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Voters will have a lot of local choices to make on the municipal ballot in May.
Eight candidates applied for the three open school board positions, including all three incumbents, Kim Brady, Ileana Garza-Rojas and Tara Hrbacek.
Andy Baldwin of Dallas will join Brady Barnett, Paul Gilmore, Rangoli Mathur and Nicole Yarborough of Carrollton as well as the incumbents on the ballot.
Only Baldwin and Garza-Rojas of Farmers Branch are not Carrollton residents.
The packed ballot comes during a controversial season following the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District announcement Feb. 6 that the Facility Planning Advisory Group advised closing McCoy Elementary, Central Elementary and Furneaux Elementary schools in Carrollton and Long Middle Schools, which is at 2525 Frankford Rd. in Dallas.
The CFBISD Board of Trustees will vote on the proposal on March 6.
In Farmers Branch, Carolina Barbosa and Isabel Romero submitted their applications to join incumbent City Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem Omar Roman on the ballot for the Farmers Branch City Council, District 1, position.
For the Farmers Branch City Council, District 4, position, Deborah Bowe and Elizabeth Villafranca applied as candidates.
City Councilman and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Richard Jackson is not running for re-election.
Election Day is Saturday, May 3, with early voting running April 22-29.
The last day to register to vote is April 3. Registering to vote can be done in person at Farmers Branch Manske Library or applications can be filled out and mailed. Texas does not allow voter registration to be done online.
The Branch Herald sent candidate questionnaires to all candidates and will post their responses on the Branch Herald website by March 9. There will be a special newsletter sent to subscribers so the election information is not mixed up with regular Farmers Branch news.
If all candidates in a particular race return their questionnaires early, the Branch Herald will post them on the website at the same time. If a candidate does not return a questionnaire in time, the other questionnaires will be posted with a note that the particular candidate did not submit by the deadline. If a candidate submits their questionnaire after March 8, the Branch Herald will post it with the others in that race as soon as possible.
In addition, the Branch Herald has organized a candidate forum for 6 p.m. Thursday, March 27, and invited all candidates from all three races to participate. Residents of all districts as well as residents within CFBISD are welcome to attend.
City council candidates will answer questions from moderator Kate Bergeron, publisher of the Branch Herald, at 6 p.m. There will be a break between 7:15-7:30 p.m., with school board candidates following.
