2026 Thought Leaders

Constituent Voice as Infrastructure for Optimization, Attendance, and Community Trust

As leaders prepare for 2026-27, a perfect storm swirls (funding, attendance, demographic challenges, ESAs, etc.). The trust you build around critical decisions will determine either district fragility or district stability. Your most critical asset: student, teacher, and parent voice. In this session, our thought leaders will discuss how a Texas district recovered $8 million in ADA funding, made correlated academic gains, and how the same system of listening is applied to optimization initiatives.

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Balancing Talent and the Ledger Through Data-Informed Financial Planning

Teacher retention and competitive compensation are essential to student success, but so is maintaining a sustainable district budget. This session will help Texas school administrators navigate the delicate balance between paying teachers well and managing limited financial resources. Through comparative salary analysis, staffing ratio reviews, and enrollment-based adjustments, participants will learn to assess whether their district is structured for both efficiency and excellence.

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Building a Culture of Attendance and Engagement: Strategies for District Leaders

Whether students show up to school consistently affects the success of most, if not all, efforts to help students learn and thrive. Drawing upon her organization’s experience working with districts and states across the country, Hedy Chang, founder and executive director of Attendance Works, will share key strategies and lessons learned for partnering with families and communities to increase student engagement and reduce chronic absence. This session will help equip leaders with proven strategies to build student-centered schools where every learner is supported to show up, engage, and thrive. Chronic absence undermines all other improvement efforts; by focusing on effective family and community partnerships, Chang offers leaders practical tools to strengthen belonging, remove barriers, and increase student engagement.

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The Marlin Miracle: Transforming Texas’ Longest-Low-Performing School District into a Success Story

Join this session to view “The Marlin Miracle,” a documentary detailing the strategic blueprint that transformed Texas’ longest-struggling school district into a thriving success story. Afterward, our thought leaders will discuss how they implemented a new academic system, established fiscal integrity, and created a winning culture that led the district to earn an accountability “B” rating, after 10 consecutive years of “F” or unsatisfactory ratings. This remarkable turnaround, achieved during their five-year tenure at Marlin ISD, culminated in TEA initiating the full return to a locally elected board of trustees after a decade of state-mandated intervention. Attendees will gain proven, actionable strategies for orchestrating comprehensive district transformation.

Looking for House Bill 2 Solutions in All the Right Places: Reality Meets AI

The newly minted House Bill 2 has great potential for schools to leverage state support through local transformation. This thought leader session will use complexity theory, quantitative data from TEA, qualitative data, and network analysis to identify the social and system processes that foster or resist transformational change. Participants will take a deep dive into a six-step process for this change. The presentation will include an AI-driven dashboard showcasing tools superior to traditionally static strategic plans and charting a new direction for school solution implementation through systematic complexity theory and network analysis to achieve transformational change. By showcasing a successful case study, audience members can transform their schools and prepare to receive the benefits of House Bill 2.

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Redefining Service Excellence in an Era of Rising Expectations: Why Customer Service Is Now a Core Leadership Competency in K-12

Rising expectations from families, staff, and communities have fundamentally changed what “good service” looks like in K–12 school systems. Districts are expected to respond instantly, resolve issues faster, communicate more clearly, and deliver consistent experiences across departments, channels, and stakeholders without adding headcount or cost. In this moderated panel discussion, education leaders from IT, communications, and district executive roles examine how service delivery has evolved into a core leadership responsibility. Guided by Eva Rodriguez, the panel will explore why fragmented service models fall short, how internal service delivery directly impacts external trust, and what superintendents and cabinet leaders can do to align systems, teams, and culture around responsiveness and accountability. Attendees will gain practical insight into how districts are redefining service excellence—serving both internal and external stakeholders—while meeting rising expectations with clarity, consistency, and care.

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From Vision to Action: Engaging with The Texas Promise in Your District

Experience an interactive, behind-the-scenes look at the refreshed vision within “The Texas Promise: A Vision for Public Education,” and discover how it can spark meaningful action in your district. Members of the Visioning Refresh writing team will share the key shifts, insights, and challenges that shaped the updated vision, then guide participants through hands-on activities designed to help leaders apply the ideas to their own local contexts. This session goes beyond understanding the refreshed Visioning Document; it equips attendees with practical ideas they can use immediately with boards, leadership teams, and campus staff. Participants will walk away with clarity, inspiration, and concrete next steps for moving from vision to action in their own districts.

Not All AI is Equal: Make Responsible, Safe, Equitable Choices

For education leaders shaping the future of thousands of learners, it’s vital to understand what separates AI purpose-built for K–12 classrooms from generic tools. Effective AI should adapt in real time to each student, provide safe, evidence-based support rooted in the Science of Reading, and enhance teaching by giving educators what they need most—time, insight, and assistance. This session empowers leaders to make informed, impactful AI decisions. Leaders will learn the importance of how thoughtfully implemented AI extends teacher impact rather than replacing it, enabling more personalized instruction at scale, a more connected and coherent instructional experience, and more predictable outcomes for their school communities.

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Advancing Public Education: A New Story of Innovation and Excellence

Great transformation often begins in difficult moments—but sustained by the story you choose to tell next. St. Vrain Valley Schools built theirs on student engagement, workforce innovation, and sustainability. When students have the right tools and experiences, they show up. When you blur classroom and industry, students aren’t preparing for their future—they’re already in it. Innovation without sustainability is a moment; St. Vrain built a movement. What’s your next story?