Aguilar cites parent experience, finance background in school district critique

Priscilla Aguilar is putting school district oversight at the center of her pitch, arguing that San Felipe-Del Rio CISD has moved too quickly on key policy choices and has not asked enough hard questions about curriculum, spending and accountability.

Aguilar said her view comes from home as much as from her career. She is a mother of four, with one child in high school, one in middle school and two in elementary school for the 2026-27 year, giving her what she describes as a firsthand look at the district across multiple grade levels. She also brings more than 20 years in finance, with experience in underwriting and data analysis, and said that background helps her evaluate the broader picture before major decisions are made. She has framed school board service as a place where financial discipline and public trust matter because families are relying on the district to get it right.

Her criticism lands in a district already under pressure. San Felipe-Del Rio CISD served 9,510 students in 2026, down 9.6% since 2016, across 14 campuses. Texas School Report Cards lists the district at 9,744 students in 2024-25, with 72.3% economically disadvantaged, 20.4% special education and 23.7% emergent bilingual or English learner students. The district received an overall state report-card rating of C, or 79 out of 100. Because Texas is one of only six states that funds schools based on average daily attendance rather than enrollment, every student loss can ripple directly into the budget.

That makes Aguilar’s emphasis on scrutiny more than a campaign slogan. She has raised concerns about Bluebonnet curriculum materials in elementary schools, saying teachers are being constrained by rigid requirements and that reported errors deserved more examination than the board gave them. The Texas Education Agency’s Bluebonnet Learning portal is used for K-5 reading, language arts and math in English and Spanish, but state reporting in February 2026 said roughly 4,200 errors had to be corrected, including 547 image-licensing fixes along with typos, formatting problems and factual corrections. That debate has fed concerns among parents who want clear standards without sacrificing accuracy.

Aguilar also tied her campaign to a broader commitment to students outside the classroom. She and her husband have supported scholarships and mentorship through the Aguilar Endurance Fund, which she said was inspired by Hebrews 12 and meant to remind students they can succeed and even go beyond what earlier generations achieved. Her story of growing up in an economically disadvantaged community where education was not prioritized has become part of that message, along with her belief that children need proof that success is possible.

The race is unfolding in an active election cycle. SFDR-CISD said the 2026 school board candidate-filing period opened Jan. 14 and closed Feb. 13, and the district had already been planning for the 2026-27 school year by April 2026. In Val Verde County, where the stakes include taxpayer money, classroom quality and who gets heard before decisions are made, Aguilar is running as a candidate of oversight.