Miriam Arora

Agree

Every human life has inherent dignity and deserves protection.

A pregnancy should not end a student’s education or limit their future. The school’s role should be to support the student with compassion, partner with parents or guardians, connect the family with appropriate resources, and help them stay on track to graduate. A high school diploma opens the door to greater independence, continued education, and stronger earning opportunities. RRISD’s Teen Parent Program already helps pregnant and parenting students remain in school and graduate. I support continuing and strengthening that work, including connections to community support programs.

Choose not to answer

Federal student-loan forgiveness is outside the authority of an RRISD trustee. My focus is what we can do before students take on debt: give them strong academics, career pathways, credentials, and clear information about the cost and value of their options after graduation.

I support strong public investment in education, but funding should follow outcomes and opportunity, not a one-size-fits-all four-year degree model. Students should understand their options early, including college, community college, credentials, trades, entrepreneurship and military service, what they cost and where they can lead. The goal is affordable access, real workforce value and students prepared for what comes next, not buried in debt.

Separation of church and state means government should not compel religious belief or worship. It does not require faith to disappear from public schools, our history, or students’ lives. Schools should protect every student’s freedom of belief and religious expression, teach our history honestly, and never require a student to adopt a particular faith.

Agree

I support enforcing our immigration laws and the role ICE plays in protecting communities. But schools should be places where children can learn without fear. I do not support immigration arrests on school campuses except in extraordinary public-safety circumstances. Schools should educate children, not become immigration enforcement sites.

Strongly Disagree

Schools should not use abortion or gender-transition providers for instruction or services. Their role is to educate students, keep them safe, and respect every child. Major medical decisions belong with parents and families. Health instruction should be age-appropriate, medically accurate, and transparent to parents.

Agree

Safe, orderly schools protect students, teachers, and learning time. Teachers should be empowered to manage their classrooms and enforce clear expectations. Parents deserve transparency when serious behavioral issues affect their child, including how the school responded and what is being done to keep students safe, while respecting legally protected privacy.

Strongly Agree

Students should have a strong understanding of America’s founding documents, including the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, and the history and principles behind them. I grew up in another country, and learning American history gave me a deep appreciation for the freedoms, responsibilities, and system of government those documents established.

Agree

I agree because education decisions should be made as close to students as possible. States and local communities are better positioned to respond to their schools, while federal funding and protections can remain where appropriate. My goal is not less support for public education; it is less federal bureaucracy and more local accountability, with parents, teachers, school boards, and states responsible for results.

Abstinence; consent; contraceptive methods; human anatomy and the reproductive system; abortion methods and side effects; physical and emotional health outcomes; and stages of pregnancy and fetal development. Sex education should be age-appropriate, medically accurate, focused on health and responsibility, and transparent to parents.

Agree

RRISD is currently opted out of homeschool UIL participation. I support ending the blanket opt-out for eligible students. TEA notes that Texas provides $1,500 per participating homeschool student per UIL activity and that participation can increase district M&O funding. As RRISD works to strengthen teacher pay and its M&O budget, the board should evaluate this funding opportunity alongside capacity and operational impacts.

Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, American History, Civics, Vocational Learning, Physical Fitness, Art & Music, Information Technology, Personal Finances, Foreign Language

Strongly Agree

Public schools should prioritize strong academic achievement while also helping students develop the character, civic responsibility, and knowledge needed for self-government. One of the things I value about Texas is its emphasis on academic excellence, personal responsibility, and preserving the principles and traditions that have helped shape our country.

Strongly Agree

School choice can push public schools to improve, but RRISD should work to be a family’s first choice regardless. Families have options, and AI is changing the skills students will need faster than ever. We cannot rely on reputation or past success. Public schools have to keep improving, innovating, and preparing students for what comes next.

Strongly Disagree

Women and girls fought too hard for equal opportunity, privacy, safety, and fair competition to have those protections weakened. As a trustee, my responsibility is our schools. Female sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms should remain protected for girls, while every student should be treated with dignity and respect.

My Christian faith was shaped long before I ever thought about running for office. I grew up in the Philippines as a missionary kid with parents who were teachers and I saw how education, opportunity, and meaningful work can change the direction of a life. Today, I work in workforce and hiring technology, helping connect people to jobs and seeing how AI is changing the skills employers need. My faith teaches me that every child has God-given worth and potential. On the school board, that means protecting children, respecting parents, supporting teachers, stewarding taxpayer dollars carefully, and believing public education should help students grow in knowledge, character, responsibility, and readiness for the future.

Strongly Agree

Parents should never have to fight a school system for a voice in their own child’s education or well-being. Parents have the primary responsibility and right to guide their children, and schools should respect that role through transparency, communication, and genuine partnership. Strong schools do not replace parents; they work with them.

Strongly Agree

Every student should be treated as an individual and judged by their character, effort, and actions, not by the color of their skin. Schools should set high expectations for every child, reject discrimination in any form, and create a culture where dignity, fairness, and opportunity apply to everyone.

Choose not to answer

This issue is outside the scope of the school board role I am seeking. My focus is on students, parents, teachers, academic achievement, responsible governance, and preparing RRISD students for the future.

Neutral

Clinical treatment decisions belong with parents and qualified medical or mental health professionals, not school boards. My responsibility as a trustee would be to ensure parents are meaningfully involved, schools maintain appropriate boundaries, and students are supported with transparency and care.

Disagree

Literary value matters, but it should not create a blanket exemption from obscenity laws or age-appropriateness standards. School libraries should follow Texas law and district policy, consider educational value and student age, and provide parents with transparency and a meaningful voice.

Choose not to answer

This issue is outside the scope of the school board role I am seeking. My focus is on students, parents, teachers, academic achievement, fiscal responsibility, local control, and preparing RRISD students for the future.

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2016 Republican Primary 2016 General Election 2018 Republican Primary 2018 General Election 2020 Republican Primary 2020 General Election 2022 Republican Primary 2022 General Election

Republican

Lean Conservative

I am independent-minded and evaluate issues on their merits rather than through a party label. My views generally lean conservative, particularly on limited government, individual liberty, parental rights, fiscal responsibility, religious freedom, and local control. I also believe good leadership requires listening, asking questions, and being willing to work with people who see things differently.

Agree

I support Texas' school marshal approach of allowing carefully selected, screened and extensively trained personnel to help protect our schools. A license to carry alone is not enough. Rigorous training, psychological screening, proficiency, clear command and active-shooter protocols are critical.