Michelle Gallagher, a challenger who campaigned on teacher pay, defeated College Station ISD board president Kim Ege for the Place 6 trustee seat Tuesday, while incumbent Heather Simmen held on to Place 7, according to final election-night Brazos County totals posted by WTAW.
Gallagher took 22,153 votes, or 72.4%, to Ege's 8,459, or 27.6%. The Place 7 contest was closer: Simmen drew 16,104 votes (54.5%) and challenger Karen Strope had 13,461 (45.5%). Both seats are at-large, and the totals stay unofficial until the results are canvassed.
A board president replaced
In a KBTX candidate interview last month, Gallagher, who told the station she has spent 18 years teaching, said the board hears "one side or perspective" and lacks a classroom voice. She told KBTX she wants teacher pay brought "up to the average" and then beyond it, and said she would like to see problems with agenda policies resolved.
Ege, a former teacher with an accounting background, told KBTX her three years on the board and 12 years serving in the district gave her a depth of knowledge.
She pointed to the district's Texas Education Agency accountability score rising from 81 to 86 over three years and to finished bond projects, and said families choosing homeschooling and charter schools, together with tight funding, would require closer work with state lawmakers.
Place 7
Simmen, a lifelong College Station resident and 1993 graduate of the district, co-owns a local dry cleaning business with her husband, according to the profile she submitted to CSISD.
