget constraints?
Protect the people and services closest to students. Pay teachers competitively, keep a librarian on every campus, and protect special education and direct campus support. Cut executive-level and central-office positions before student services. Listen to families and staff, then make budget decisions based on student impact and measurable results.

Sell property when selling property makes sense. Consolidate when consolidation makes sense. I have no philosophical problem with either one. But a building can only be sold once, and recurring expenses show up every year. I want recurring expenses supported by recurring revenue. That's not some exciting new financial theory. It's how you avoid showing up next summer with another hole.

The clearest example happened while I was President of the Lamar Middle School PTA, when Austin ISD proposed moving Dobie students into Lamar.
Lamar would welcome any student who walks through its doors. That was never the issue. Moving those kids would have effectively ended the Dobie community. Dobie would no longer have existed in any meaningful way as the school those teachers, staff, students and families had built together. You cannot take a school community, scatter its children, teachers and staff somewhere else and pretend nothing important was lost.

Dobie teachers, staff and families were fighting to preserve their school. I understood. I brought Dobie teachers, staff and families together with Lamar teachers, staff and families and we organized against the district plan.

Prioritizes a librarian on every campus and direct student support over executive-level and central-office positions.

Supports property sales and consolidation when appropriate, but says recurring expenses should be paid with recurring revenue.

Opposed Austin Independent School District's plan to move Dobie students to Lamar, organizing teachers, staff and families from both schools.

- Prioritizes a librarian on every campus and direct student support over executive-level and central-office positions.
- Supports property sales and consolidation when appropriate, but says recurring expenses should be paid with recurring revenue.
- Opposed Austin Independent School District's plan to move Dobie students to Lamar, organizing teachers, staff and families from both schools.

School Facilities & Resources

As of September 19, 2026, Edward M. Bradfield’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Student Wellbeing

Sell property when selling property makes sense. Consolidate when consolidation makes sense. I have no philosophical problem with either one. But a building can only be sold once, and recurring expenses show up every year. I want recurring expenses supported by recurring revenue. That's not some exciting new financial theory. It's how you avoid showing up next summer with another hole.

And I want teachers paid more. Not when everything else is finished. Not someday if Austin ISD suddenly discovers extra money under a couch cushion. The people actually standing in front of our kids every day need to be much higher on the list when we decide how recurring dollars get spent. Now. Not later.

Selling property can help us restructure and can be smart financial management, but we cannot use one-time money to permanently support recurring expenses and then act surprised when the hole shows up again next year. I want a structurally balanced district where recurring expenses are supported by recurring revenue and where teachers are much closer to the front of the line when we decide what that money pays for.

Is It Just Me?: Could a State Takeover Give Austin ISD a Way Out of Recapture? — Edward M. Bradfield 4 AISD

Supports higher teacher pay funded through recurring revenue and prioritized in district budget decisions.

- Supports higher teacher pay funded through recurring revenue and prioritized in district budget decisions.

Teachers

Supports protecting special education and direct campus support during budget constraints.

- Supports protecting special education and direct campus support during budget constraints.

Access to Education

LinkedIn

Edward M. Bradfield

Alejandra Gracias

Mauricio Mendez

I've lived in Austin for twenty years, seventeen of them right here in District 4. I’m raising two children, both of whom attend AISD schools. This community has shaped my life and my family, and I've been committed to showing up for it in return.

Jessie Neufeld for AISD Trustee District 4

Jessica Neufeld is raising two children, both of whom attend Austin Independent School District schools.

My legal career — both as a litigator and later as a privacy attorney guiding growing companies through complex regulatory compliance — has taught me how to listen closely, negotiate with precision, and find workable solutions in high stakes situations.

Jessica Neufeld has worked as a privacy attorney and previously as a litigator.

Jessica has worked as a privacy attorney and previously as a litigator.

As of September 19, 2026, Jessica Neufeld’s website did not contain information on this issue.

How would you support students, families and staff amid ongoing budget constraints?
That’s the terrible news right now–“ongoing budget constraints” means AISD is losing capacity to provide support. I will be out in the community, learning what is most important to constituents, what’s working as well as what’s not, finding every opportunity to build communication and greater community and business support.

Community engagement in budget development and regular reporting on a detailed version to identify priorities, incorporate efficiencies, and catch issues early. Explore deeper partnerships with the Austin business community. Invest resources in the Austin Ed Fund to increase fundraising capacity. Increasing state funding is also critical to alleviating budget stressors.

I know my teachers are working hard and my district is financially responsible. I also know we have not seen a significant increase in student funding since 2019 and are still at 2014 real-dollar numbers, despite additional expensive mandates and double digit inflation. We have a $24 billion surplus in the general revenue fund and another $28 billion in the Rainy Day Fund.
I understand there are House and Senate bills that propose directly supporting teachers but I ask you to raise the basic allotment by at least $1300, instead. This would give a much-needed and long-delayed $10 billion dollars of investment in our children and their futures. We have the money. This is a critical investment in the future of Texas that I want my state government to make.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - COMPILATION OF PUBLIC COMMENTS (For HB 2)

In fact, I've learned the cost of this voucher system would balloon from $1B to $5B in just a few years (2030). We don’t want any of that here in Texas.

This bill will harm our most precious and beloved resource - our children; and dim the potentially bright future of Texas by hamstringing the leaders, innovators, and caregivers of tomorrow.

Please fund our public schools by increasing the basic allotment to at least the national average, index it to inflation, and tie funding to enrollment not attendance.

Please don’t pass the voucher bill out of committee.

