Lacey Derrington

First, I bring independent judgment — I am not seeking this seat to advance a personal or political agenda, but to serve kids and families. Second, I combine the everyday perspective of an engaged parent with the professional discipline of a data-driven public health background. Third, my faith-driven commitment to transparency and integrity means Tomball ISD families can trust that I will make every decision openly, measured against what is truly good for their children....

First, sustaining fiscal discipline and putting classrooms first as the district grows. Tomball ISD's FY 2025-26 general fund budget is $230.3 million, and while roughly $150.9 million goes to instruction, the public-facing budget is reported at a high level — broad categories like instruction, plant maintenance and operations ($22.8 million), campus leadership ($12.4 million), and transportation ($10.4 million) — rather than the detailed, line-item, contract-by-contract transparency taxpayers deserve. The district also had to close a projected $3 million shortfall this year through late budget adjustments, without a clear public accounting of exactly how that gap was closed. I'd push for proactive, line-item budget disclosure, a zero-based review of every non-instructional contract and position rather than simply building on last year's numbers, and full transparency about how future shortfalls are resolved before dollars are ever pulled from the classroom. Second, recruiting and retaining great teachers with pay that matches their workload. Even district leadership acknowledges this gap: this year's teacher retention allotment provided a $2,500 raise for teachers with 3-4 years of experience and $5,000 for those with 5+ years, funded through one-time state support, and Superintendent Martha Salazar-Zamora said plainly, "Do I wish that the increase was more? Absolutely." The district's Teacher Incentive Allotment has recognized 480 teachers with meaningful bonuses (roughly $3,000 to $17,000 over the designation period), but it's limited to certain core subjects and grade levels, leaving many excellent teachers with no comparable path to a raise. I'd fight for durable, broad-based pay increases funded by cutting bureaucracy rather than relying on one-time state dollars, and push to extend meaningful incentive pay beyond today's narrow set of eligible subjects. Third, closing the gap between state safety mandates and what the district can actually fund. Tomball ISD has built a real security partnership — expanding from 20 to 29 school resource officers through Harris County Precinct 4's Constable's Office, with a stated goal of one-to-one campus coverage — but the district itself estimated needing upwards of $5 million to fully comply with the facility requirements of the state's 2023 school-safety law (House Bill 3), which provides only $15,000 per campus plus $10 per student, far short of actual costs. The district is also absorbing a growing local share of officer costs (100% for four added officers, 70% for the full 29) as state funding falls short. I'd push for full, current transparency with parents about exactly where that funding gap stands today, and prioritize closing it before any other discretionary spending.

Yes. Texas law (Texas Education Code §44.008) requires Tomball ISD to undergo an annual independent financial audit, and I'd make sure that audit is more than a box-checking exercise. Specifically, I'd push for the full audit report and any findings to be presented to the Board and posted publicly in plain language, not buried in a several-hundred-page Annual Comprehensive Financial Report that most taxpayers will never read. I'd also want the Board to periodically rotate or competitively re-bid the outside audit firm to guard against complacency, and where the standard compliance audit doesn't answer a specific question — like exactly how this year's $3 million budget shortfall was closed — I'd support commissioning a targeted, independent performance or forensic review on top of the required annual audit. Taxpayers deserve more than a compliance checkbox; they deserve an audit that's genuinely reviewed, acted on, and shared with the public.

I believe parents are the primary educators of their children, and schools exist to partner with families in that responsibility, not to override it. That means parents have both the right and the responsibility to know what their children are being taught, to review curriculum and library materials, and to be consulted before sensitive topics are introduced in the classroom. It means being genuinely present — volunteering, knowing your children's teachers, showing up — which is the same conviction that brought me to run for this Board in the first place, as a hands-on Tomball ISD parent myself. And it means the school board's job is to make that partnership easy rather than adversarial: proactively sharing information instead of making parents file public-records requests to get it, and giving parents a real voice — through the Districtwide Educational Improvement Council and direct Board accountability — before decisions are finalized, not just after. Ultimately, the school doesn't replace the family; it supports it. Every policy the Board adopts should reinforce that parents, not the district, have the final say in how their children are raised and what values they're taught at home.

Common Core. Texas has never adopted Common Core — state law actually bars the state from doing so, and Tomball ISD teaches to Texas's own TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills) standards instead. I support keeping it that way. I believe curriculum decisions belong with Texas parents, teachers, and locally elected trustees, not a one-size-fits-all national standard, and I'd want the Board to stay vigilant that no vendor curriculum or assessment quietly imports Common Core-aligned content under a different label. Critical Race Theory. Texas law (HB 3979, 2021) already restricts CRT-linked concepts in K-12 instruction, and I fully support that law and strict compliance with it in Tomball ISD classrooms. Kids should learn honest, rigorous American history — the good and the hard parts — without being taught to see themselves or their classmates primarily through the lens of race or systemic oppression. I'd want the Board to make sure that standard applies not just to classroom curriculum but to staff training and professional development materials too....

