How will you work to facilitate higher education to high school graduates, particularly those in financial need?
We need to sit down together — the stakeholders; of course, the educators, but also student advocates and parents. That’s a part of the equation, there, as well, as well as with the students. There’s already great working models out there of how we’re preparing the next generation, our students, to enter the workforce, whether as small business owners or a member of any of the numerous professions that are out there, so, for me, it’s always gonna (sic) be about sitting down with the stakeholders, finding out what is already working. If we have to look outside the district, outside the county or state, we need to look at models. There is no sense in reinventing the wheel. There is an employee shortage in our country right now. As I have been traveling through the 29 counties of the 23rd congressional district, I see a lot of help wanted signs all over the place. Of course, a lot of those are primarily service industry (jobs), but we need to join employers with a ready workforce. So there’s a lot of components that can sit at the table. The Texas Workforce Commission, recruitment and placement personnel, human resources, need to all sit down together. Part of that is finding out what are the critical need areas in our society, in our economy. Some of it’s going to be immediate short-range and some of it is long-term. But for me, it’s always gonna start with sitting down with the stakeholders and talking about the issues. What do we need, what is the problem because in order to solve problems, we need to recognize the problem and be willing to address the issues.
What will you do to improve employment opportunities for college graduates?
One of the things we need to look at is making sure that we are not — a college education is not about making money, that we’re not causing a glut in the career field by pushing or encouraging students to go toward one career path and ignoring other career paths. Now, you’ve got a glut of educated students and they don’t have enough jobs, so we need to look at the education pathways. Are we being true in wanting to look out and do what’s best for students and providing a wide array of career fields. So I am concerned that students graduate and they can’t find a job because there are more people than there are positions. I’ve got two college-educated sons who had studied for specific things and then branched out to something else because of the glut in those particular chosen fields. There’s more people trained for a certain position than there are available positions. Preparing the next generation of America is critical. It’s not just about the person getting educated so that you have a good career and be able to provide for a family, it is also about the greater good. I think we also need to be looking at the hands-on professions, because they are needed, so we also need to be making sure that our students aren’t just prepared for white-collar jobs but also prepared for blue-collar professions.
If elected, what new initiatives will you bring to the district?
In this district, which is very vast, it runs from San Antonio to El Paso down to Cotula, it is diverse. There are different components. You have oil and gas; you have corporate headquarter types of businesses; you have government down in the borders; and, of course, the other government entities within the city, county and school districts. I really believe America has lost a sense of workmanship, the hands-on career fields that built America. I’m talking about industry mechanics, carpenters, plumbers, heating and cooling types of technicians. There is a need for that. So let’s make sure there’s a balance in how our students are being directed. As far as initiatives, it would be working together with those industries to find out what those pipelines are and getting our students into those pipelines and giving them a sense of what these fields encompass. In other words, job fairs. I was down in the Cotulla area recently. I spoke with a gentleman who is a hotel owner down there, and he said that they held a career day. He said, “As surprising as this may sound to you, Frank, they hadn’t done that before.” So it’s something as simple as having a career day to bring out all the employers. As far as initiatives, there’s already templates out there. And look, I’m not gonna know everything day one going on, but I do know that we have to sit down with the stakeholders and talk with them. I would work with the junior colleges and connect them with high schools, and that’s already happening. How can we make that more robust? How do we make that information more available to our students and their families? One of my efforts would be to encourage parents to get more involved in their children’s education because they need that support. We need a galvanized support structure for our students to become more involved and not just trade it off and say, “Well, the educators are preparing my child for the future.” One of our efforts has to be focused on bringing family and the natural support structure for those students on board so that they go into (college) knowing they have a community that is supporting them that includes their families.
Party: Independent
Occupation: Currently retired. Former minister and U.S. Border Patrol chaplain. U.S. Army veteran.
Campaign website: https://www.frank4cd23.com/
