Election Day is May 6 and the Fort Worth Report is committed to keeping you informed through our Election Central. 

To help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box, we asked every candidate to respond to a candidate questionnaire intended to touch on the most pressing issues candidates may face while serving in elected office. 

Districts 2, 3, 5 and 6 in Fort Worth ISD are all on the ballot. District 2, where Pat Carlson is challenging incumbent Tobi Jackson, covers the eastern part of Fort Worth ISD. You can view district maps here.

Candidate survey

Name: Pat Carlson

Age: 73

Occupation: Business owner

What are your top three priorities for the school board if you are elected?

1. Academic success of students
2. Fiscal transparency & accountability
3. Respect for the parents of students

Gov. Greg Abbott has voiced support for an education savings account program that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition and other education-related expenses. What are your thoughts on the possible impact on public schools? 

I support parents having the option to take tax dollars and shop any public, charter school in the district.

What do you think the Legislature should do for public education?

Give more control at the local level.

Trustees make decisions on the vendors a school district uses. If elected, how would you ensure you remain free of any conflict of interest while you serve?

Absolutely.

How do you think your district can improve its conflict of interest and ethics policies?

With an audit published to the public.

More people are attending school board meetings to voice their opinions. How would you manage giving people a chance to speak their concerns but still keep meetings civil? 

I think as long as the board listens to the concerns of parents, meetings will be civil.

How would you handle voters disagreeing with a policy you approve?

Vote for someone else.

You can find other candidates’ responses by reading our voter guide here. The candidate’s responses may be edited for grammar.

Close window X

Republish this article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Unless otherwise noted, noncommercial entities may republish most of Fort Worth Report stories for free under a Creative Commons license. For commercial licensing, please email hello@fortworthreport.org. For noncommercial digital publications:

• Look for the "Republish This Story" button underneath each story. To republish online, simply click the button, copy the html code and paste into your Content Management System (CMS). Do not copy stories straight from the front-end of our web-site.
• You are required to follow the guidelines and use the republication tool when you share our content. The republication tool generates the appropriate  html code.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you use our stories in any other medium — for example, newsletters or other email campaigns — you must make it clear that the stories are from the Fort Worth Report. In all emails, link directly to the story at fortworthreport.org and not to your website.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter.

For noncommercial print publications:

• You have to credit Fort Worth Report. Please use “Author Name, Fort Worth Report” in the byline. If you’re not able to add the byline, please include a line at the top of the story that reads: “This story was originally published by Fort Worth Report” and include our website, fortworthreport.org.
• You can’t edit our stories, except to reflect relative changes in time, location and editorial style.
• Our stories may appear on pages with ads, but not ads specifically sold against our stories.
• You can’t sell or syndicate our stories.
• You can only publish select stories individually — not as a collection.
• Any web site our stories appear on must include a contact for your organization.
• If you share our stories on social media, please tag us in your posts using @FortWorthReport on Facebook and @FortWorthReport on Twitter.

The Fort Worth Report retains the copyright for all of its published content. If you have any other questions, contact Managing Editor Thomas Martinez.

Pat Carlson, candidate for Fort Worth ISD District 2

by The FWR Staff, Fort Worth Report
April 22, 2023

<h1>Pat Carlson, candidate for Fort Worth ISD District 2</h1> <p class="byline">by The FWR Staff, Fort Worth Report <br />April 22, 2023</p> <p>Election Day is May 6 and the Fort Worth Report is committed to keeping you informed through our Election Central.&nbsp;</p> <p>To help voters make informed decisions at the ballot box, we asked every candidate to respond to a candidate questionnaire intended to touch on the most pressing issues candidates may face while serving in elected office. </p> <p>Districts 2, 3, 5 and 6 in Fort Worth ISD are all on the ballot. District 2, where Pat Carlson is challenging incumbent Tobi Jackson, covers the eastern part of Fort Worth ISD. You can view district maps <a href="https://www.fwisd.org/Page/382">here</a>.</p> <div class="wp-block-group has-light-gray-background-color has-background"> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Elections are coming up. Here are some key dates:</h3> <p>April 24: Early voting begins&nbsp;<br />May 2: Early voting ends&nbsp;<br />May 6: Election Day&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> </p></div> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Candidate survey</h2> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/PatCarlson_Barton-1024x768.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-73518" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pat Carlson is challenging trustee Tobi Jackson for her District 2 seat on the Fort Worth ISD school board. (Kristen Barton | Fort Worth Report)</figcaption></figure> <p><strong>Name:</strong> Pat Carlson</p> <p><strong>Age:</strong> 73</p> <p><strong>Occupation: </strong>Business owner</p> <p><strong>What are your top three priorities for the school board if you are elected?</strong></p> <ol> <li>Academic success of students</li> <li>Fiscal transparency &amp; accountability</li> <li>Respect for the parents of students</li> </ol> <p><strong>Gov. Greg Abbott has voiced support for an education savings account program that would allow parents to use taxpayer dollars to pay for private school tuition and other education-related expenses. What are your thoughts on the possible impact on public schools?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>I support parents having the option to take tax dollars and shop any public, charter school in the district.</p> <p><strong>What do you think the Legislature should do for public education?</strong></p> <p>Give more control at the local level.</p> <p><strong>Trustees make decisions on the vendors a school district uses. If elected, how would you ensure you remain free of any conflict of interest while you serve?</strong></p> <p>Absolutely.</p> <p><strong>How do you think your district can improve its conflict of interest and ethics policies?</strong></p> <p>With an audit published to the public.</p> <p><strong>More people are attending school board meetings to voice their opinions. How would you manage giving people a chance to speak their concerns but still keep meetings civil?&nbsp;</strong></p> <p>I think as long as the board listens to the concerns of parents, meetings will be civil.</p> <p><strong>How would you handle voters disagreeing with a policy you approve?</strong></p> <p>Vote for someone else.</p> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" /> <p>You can find other candidates' responses by reading our voter guide&nbsp;<a href="https://fortworthreport.org/?page_id=74275" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">here</a>. The candidate’s responses may be edited for grammar.</p> <p>This <a target="_blank" href="https://fortworthreport.org/2023/04/22/pat-carlson-candidate-for-fort-worth-isd-district-2/">article</a> first appeared on <a target="_blank" href="https://fortworthreport.org">Fort Worth Report</a> and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.<img src="https://i0.wp.com/fortworthreport.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/cropped-favicon.png?fit=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1" style="width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;"><img id="republication-tracker-tool-source" src="https://fortworthreport.org/?republication-pixel=true&post=74413&amp;ga3=UA-194640723-1" style="width:1px;height:1px;"></p> Copy to Clipboard

1