Local school board policy is the primary lever left for keeping sexually explicit material out of school libraries and classrooms, and I believe Tomball ISD's Board should use it. I support the Board adopting clear, written local policy defining what counts as sexually explicit and age-inappropriate content, giving parents a transparent, meaningful way to flag and challenge material, and removing anything that meets that standard from both libraries and classroom instruction — regardless of whether a statewide mandate exists to force it. That's a decision within the Board's own authority over instructional resources, and I don't think trustees should wait on Austin or the courts to act on it locally.

Yes, I will work to keep material meeting the Texas Penal Code §43.24 definition of "harmful material" off all Tomball ISD property — not just libraries and classrooms, but anywhere on campus. On the educational exemption: yes, I support removing it — and the Texas Legislature already did, this year. What's left is making sure Tomball ISD's own local policies actually catch up to that: our library-selection criteria, curriculum-review process, and any staff guidance should be updated to reflect that "it was for an educational purpose" is no longer a legal shield, and the Board should hold the district accountable for applying that standard consistently across every campus.

Yes, I will enforce and support Senate Bill 12 (2025) as a Tomball ISD trustee. SB 12 took effect September 1, 2025, and prohibits school employees from helping a student socially transition — using a different name, pronouns, or practices that deny their biological sex — bars instruction or staff-led discussion of gender identity and sexual orientation topics, and eliminates school-sanctioned clubs organized around those subjects. I believe these are exactly the kind of decisions that belong with parents, not school staff, and I support the law's intent to keep it that way.

Yes, I support the Board adopting a policy that keeps content promoting gender ideology — the idea that gender is fluid or separate from biological sex — out of school libraries and classroom materials, particularly at the elementary level. This is consistent with my position on removing sexually explicit materials: parents, not the school, should decide when and how to introduce topics like this to their children, and our libraries should reflect age-appropriate, factual content rather than promote a contested ideological viewpoint as settled fact.

No. I don't believe the State Board of Education should have total and final authority over what materials are used in every classroom — that authority should remain primarily with locally elected school boards, closest to the parents and taxpayers those decisions affect. I believe in local control: the people best positioned to know what Tomball ISD students and families need are the trustees elected by this community, not a 15-member statewide board making one-size-fits-all decisions for every district in Texas.

I believe in the broadest possible transparency and access for parents in all four of these areas — parents are the primary authority over their children's education, and the school's role is to support that, not stand between a parent and their child. Overall, my standard as a trustee would be: if there's no legitimate legal reason to withhold something from a parent, the district should make it easy to access — proactively, not just on request.

Ultimately, my job as a trustee is to make sure Tomball ISD's actual practice, not just its policy on paper, reflects what Texas law and now the Supreme Court have affirmed: girls deserve fair competition and safe, private facilities based on biological sex. First, I'd make sure Tomball ISD's own athletics policy explicitly codifies Texas's existing law, House Bill 25 (2021). Second, I'd insist on a clear, accessible complaint process. Third, I'd extend the same principle consistently across every place biological sex and gender identity intersect in our schools. Fourth, I'd make sure our coaches and athletic staff are given clear, written guidance. ...

My top priority is foundational literacy — phonics-based reading instruction, strong grammar, handwriting, and composition, taught in the early grades. Math should be taught as a tool of reasoning and logic, not just memorized procedures — building the kind of critical thinking that prepares students for both practical careers and higher education. The teaching of the nation's founding principles, the Constitution, and how self-government actually works, so students understand their rights and responsibilities as future citizens. I don't believe civics should be a vehicle for political activism in either direction; it should give students the tools to think and debate for themselves. I support real literature instruction that has students grapple with substantial, well-written texts rather than watered-down excerpts — developing the ability to read closely, think critically, and write clearly. Lastly, I want to make sure Tomball ISD keeps strong, practical pathways for students who are college-bound and for those who aren't — our Career and Technical Education programs, fine arts, and the Tomball Star Academy Early College High School/P-TECH partnership all matter, and I'd defend continued investment in those rather than treating a four-year degree as the only measure of success.

Yes! I believe the Bible belongs on the shelves of every Tomball ISD campus library, available to any student who wants to read it — as a foundational historical, literary, and religious text that has shaped Western civilization and American law, the same way it's already recognized in state curriculum decisions. I'd confirm with district administration that the Bible is currently stocked in every Tomball ISD campus library and, if it isn't, use the board's acquisition authority under Senate Bill 13 (2025) to make sure it is added district-wide. It should be available for voluntary student access, not assigned as mandatory devotional reading, I'd also make sure this is written into clear library policy. On a personal side note when I went visited Tomball Intermediate Campus on Career day as a youth and family minister most of the children requested a copy of the Bible for themselves!