John Luman
John Luman was a candidate for District VII representative on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas. Luman was defeated in the by-district general election on November 7, 2017.
Luman participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 school board candidate survey. Click here to read his responses.
Biography
Luman earned his B.S. in mechanical engineering from George Washington University. He holds a master's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas and a J.D. from Syracuse University. Luman is a principal at public affairs firm Texas Star Alliance.[1]
Elections
2017
Six of the nine seats on the Houston Independent School District Board of Education in Texas were up for by-district general election on November 7, 2017. Candidates in Districts I and III advanced to a runoff election scheduled for December 9, 2017, after no candidate received a majority of the vote. The District III seat was up for special election to fill an unexpired term following the death of Manuel Rodriguez Jr.[2] The incumbents in Districts VI, VIII, and IX filed for re-election, while the incumbents in Districts I and V opted not to seek additional terms.[3][4][5]
In District I, newcomer Elizabeth Santos defeated fellow newcomer Gretchen Himsl. They defeated Monica Richart in the general election. In District III, newcomer Sergio Lira won against Jesse Rodriguez in the runoff election. They defeated Carlos Perrett and Rodolfo Reyes in the general election.[6]
Newcomer Sue Deigaard defeated three other newcomers—Kara DeRocha, Sean Cheben, and Susan Shafer—for the open District V seat. District VI incumbent Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca defeated challengers Daniel Albert and Robert Lundin for the seat with 50.42 percent of the vote. Incumbent Anne Sung defeated challenger John Luman in the District VII election. District IX incumbent Wanda Adams defeated challengers Karla Brown and Gerry Monroe.[3][4]
Results
| Houston Independent School District, District VII General Election, 4-year term, 2017 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Anne Sung Incumbent |
61.64% | 7,108 |
| John Luman | 38.36% | 4,424 |
| Total Votes | 11,532 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017 | ||
Funding
Luman reported $27,365.00 in contributions and $21,956.70 in expenditures to the Houston Independent School District as of October 30, 2017.[7]
Endorsements
Luman was endorsed by the following organizations:
- C-Club of Houston[8]
- Empower Texans[9]
- Harris County Republican Party[10]
- Houston Association of Realtors/TREPAC[11]
- Houston's Premier Business Coalition[12]
2016
One seat on the Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees was up for general election on November 8, 2016. Four candidates filed for the special election to replace Harvin Moore, who announced his resignation in 2016. District voters chose from Victoria Bryant, John Luman, Danielle Paulus, and Anne Sung. Sung and Luman were the top two vote-getters, but neither won more than 50 percent of the votes, which was a requirement to win the election outright. Sung defeated Luman in a runoff election on December 10, 2016.[13][14]
Runoff results
| Houston Independent School District, District VII Runoff Special Election, 1-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Anne Sung |
50.28% | 3,305 |
| John Luman | 49.72% | 3,268 |
| Total Votes | 6,573 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report — Official: Houston Independent School District — Runoff Election for Trustee, District VII — December 10, 2016," accessed September 19, 2019 | ||
General results
| Houston Independent School District, District VII General Special Election, 1-Year Term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
| Anne Sung |
46.80% | 16,790 |
| John Luman |
29.24% | 10,491 |
| Victoria Bryant | 17.05% | 6,118 |
| Danielle Paulus | 6.91% | 2,480 |
| Total Votes | 35,879 | |
| Source: Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," November 16, 2016 | ||
Funding
Luman reported $48,950.00 in contributions and $21,785.34 in expenditures to the Houston Independent School District, which left his campaign with $27,164.66 as of October 8, 2016.[15]
Endorsements
Luman's campaign endorsements included the following individuals and organizations:[16]
- Former U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige
- U.S. Rep. John Culberson
- Outgoing board member Harvin Moore
- Houston City Council member Greg Travis
- C Club
- Houston Business Education Coalition
- Houston Citizens for Good School District Governance
For a full list of Luman's endorsements, please click here.
Campaign themes
2017
Ballotpedia survey responses
John Luman participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of school board candidates.[17] In response to the question "What do you hope to achieve if elected to the school board?" the candidate stated on October 20, 2017:
| “ | HISD needs to turn its failing schools around so the TEA does not take over the district. That's the top priority. Next, the budget needs to be balanced. This year's board voted to raid the Rainy Day fund of $107 million (long before Hurricane Harvey), instead of balancing the budget. After Harvey, and property reassessments, the available revenue will be even less, making balancing the budget that much more difficult. Third, we need to let our neighborhood schools excel without micro-management and interference from the central office. Fourth, we need to make sure our students are college ready. And, HISD needs to work with business leaders and businesses to enhance HISD’s collaborations with the community for the benefit of all students. These are just a few of the issues I hope to achieve.[18][19] | ” |
Ranking the issues
The candidate was asked to rank the following issues based on how they should be prioritized by the school board, with 1 being the most important and 7 being the least important. Each ranking could only be used once.
