Mavis B. Knight, Democratic incumbent for Texas State Board of Education’s District 13, was re-elected to serve her fourth term in office Tuesday.
According to election results from the Texas Secretary of State, Knight defeated her opponent, Republican S.T. Russell, by winning 73.8 percent of the vote.
“I’m quite pleased that voters had enough confidence in me to re-elect me for another term on the State Board of Education,” Knight said.
According to the results, 307,098 voters cast their ballot for Knight. 109,207 voted for Russell.
Knight said her plans for her fourth term are to continue advocating for the educational standards set by the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills curriculum. She said she wants to ensure instructional materials, like textbooks, include all relevant information from the curriculum while maintaining an unbiased perspective.
“[I want to make sure] that those texts carry the same neutral political tone,” Knight said. “And that they only include what students need to know, with academically researched information about the subject matter.”
The Permanent School Fund, an endowment for Texas schools, is also a priority for Knight. She said she wants to continue to strengthen and grow the endowment during her tenure, and ensure it remains among the top-ranked funds in the nation.
Knight described the race as “low-key.” She said the race was not contentious partly because she did not have a strong opponent.
“I think Mr. Russell is an interesting, concerned citizen,” she said. “But I don’t think he really understood the role of the State Board of Education. Some of the things he wanted to do were outside our responsibility.”
Knight said she was grateful the campaign was not extremely competitive.