Have you ever taken a moment to reflect on the term, “Independent School District?” We see the term so much that it almost has become just another part of our daily landscape, but the truth is those three little words are at the core of the fight we’re having for the future of our schools and the minds and bodies of our children.

In Texas, we have local control of our public schools. For better, and worse, our system entrusts the local community to identify leaders to step up and govern their schools. And step up we have.

It began with the community waking up to what was happening right underneath our noses. Like a sleeping giant, moms, dads, guardians, and concerned taxpayers woke up and started showing up.

Whether it was Critical Race Theory or similar indoctrination tools that pit our children against one another, or explicit and obscene books on our reading lists and library shelves, or the heavy-handed pandering to every trendy leftist belief on gender, sexuality, and sex, the community no longer had sleep in their eyes. We had clear eyes finally. We saw what was happening and we did what you have to do to change it.

First, we went to school board meetings to have our voices heard, but when it became clear that the GCISD board had no interest in our valid concerns, we took it to the next level: we engaged the community and won elections.

Now, the board and the community are joined in a mission to not just stop the bleeding. That won’t do. Because over time, under a different board, business as usual may be brought back to life. No, we have to do more. And we will.

We are passing real reforms, aimed at returning the public school system to a primary goal of educating our children and ending the indoctrination of social, cultural, and political ideas from the far left.

Our reforms not only will fundamentally reassert the balance that we all expect from our taxpayer-funded public schools, but ensure that future boards cannot unwind these changes without first answering to you.

Business as usual is ending. For good. And it’s because this community woke up, stepped up, and now we’re shaking it up.

The old guard, who for years ran amok consuming our property tax dollars and pushing their whims and ideas on our children, have protested and complained—one predictable excuse after the other.

For instance, they’re trying to turn our teachers against the parents of the children they educate. But they won’t succeed because teachers at GCISD are better compensated and freer to focus on their actual job, teaching, than ever before. And we intend to keep this train rolling.

The old guard has even tried to assert that our board cannot do some of the things we want to do, which is patently absurd. The local school board governs the school. We are independent and free to chart our own course within the confides of state law.

Nothing we have done or plan to do is beyond the scope of those critical three words: independent school district. In fact, the TEA recently released a memo reasserting the fact that the ultimate authority for these issues lies with the board. GCISD parents know this, which is why they have demanded change and we are answering that call.

We will not back down. We will not slow down. Too much is at risk for us not to embrace this moment. Your current GCISD board is here for the community and our children. We are taking back our independent school district, for good.