Zack Dunn

Voting records currently not available. Please check back later.

Survey Responses

RESPONSES TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what are your top priorities for Texas public education?

Please describe any specific goals or legislative initiatives you would pursue to strengthen the state’s public education system.

My top priorities in the fight to support public schools are: continuing to speak out and fight against the state voucher program, supporting and increasing the salaries of teachers, and ending the proliferation of charter schools (esp. given their lack of oversight/accountability).

2. Public Education Funding:

The 89th Legislature passed an $8 billion school funding bill, HB 2. However, despite years of unanswered “inflationary challenges, a large majority of that funding was earmarked to specific programs and did not supply districts with significant flexible funding, leaving the majority of Texas students in districts with deficit budgets and other significant funding challenges. Do you believe Texas public schools should receive additional funding? If so, how should the state pay for it, and should that funding be earmarked at the state level or provide districts with flexible dollars?

Yes, I believe Texas public schools should receive additional funding. That money could come from the state’s rainy-day fund. The need is too great to ignore, and our state has the second highest number of public school-educated students in the country. And it should mostly be flexible dollars.

3. ESA Vouchers:

Education savings accounts (ESAs) redirect public funds to private or home schools. How do you believe Texas should fund public schools, traditional and charter, alongside ESA vouchers? How should ESA spending be held accountable to taxpayers?

I don’t believe we should be funding ESA vouchers in any way – but in the event that we do and will, public schools must remain the top priority for state funding. ESA vouchers should be capped and held accountable via financial audits and academic reporting requirements (e.g., graduation rates, testing scores, course completion rates, etc.).

4. Teacher Recruitment and Retention:

Under HB 2, passed in 2025, all educators in core content courses (math, English, science, and social studies) must be certified by 2030. While this is a good start, more can and should be done to ensure high-quality teachers continue to enter the classroom. What are your suggestions to improve the quality of the new teacher pipeline?

To improve the quality of the new teacher pipeline we need to increase teacher pay and continue loan forgiveness programs. Teaching, like being an assistant district attorney, is a public service that needs to have the benefits that come with foregoing private sector employment.

5. Educator Pay and Benefits:

The 89th Legislature passed legislation creating a new mechanism to provide only classroom teachers with tiered raises based on early years of service and their district’s student enrollment. While the raises were significant, they did not apply to all campus educators, and the program created a significant negative funding stream at the district level due to unfunded increased costs for non-salary compensation tied to payroll, such as TRS retirement contributions. Do you support a state-funded across-the-board pay raise for all Texas educators? How would you ensure that compensation keeps pace with inflation and remains competitive with other professions?

Yes, I support a state-funded across-the-board pay raise for all Texas educators, not just classroom teachers. That compensation should be indexed to inflation and reviewed regularly.

6. Educator Health Care:

The high cost of health insurance for active and retired educators continues to reduce take-home pay, with educators shouldering the vast majority of their ever-increasing heath care costs. How would you address the affordability and sustainability of educator health care, particularly the TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care programs?

The state must increase its contribution to TRS-ActiveCare and TRS-Care to reduce out-of-pocket expenses. This could be accomplished through surplus funds (this is, of course, a temporary solution when those funds are available), larger risk pools, and stronger statewide plans.

7. Retirement Security:

Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS) should remain a defined-benefit pension plan for all current and future members? If not, what is your plan to provide a secure retirement for Texas educators, particularly considering that state law has been set up such that most districts do not participate in Social Security?

It must absolutely remain a defined-benefit pension plan. Given that most Texas educators rely on TRS, as opposed to Social Security, it’s important that all current and future members have predicable incomes (wherein their money is managed professionally for decades – spreading the risk across the group and not letting individuals bear said risk).

8. Accountability and Assessment Reform:

The Legislature has passed a new “through-year” multi-test model under HB 8. What role should standardized testing play in evaluating students, teachers, and schools? Should test results continue to determine A–F accountability ratings or teacher pay?

Standardized tests should not be the only or the main/primary tool used to measure a teacher’s, student’s, or school’s performance. This type of methodology (overreliance on standardized test scores) punishes poverty, is neither holistic nor comprehensive, and it has typically been accompanied by a lack of transparency.

9. Parental Rights and Community Voice:

Recent legislative debates have focused on “parental rights” in education. In your view, what is the appropriate balance between accommodating the often conflicting wishes of individual parents while maintaining policies that reflect the broader community’s educational priorities and still providing consistency and an appropriate level of professional deference to educators?

Parents are important stakeholders, but public schools must first and foremost serve the entire community. Policies and priorities should be set out, known about, and voted on with transparency by an elected school board. Yes, individual members of the community should be able to provide meaningful input, but our teachers deserve respect and professional deference. Said deference will also enable a system of consistency and allow for greater fairness.

10. School Safety:

HB 3 (2023) imposed new school safety requirements but did not fully fund them. Although the 89th Legislature increased the School Safety Allotment, many districts continue to face substantial unfunded staffing and facility costs associated with school safety laws. How would you make schools safer and ensure the state provides adequate funding to meet safety mandates?

This would need a further iteration of what was provided in last session’s HB 2. The funding increase per-student, per-campus, and via variable increase were steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough.

11. Curriculum and Local Control:

What do you believe is the proper role of the State Board of Education, the Texas Education Agency, and local school districts in setting curriculum standards and selecting instructional materials?

The SBOE and TEA should be providing guidance, support, and standard-setting at the highest level. Local districts should select the curriculum materials that meet those standards and reflect their respective community values. Very similar to how the federal government will give our military leaders/branches a directive, but the individual branches and smaller “units” will determine how to best accomplish said directive.

12. Educator Rights and Professional Associations:

State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose allowing public employees to continue exercising this right? Why or why not?

I support allowing educators and other public employees having their dues deducted from their paychecks. This costs the taxpayers nothing and is a personal choice.