Erin Zwiener

Voting records currently not available. Please check back later.

Survey Responses

HAS NOT RESPONDED TO THE 2026 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY.

DID NOT RESPOND TO THE 2024 CANDIDATE SURVEY.

RESPONSES TO THE 2022 ATPE CANDIDATE SURVEY:

1. If elected, what will be your top priorities for public education?

Continue the efforts I have made as Vice-Chair of the Article III subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee to secure more state funding of our public schools and ensure that the funding is sustainable. I am proud to have been able to include a rider to protect previous teacher pay raises going forward, and I want to continue seeking more dedicated funding for special education and IEPs. Additional state support to public schools is essential to rebuild from staff shortages and other problems that have been exacerbated by the pandemic. I will continue to fight to restore the state's full commitment to public education.

2. What are your recommendations for funding public education, including securing the necessary revenue to sustain the improvements made by House Bill 3 in 2019? Do you believe additional funding is needed?

We need to close revenue loopholes in the existing tax code to ensure that we have a sustainable funding stream for our schools. One avenue is reforming corporate property tax appraisals to end the "race to the bottom" in valuations. This will ensure that everyone pays their fair share for our public schools and shift the burden off residential property owners. And yes, we need more funding for our schools. Until House Bill 3, state funding for public schools had been flat since 2011, no increase for population growth or inflation. House Bill 3 is a critical step in the right direction, but it is only the first step.

3. How would you address the challenge of rising health care costs facing Texas educators and ensure that active and retired educators have access to affordable health care?

Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the nation, which means that when many Texans go to the hospital, they're unable to pay. Those costs are passed on to folks who are able to pay and contribute to the rapid rise in health care costs for everyone. I support better funding for TRS care and offering retired educators who left a golden ticket back, but we also have to address the uninsured rate. Expanding Medicaid is the best way to address this. It would provide health care coverage for another 1.5 million Texans, bring $6 billion a year of our federal income tax dollars back to Texas, and drive down health care costs for everyone.

4. Do you believe the Teacher Retirement System (TRS) should be maintained as a traditional defined benefit pension plan for all future, current, and retired educators, or do you support converting TRS to a defined contribution plan that is more like a 401(k) plan, in which future benefits are not guaranteed?

I support maintaining TRS as a defined benefit plan.

5. What do you feel is the proper role of standardized testing in the Texas public education system? For instance, should student test scores be used for teacher pay, school accountability ratings, evaluating teachers, measuring student progress, etc.?

Standardized testing should be used to measure student progress and identify opportunities for improvement. Unfortunately, at the moment, testing is being used punitively. I support ending high stakes testing and doing a full audit of our current standardized tests to assess which ones are measuring students correctly and which ones aren't.

6. Would you vote to create any type of voucher, tax credit, scholarship, education savings account, or other program aimed at paying for students, including any subpopulation of students, to attend non-public K-12 schools, such as private or home schools?

No. Public dollars should stay in public schools.

7. State law allows educators and other public employees to voluntarily choose to join professional associations such as ATPE and have membership dues deducted from their paychecks at no cost to taxpayers. Do you support or oppose letting all public employees continue to exercise this right?

Where efforts have occurred to forbid public employees this right, it has only been an attempt to impede membership growth in such organizations. I support allowing public employees to deduct from their paychecks.

8. What role, if any, should charter schools have in the public education system, and do you feel the number of charter schools operating in Texas should be reduced or expanded?

The number of charter schools should not be expanded. The last thing we need is more resources being taken from public schools.

9. How much freedom should school districts have to make decisions during disease outbreaks, such as requiring face coverings and immunizations or transitioning to remote instruction?

The old mantra by some of "local control" has shifted to be "control local." Education professionals and school boards are closest to the conditions faced by teachers and students and should be the ones deciding how to handle disease outbreaks in schools with input from experts in the field.

10. What do you believe is the proper role of virtual education within the public education system? Do you believe full-time virtual education should be expanded, and if so, under what circumstances?

Virtual education can serve as a connection to students separated due to public health crisis but is not always a substitute for in-person education and socialization. I oppose the use of vouchers to fund virtual education.

11. What do you feel should be the state’s role (versus the role of school districts or individual educators) in decisions about public school curriculum and instructional materials?

The State Board of Education's curriculum standards are developed with substantial input from classroom educators. Beyond those standards, local school districts should otherwise be free from micromanagement and intrusion by the state according to the latest culture-war scare tactics. Particularly alarming is the current effort to take books which discuss diversity and inclusion out of school libraries.

12. The COVID-19 pandemic and additional instructional support needed to remediate students’ learning losses have placed additional strain on public schools’ staffing needs. How would you work to ensure classrooms are appropriately staffed, teachers’ workloads are manageable, and planning time is not sacrificed amid these challenges?

When teachers are overloaded with burdensome reporting requirements and health and safety concerns, it cannot be surprising when so many leave the field. I support legislation to ease reporting requirements and to relieve some of the health and safety burden with efforts such as sick leave pools.