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 re-elected to serve her second four-year term on the board on Nov. 3, 2020, and continues as secretary of the TXSBOE since 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. She served as an eighth-grade English Language Arts and Reading teacher, department chair, teacher mentor, and professional development educator in Ysleta ISD 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.
On the board, Pérez has been instrumental in creating the most aligned Reading and Language Arts, English and Spanish standards in our State's history. She led the creation of a state-wide course in Mexican American Studies and African-American Studies, as well as developing a fast-track for additional ethnic studies courses, making Texas the only state in the nation to offer these courses to all high school students.
Pérez continues to work in curriculum and framework development, educator training, and creating access and equity in public education. She was elected by her SBOE peers as the only Democrat to serve on the State's Long-Range Plan for Public Education Steering Committee, which crafted broad goals for the Texas public school system. She has been recognized for her leadership on Path2Diploma, an initiative that allows school districts to grant high school diplomas to individuals previously denied due to state standardized testing requirements.
Pérez is 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 who lack regular access to a library. Pérez and her team spearheaded the creation of a library in Socorro, providing more than 55,000 residents with free access to English and Spanish reading materials. Pérez is the author of "Unity Framework: Critical Literacy Lessons" and "Women of the Americas: A Teatro."
Pérez is the founder and president of the Rural Schools Education Program & Scholarship Foundation. Her initiatives include community service; college, career, and military service 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 covering more than 900 miles of the Texas-Mexico border.
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