Resolution honoring retiring SBOE member Ruben Cortez Jr.

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS Ruben Cortez Jr. has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to service, particularly in the area of public education; and

WHEREAS he served on the Brownsville ISD Board of Trustees, the Region One Education Service Center Board of Directors, and on various committees for the Texas and National Association of School Boards, in addition to his decade of service on the State Board of Education; and

WHEREAS he served as Secretary of the State Board of Education for two terms from 2015 to 2019; and

WHEREAS he developed a reputation as someone who carefully scrutinizes applications that request approval for the creation of a new school district known as a charter school; and

WHEREAS he regularly reached out to administrators and other active educators to get their first-hand input before making policy decisions; and

WHEREAS he worked successfully with coalitions to help craft the state’s first ethnic studies course, which has now become an example for other ethnic studies courses; now, therefore be it

RESOLVED, that the State Board of Education wishes Ruben Cortez Jr. all the very best on his next pursuit; and be it further

RESOLVED, that this resolution be presented to Ruben Cortez Jr. and that a copy be included in the permanent records of the State Board of Education.

WITNESS our signatures this eighteenth day of November, two thousand and twenty-two, in Austin, Texas.

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Keven Ellis, Chair

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Georgina C. Pérez, Secretary