Houston ISD voters could reshape the district’s elected leadership this November, even as the Texas Education Agency’s state intervention keeps trustees largely sidelined from day-to-day decision-making.
Five of HISD’s nine trustee seats: Districts I, V, VI, VII and IX are on the Nov. 4, 2025, ballot. As of midsummer filings and public announcements, at least seven candidates have stepped forward. Here’s a quick guide to who’s running and what authority trustees do or do not have while the takeover remains in place.
Who’s on the ballot?
District I
Felicity Pereyra
A Houston-based data scientist, small-business owner and mom from the Near Northside, Pereyra is a first-generation Texan. Bilingual in English and Spanish, she is also a coder and an HISD alum. Pereyra attended Shadowbriar, Revere and Westside before studying at the University of Houston, Houston Community College and the New England Conservatory of Music. She has also worked on Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris’ campaigns.
District V
Maria Benzon
Benzon is an educator, parent and community leader with more than 25 years in urban public schools and universities, raised in Houston and an alum of Booker T. Washington High School and the High School for Engineering Professions. She has served as an HISD teacher, math specialist, assistant principal and clinical associate professor with the University of Houston’s teachHOUSTON program and now works as Assistant Director of Assessment at the University of Houston–Downtown. She holds degrees from the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston, including a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology and a Graduate Certificate in Data Science and Business Analytics.
Robbie McDonough
A first-time HISD District 5 candidate, McDonough is a practicing attorney and former oil and gas government relations executive with a background in political science. Parent leaders urged him to run after he helped connect families to lawmakers during the state takeover. New to campaigning, he centers student outcomes and calls teacher, principal and student retention the district’s most urgent problem. A father of three HISD students, he describes himself as a centrist.
District VI
Kendall Baker
Baker, a former trustee and a longtime public servant with nearly four decades of service at the City of Houston and deep community roots, is now seeking a second term. A Forest Brook HS alum, he served as the inaugural chair of the Houston Police and Clergy Alliance (2012–2014) and has spent nearly 30 years with Houston Ministers Against Crime. He frames his candidacy around improving quality of life, insisting on transparent decision-making and strengthening youth education. He cites his varied experience in city and faith-community leadership as evidence of his practical problem-solving skills.
Michael McDonough
McDonough is a 33-year veteran of HISD and a University of Houston graduate who rose from teaching 7th-grade math at Attucks Middle School and Algebra/Geometry, while also coaching soccer at Westbury High School. He also served as principal of Pin Oak Middle School, Westside High School, and Bellaire High School. His ties to the district are personal, too: His wife spent 17 years as registrar at Pershing and their two daughters are HISD graduates. McDonough believes public education can change life trajectories and says students should leave school “smarter and stronger” each day. Citing chronic state underfunding, vouchers and the ongoing TEA takeover as urgent threats, he is running for HISD trustee to help restore the public’s voice and get the district back on track for its 180,000 students.
District VII
Audrey Nath
Nath is a pediatric neurologist, HISD parent and candidate for District 7 trustee. A Rice graduate with an MD and PhD in neuroscience from UT-Houston and residency training in the Harvard hospital system, she mentors high school and college students pursuing medicine. She plans to support HISD students on paths to higher education. Her advocacy is personal. After her son’s diagnosis of profound dyslexia, she became a vocal champion for fully funded, timely special education services and shorter testing wait times. A fiscal conservative in practice, she argues district dollars should prioritize classrooms and wraparound supports.
Bridget Wade (incumbent)
Wade is the incumbent HISD District VII trustee, a conservative elected in 2021 and a Houston native who attended Briargrove Elementary, Paul Revere Middle School, Wisdom (formerly Robert E. Lee) and Episcopal High School before earning a B.A. from the University of Oklahoma. She served as Briargrove PTO president, carnival chair and on the campus new-construction committee, on Episcopal High School’s board of trustees and alumni council. She currently serves on the HISD Foundation Board and the First Horizon advisory board. Wade and her husband, Patrick, have three adult children, a daughter-in-law, three grandsons and are founding members of The Church of the Apostles.
District IX
Myrna Guidry (incumbent)
Guidry is an attorney with 20+ years’ practice and adjunct professor of mediation at TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Guidry is seeking a second full term. She volunteers with Delta Sigma Theta, Houston Volunteer Lawyers, Star of Hope, Miles Ministry and her church.
Why elected trustees don’t have governing power (yet)
Since June 2023, HISD has operated under a state-appointed Board of Managers. Under Texas law, when the TEA intervenes, the state board assumes “all of the powers and authority previously held by the suspended Board of Trustees.” In other words, even if voters elect new trustees, those trustees cannot set policy, adopt budgets, hire/fire the superintendent, or vote on contracts while the intervention remains in place.
In June 2025, Commissioner Mike Morath extended the intervention through June 1, 2027, replacing some managers and resetting the earliest point he would consider beginning a transition back to elected control. Until TEA certifies that HISD has met exit criteria (governance, academics, special education, finance and compliance benchmarks), the Managers retain binding authority.
Practically, that leaves elected trustees in advisory roles: Observing meetings, engaging constituents and advocating, but not voting, on core district decisions.
Community and teacher unions have criticized the extension as disenfranchising Houston voters for four consecutive school years. TEA maintains the move is necessary to stabilize governance and sustain academic reforms. Either way, the line is clear: BOM governs, trustees advise, until the agency initiates an orderly transfer of power.
What November means for Houston
Even without immediate power, this election matters.
Trustees are the public’s voice on the dais and the people most likely to inherit the keys when TEA steps back. Candidates this cycle reflect sharply different visions for HISD’s future, from continuity with the current reform agenda to a reset focused on community engagement, neighborhood schools and teacher morale.
For voters, the choice is partly about readiness: Who can build coalitions now, ask the right questions of the Board of Managers and be prepared to govern on day one when authority returns? It’s also about values: What kind of oversight, budgeting and academic priorities residents want waiting in the wings.
Key dates
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 6, 2025 (Harris County)
- Early voting: Oct. 20-31, 2025
- Election Day: Nov. 4, 2025
Where to learn more
- HISD Election page (how to file/ballot info): houstonisd.org
- TEA takeover explainer & authority (why trustees lack power): Texas Education Agency
TEA extension through 2027 (timeline for potential transition): Texas Education Agency