| Education policy |
|---|
 |
Click here to learn more about education policy in Texas. |
| Education on the ballot |
| Issue importance ranking | |
|---|---|
| Candidate's ranking | Issue |
| Balancing or maintaining the district's budget | |
| Improving education for special needs students | |
| Improving post-secondary readiness | |
| Expanding school choice options | |
| Closing the achievement gap | |
| Improving relations with teachers | |
| Expanding arts education | |
| “ | Question 7 is not a fair assessment of priorities because there are many issues needing to be addressed immediately in HISD and the survey would only let me pick one number 1. Many of the topics are tied together, so breaking them out into individual topics is misleading. I think topics ranked 4-7 are important and need to be addressed by HISD too.[19] | ” |
| —John Luman (October 20, 2017) | ||
Positions on the issues
The candidate was asked to answer eight questions from Ballotpedia regarding significant issues in education and the school district. The questions are highlighted in blue and followed by the candidate's responses. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions. The candidate was also provided space to elaborate on their answers to the multiple choice questions.
| Should new charter schools be approved in your district? (Not all school boards are empowered to approve charter schools. In those cases, the candidate was directed to answer the question as if the school board were able to do so.) |
|---|
| Yes, and HISD has numerous charter schools options. Charter schools provide a valuable choice for parents and students. |
| Which statement best describes the ideal relationship between the state government and the school board? The state should always defer to school board decisions, defer to school board decisions in most cases, be involved in the district routinely or only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| The state should only intervene in severe cases of misconduct or mismanagement. |
| Are standardized tests an accurate metric of student achievement? |
| No. Standardized tests are important, but not all students excel on standardized tests, for many reasons. Personally, I was not a great standardized test taker, but did well academically. However, I do think testing is important to get a baseline and should be used as one of many metrics. |
| How should the district handle underperforming teachers? Terminate their contract before any damage is done to students, offer additional training options, put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve or set up a mentorship program for the underperforming teacher with a more experienced teacher in the district? |
| Put them on a probationary period while they seek to improve. |
| Should teachers receive merit pay? |
| Yes. Teachers should absolutely receive merit based pay. |
| Should the state give money to private schools through a voucher system or scholarship program? |
| No. Texas needs to fix its school funding system, commonly referred to as Robin Hood. The Texas legislature recognizes it needs to be changed, and I am confident a solution will be found during the next legislative session, in 2019. Once public school financing has been fixed, then Texas can look at other options to see if they are viable, like other states have done. |
| How should expulsion be used in the district? |
| Expulsion is an extreme penalty. It should be used sparingly because we still want to educate the child. |
| What's the most important factor for success in the classroom: student-teacher ratio, the curriculum, teachers, parent involvement or school administration? |
| Parent involvement. In my opinion, parent involvement is the most important factor in a child's success in the classroom. While my parents could not help me with my homework, they made sure it got done. They also took an interest in what I was learning, and how my grades turned out. They reinforced the importance of education at home, and all four of their kids became first generation college grads. After parents, the next most important factor is teachers. That's why HISD needs to recruit, retain, and reward the best teachers. |
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms John Luman Houston Independent School District school board. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
- Houston Independent School District, Texas
- Houston Independent School District elections (2017)
- Houston Independent School District elections (2016)
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ LinkedIn, "John F. Luman III," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "HISD trustees appoint José Leal to fill District III seat until special election in November," accessed August 21, 2017
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Houston Independent School District, "Election Information," accessed September 12, 2017
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Official," accessed November 22, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Three HISD incumbents prevail on election night, one open seat filled, and two open seats head to runoffs," November 8, 2017
- ↑ Harris County, Texas, "Cumulative Report - Unofficial, Joint Runoff Election," accessed December 9, 2017
- ↑ Houston ISD, "Election Information," accessed November 2, 2017
- ↑ C-Club of Houston, "C Club Endorsements," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Marielle Bricker, "Email communication with Charles Blain," October 9, 2017
- ↑ Harris County Republican Party, "The Endorsements are In!" September 28, 2017
- ↑ HAR.com, "HAR Announces Recommended Candidates For Houston Independent School District Board of Trustees," October 2, 2017
- ↑ Houston's Premier Business Coalition, "Endorsements," accessed October 20, 2017
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "Special school board election draws four applications," August 25, 2016
- ↑ Click 2 Houston, "HISD District 7 trustee race heads to runoff," November 10, 2016
- ↑ Houston Independent School District, "Election Information," accessed October 27, 2016
- ↑ John Luman for Trustee, "Endorsements," accessed November 7, 2016
- ↑ Note: The candidate's answers have been reproduced here verbatim without edits or corrections by Ballotpedia.
- ↑ Ballotpedia School Board Candidate Survey, 2017, "John Luman's responses," October 20, 2017
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
| Houston Independent School District elections in 2016 | |
| Harris County, Texas | |
| Election date: | November 8, 2016 |
| Candidates: | District VII: Victoria Bryant • John Luman • Danielle Paulus • Anne Sung |
| Important information: | What was at stake? |
