Preserving Excellence with SALT: Why Jennifer Blackman is the Business Correction Place 2 Needs

Aaron Silva
Apr 15
3 min read

By Aaron Silva, Eanes Parents Unite & Texas Education Project 103

Eanes families, I’ve been saying it for years: it’s time for some adult supervision on the Westlake dais. We are at an inflection point where our storied "Eanes Excellence" is bumping up against the cold, hard reality of a $5M–$7M structural deficit next year and a teacher turnover rate that has exploded to over 20% (yes, 1 in 5 teachers quit every year).

In any multi-million dollar enterprise, when the wheels are coming off, you don't keep the same mechanics who watched the engine smoke for six years. You hire a turnaround specialist. That is why I’m introducing you to Jennifer Blackman, candidate for Place 2.

Get to know me: Listen to my Voter Episode Podcast with Jennifer Blackman on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

The Professional Standard vs. Six Years of Failure

Let's look at the scoreboard. Jennifer’s opponent, incumbent Laura Clark, has been on this board for six years. In that time, the board has passed seven consecutive deficit budgets. Under her watch, teacher attrition doubled—jumping from a manageable 8% to a staggering 20%.

If you ran your business like that, your shareholders would have shown you the door years ago. In Eanes, the parents and taxpayers are the shareholders. Jennifer Blackman is the executive we need to take the wheel.

Startup Grit and Global Discipline

Jennifer doesn’t just talk about business; she’s lived it. With an MBA from UT McCombs and 30 years of experience leading HR for major companies, she knows how to manage talent and budgets at scale. But it’s her "scrappy" startup mentality that strikes me most.

She told me a story about her first day at a startup where she literally had to build her own desk to save the company money. Contrast that "pinch every penny" mindset with a board that passes multi-million dollar deficits while maintaining an administrative layer paid 13% above market. Jennifer understands that every dollar spent on a central office bureaucrat is a dollar taken away from a teacher’s paycheck. This is arithmetic, not complexity.

The 'SALT' Framework

Jennifer is running on a platform she calls SALT: Stewardship, Accountability, Longevity, and Transparency.

It’s about preserving excellence sustainably. It means Stewardship of our resources so we aren't "phoning it in" while reserves whittle away. It means Accountability for outcomes—owning mistakes and course-correcting instead of doubling down on bad decisions. It means Longevity in planning (a 10-year outlook, not just planning for summer vacation) and total Transparency in communications.

Solving the Teacher Crisis: Beyond Bagels and Tacos

We have a "Scope Creep" problem in our classrooms. We are asking our teachers to do significantly more non-academic work for stagnant pay. Jennifer shared a poignant anecdote from a teacher who said, "I love the booster club breakfasts, but I need $200 more a month to pay my rent, and I can't pay rent with more bagels and tacos."

That stings. Jennifer’s HR discipline is built to fix this. She wants to clear the deck of non-essential administrative burdens and get back to reading, writing, and arithmetic. If we stop burying teachers in busywork, they can get back to what they love: teaching.

Liberating the Jewel: Jennifer’s Vision for EEF

As a current board member of the Eanes Education Foundation (EEF), Jennifer has a unique perspective on the power of community giving. She doesn't just see the foundation as a fundraising tool; she sees it as the jewel of the district.

Jennifer knows that for EEF to truly shine, it needs to be liberated to do great things. Her goal is to return the district to fiscal health so that EEF is never again used as a stopgap for administrative deficits. She wants to create an environment where the foundation has the freedom to say "yes" to every inspired donation and every innovative program. When the district's "M&O" (Maintenance and Operations) is balanced through professional discipline, your donations can go toward taking Eanes from "great" to "unmatched," rather than just plugging holes in a sinking ship.

Business Turnaround: The Time is Now

Budgets are an organization’s values expressed in dollars. If you vote for three more years of the status quo, don't be surprised when the "Eanes Standard" continues to erode. Jennifer Blackman has the professional backbone to say "no" to administrative bloat and "yes" to our educators.

She isn't running to join a social club. She’s running to bring private-sector discipline to a $100M enterprise that desperately needs it.

Listen to the full Eanes Parents Unite Podcast Episode featuring Jennifer Blackman on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

Early Voting is April 20-28. Election Day is Saturday, May 2. If you don't vote, the wheel stays in the ditch.

Aaron Silva is a Westlake parent, successful business entrepreneur and CEO. Follow along at silva4eanes.com/blog