By Aaron Kinsey, Republican candidate for Texas State Board of Education, District 15

Last week I declared my candidacy for the State Board of Education for District 15. I’m bringing a fresh perspective to improve our kids’ futures.

My father had no advanced education, but carved out a piece of the American Dream by building a small business. I graduated from Canton High School in 2000 and headed off to Texas A&M to join the Corps of Cadets. In 2005, I became the first in my family to graduate from college, finishing at the top of my class with accounting and finance degrees. In the wake of 9/11, I chose to meet the challenge of our time and serve our country. I commissioned into the Air Force and began my career in Abilene.

As an Air Force pilot, I flew 120 C‐130 combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plane itself was old, but we had to employ new tactics and strategies to achieve our objectives. Later I took these lessons to teach student pilots and fellow instructors. In early 2014, I left the service to focus on starting a family and a business career.

I transitioned to business via Harvard Business School. It was an opportunity I had always dreamt of but never thought I could achieve. A mentor told me that he believed in me and expected me to go. Sometimes we need to remind others to expect more from themselves.

At Harvard I learned about business, creative problem‐solving, and leveraging technology to work more efficiently. I also learned how to defend my values in an arena where it’s not popular to be conservative. I learned how to stand my ground. How to articulate a viewpoint in a way that’s convicted, but respectful.

Anxious to return to Texas, we moved our family to San Antonio where I led a $450 million commercial real estate company. But always drawn to entrepreneurship, I launched out with a business partner and moved to Midland.

In West Texas, I’m at home. I identify with the conservative values, grit, and hard‐working people. I love the West Texas spirit…always up for a challenge many others shy away from.

And so that brings me to the race for the State Board of Education. The pandemic and the fallout from it is proving to be the next great challenge of our time. Coming out of it, we know that Texas kids are behind academically. They’re currently on track to lose 6% of their lifetime earning potential. Sixty percent of fourth graders are reading or writing below grade level. We have a moral obligation to get them caught up. And against this backdrop, there are wolves amongst us that desire to push “new” social ideas on our children that will lead to societal unraveling. Dividing children into groups, teaching CRT (or rebranded bigoted versions of it), and telling children they are limited in what they can achieve will only weaken our kids and our state.

New challenges call for new leaders with fresh perspectives. Such times call for the courage to champion ideas that the go‐along‐to‐get‐along crowd may never see as well as the energy required to push those forward. We’ve seen technology present some challenges in education, but at the same time it has brought opportunities as well. We must find ways to combine it with the vast resources at the state’s disposal in order to create a comprehensive COVID‐19 education recovery plan.

Our kids deserve a strategic thinker with a fresh perspective. Someone who isn’t content with the status quo. Someone willing to stand up for their best interests. Someone who is motivated to constantly improve.

I’m Aaron Kinsey and I believe our kids are worth standing up to the challenges we face. They deserve better than the status quo and I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure they get it.