Elena Ruiz · Board of Education
Smaller classes.
Open books.
I'm a pediatric nurse and a District 3 mom. My son's third-grade class hit 34 students, so I stopped waiting for someone else to fix it.
Ninety minutes. Once a month. From a lawn chair. We'll bring the clipboards.
Why Elena is running
I'm a third-generation District 3 mom, and I never planned to run for anything. I had a job I love and two kids in our schools. But I watched class sizes balloon past 30 while reading scores slipped three years in a row, and I watched the board pass bond after bond with no plan to fix the crowding. As the PTA treasurer, I learned that the truth is usually in the numbers — and that families trust a school again the minute you show them the books. That's the whole idea here. Smaller classes. Better reading. An open budget. If we don't change course, another generation sits in classrooms that are bursting at the seams. I'd rather fix it now.
Read the full plan34
Kids in my son's class
14
Years a nurse
6
Years PTA treasurer
The plan, three steps
Step 01
My son's third-grade class hit 34 students. One teacher cannot give 34 kids what they need, no matter how good she is. The crowding is worst in the early grades, where it matters most. I'll cap K-3 classes at 24 students and publish a capacity dashboard for every school in District 3, so families can see exactly how full each building is. When the numbers are public, the board can't keep pretending the problem is solved.
Step 02
Reading scores in District 3 have slipped three years running. That's not bad luck — it's what happens when we drift away from the basics. Every child should have a daily, protected block of reading and phonics. And teachers can't do it alone in a crowded room. I'll fund ten classroom reading aides to work one-on-one with the kids who are falling behind, before they fall too far to catch up.
Step 03
Bond after bond has passed, and families still can't tell you where the money went. That's backwards. The schools belong to the people who pay for them. I'll post the full line-item budget online every quarter — every dollar, in plain view. I did exactly this for six years as the PTA treasurer. When you show people the numbers, two things happen: they trust the school again, and waste has nowhere to hide.
About Elena
My son's third-grade class hit 34 students. Thirty-four kids, one teacher, one room. I'm a pediatric nurse — I know what happens when one person is asked to watch too many children at once. The little ones get lost. I sat through PTA meetings, I balanced the books for six years, and I kept hearing the same thing: another bond passed, and the classrooms only got more crowded. At some point you stop waiting for someone else. So here I am. I want to cap K-3 classes at 24, get reading time back on the schedule, and show every family exactly where the money goes. Our kids can't vote. That's why I'm asking you to.
Read Elena's story
Ninety minutes a month
Knock doors with us this Saturday — meet your neighbors, talk about our schools.
Chip in
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