Austin, TX

Compilation of Public Comments Submitted to the Committee on Public Education (For Hearing Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2025 8:00 AM)

Proposes community-engaged budget development, detailed budget reporting, business partnerships, investment in the Austin Ed Fund, and increased state funding.

Calls for Texas to raise the basic per-student allotment by at least $1,300.

Calls for a basic allotment at least equal to the national average, indexed to inflation and tied to enrollment rather than attendance.

- Proposes community-engaged budget development, detailed budget reporting, business partnerships, investment in the Austin Ed Fund, and increased state funding.
- Calls for Texas to raise the basic per-student allotment by at least $1,300.
- Calls for a basic allotment at least equal to the national average, indexed to inflation and tied to enrollment rather than attendance.

Raising the basic allotment gives our teachers the much-needed boost they deserve AND it gives districts the opportunity to support all the aides, librarians, counselors, cafeteria staff, custodians, and all the other people who are also struggling with lower-than-national-average wage amid funding that hasn’t kept up with 2014 dollars. Those folks deserve the dignity and respect of a livable wage and our teachers and students deserve that additional support.

Supports raising the basic allotment to help teachers and other school staff receive livable wages.

- Supports raising the basic allotment to help teachers and other school staff receive livable wages.

Jessica Neufeld
Texas Mom
I am a working mom of two elementary-aged children in public school. I oppose you diverting public funds to private schools from our underfunded public schools. I am a Texas voter and I want you to fully fund existing public school mandates, not divert funds to unaccountable private and religious schools.

Opposes diverting public funds to private and religious schools and calls for fully funding existing public-school mandates.

- Opposes diverting public funds to private and religious schools and calls for fully funding existing public-school mandates.

Jessica Neufeld

I am running to represent Austin ISD District 4 on the board of trustees because:

I'm from here! I have a fifty year history with this district and attended Hill Elementary, Lucy Reed 6th Grade Center (now the Rosedale School), Murchison Middle School, and L C Anderson High School.

Tricia4AISD — Home

Education

B.A., American History, Biology Minor. The University of Texas at Austin, 1996.
-I love my undergraduate degree: lots of reading and writing, plus every class you need to go to medical school (Physics, Calculus, General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biology, Cell Biology, and more).

Tricia4AISD — Meet Tricia

M.B.A., Rice University, 2001.
-President and founding member of the National Association of Women MBA Rice chapter.
-Creator, coordinator and fundraiser for 1st annual Rice Women in Leadership Conference (2026 was the 25th annual).
-Admissions Counselor.

Associate's degree, Musical Theatre, Austin Community College, 2025. This was my 'empty nest' project when my kids left for college. All I wanted was more singing, more dancing! I also completed 1/2 of a Music Composition associate's degree (to be continued...)

I am a mom of two IB Diploma graduates of L C Anderson High School.

I attended (new) Anderson High School during "the busing years," 1980-84. I am familiar with the way that changes in our neighborhood schools bring both concerns and potential for growth.

Tricia Mitchell Kim is from the Austin Independent School District community. She earned an associate's degree in musical theatre from Austin Community College, a bachelor's degree in American history with a minor in biology from the University of Texas at Austin, and a Master of Business Administration from Rice University. She is the mother of two L C Anderson High School graduates who earned International Baccalaureate diplomas.

What do you see as the biggest challenge facing Austin ISD right now, and how would you address it? Austin ISD’s biggest challenge is a potential TEA intervention, coupled with our failing school campuses. I would demand transparency about student progress, seek teacher and guardian input, ensure effective support between district headquarters and campuses, and look for ways to replicate and reinforce successful learning strategies. We can do this!

What would your top priorities be if elected? My top priorities are to retain local control of our district, scale back our operating budget to match our current constraints and continue to improve campus ratings so AISD is not the statewide leader in failing schools. I will work toward a baseline academic standard on every single campus.

Austin ISD is in crisis and needs decisive leadership. I will protect local control, honor Austin's history, and advocate for a baseline academic standard on all campuses. Local school board trustee races are nonpartisan.

Plans to require transparency about student progress and replicate successful learning strategies across campuses.

Advocates for a minimum academic standard across every Austin Independent School District campus.

- Plans to require transparency about student progress and replicate successful learning strategies across campuses.
- Advocates for a minimum academic standard across every Austin Independent School District campus.

Plans to scale back the district operating budget to align with current constraints.

Plans to ensure effective support for school campuses from district headquarters.

- Plans to scale back the district operating budget to align with current constraints.
- Plans to ensure effective support for school campuses from district headquarters.

As of September 19, 2026, Tricia Mitchell Kim’s website did not contain information on this issue.

Plans to seek teacher input on how to address district challenges and improve learning strategies.

- Plans to seek teacher input on how to address district challenges and improve learning strategies.

Tricia Mitchell Kim

- Advocates for a minimum academic standard across every Austin Independent School District campus.

- A trustee is an elected member of a local school board who helps govern a public school district.

- Trustees represent community interests and are responsible for setting policies that guide how the school district operates.

- The board of trustees hires and evaluates the superintendent, who manages the day-to-day operations of the district.

- Trustees approve the district’s budget, monitor spending, and may set the local tax rate or call for bond elections to fund schools.

- The board also oversees educational programs, district goals, and overall performance.

- In Texas, trustees are elected to four-year terms, often on a rotating basis, so not all seats are elected at the same time.

- Trustees serve without financial compensation.

An official who sets policy for a local school district. 

Austin Trustee, District 4

Election results

Candidates (3)

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School Curriculum

School Facilities & Resources

Student Wellbeing

Teachers

Access to Education