EXPERIENCED EDUCATOR BUSINESS WOMAN COMMUNITY ADVOCATE
Georgina Cecilia Pérez, a Democrat, is the State Board of Education representative for District 1, representing students, parents, and educators in 40 counties in West Texas and over 900 miles along the Texas-Mexico border. She was elected to a four-year term on the board on Nov. 8, 2016, and elected to serve as secretary of the TXSBOE in 2019.
Pérez also serves on the Committee of Instruction which oversees curriculum and instruction, student testing, special education programs, and alternatives to social promotion.
Pérez is an El Paso native and proud graduate of Eastwood High School in the Ysleta Independent School District where she served as an eighth-grade English Language Arts and Reading teacher, department chair, pre-service and new-service teacher mentor, and professional development educator in the same district for more than a decade.
Pérez holds educator certifications in English Language Arts and Reading for grades 8-12 and Generalist certifications for grades 4-8 from the University of Texas at El Paso. She holds degrees in Business Administration/Accounting and Human Resource Development.
Pérez is the author of, "Unity Framework: Critical Literacy Lessons" and "Women of the Americas: a teatro." Pérez continues her work in curriculum and framework development, educator training, and creating access and equity in public education. She was also elected by her SBOE peers as the only Democrat to serve on the state's Long-Range Plan for Public Education Steering Committee, which helps to establish broad goals for the Texas public school system.
Pérez was instrumental in spearheading policy creating a state-wide course in Mexican American Studies as well as developing a fast-track for additional ethnic studies courses and making Texas the only state in the nation to offer the course to all high school students.
She is recognized for her leadership on Path2Diploma, an initiative which allows school districts to grant high school diplomas to individuals previously denied due to state standardized testing requirements.
Pérez is known as a passionate advocate for literacy. She has worked with various organizations and businesses to coordinate a book distribution program and founded Tu Libro, which has provided more than 500,000 books to students who live in rural and impoverished communities in El Paso County and who don’t have regular access to a library. Pérez and her team have spearheaded the creation of a library in Socorro, which is the second-largest municipality in El Paso County, providing more than 55,000 area residents with free access to English and Spanish reading materials.
Pérez is the founder and president of the Rural School Education Program & Scholarship Foundation for students and families in El Paso's rural communities. Her initiatives include college and career mentorship programs for graduating seniors, awarding scholarships to students, and grants to public school teachers. She is the founder of the Texas Student Civic Engagement Project and a YWCA racial justice ambassador.
As the District 1 representative, Pérez represents Texans in the following counties: Atascosa, Bandera, Brewster, Concho, Crane, Crockett, Culberson, Dimmit, Ector, Edwards, El Paso, Frio, Glasscock, Hudspeth, Irion, Jeff Davis, Kimble, Kinney, La Salle, Loving, Maverick, McCulloch, Medina, Menard, Pecos, Presidio, Reagan, Real, Reeves, Schleicher, Sutton, Terrell, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Ward, Webb, Winkler, Zapata, and Zavala. She represents urban, suburban, remote, and rural constituencies cover more than 900 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.
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