The Texan Podcast - Texas House Candidate Oziel Ochoa on South Texas, Education, Property Taxes

Episode Date: September 28, 2026

Oziel Ochoa, this year's Democratic candidate running against Republican state Rep. Janie Lopez, joined The Texan's Reporter Meridith Dyer to discuss his campaign and the South Texas district.Ochoa also discussed issues such as education, property taxes, rural healthcare, and more.Listen to more interviews from The Texan wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, follow us and leave a review.

Hello, everyone. This is Meredith Dyer, Porter with the Texan. And today I am joined by the Democratic candidate for House District 37, Oselle Ochoa, Jr. or Ozzy. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks for having us, Mary Day. So we're going to get into a little bit about the district, but you're a lifelong resident of this area. So can you just tell us, like, what is it like down there in H.T. 37, paint a picture for people who are not familiar with it. So District 37 is a border area right outside the northern border of Mexico. So we are a community that revolves around family, culture. We have a South Padre Island that's 40 minutes away, very tropical as well on that side. But we also see a community that is really booming as far as industry. We've seen various corporations move down to the area. So we see it.

Economic growth is also really things that we see in the valley. But most importantly, it's full of traditions, full of, culture and the Hispanic culture and just a great area to raise a family, you know, and to really give back to your community. What is your favorite tradition that you're just talking about? Favorite tradition, I would say, would be probably Christmas time. Okay. Christmas time, there is what we call the posadas and, you know, families visit each other. And, you know, that's a tradition that, you know, we share with my grandparents and their families. So that's probably one of the happiest times or, you know, one of the traditions I really enjoy during Christmas time.

Okay. So H.E. 37 is one of the more competitive districts in the state right now. Can you just give us some background about yourself and why you decided to jump into this race? So it is a competitive race. We do see as far as the DLCC. We are the third race, targeted race, as far as flipping. So I ran or decided to run as a family with my wife and my kids because It's simple. We wanted to help the communities that raised us. And when I talk about raised us, lifelong resident of Harlingen, my mom is from Willisee County. I taught six years in a rural district in Willisie County. And currently I'm an educator in Cameron County, right?

So District 37 covers two counties. And that's about two thirds of Cameron and the entire county of Willisie. So when I talk about helping our community, it's really helping the families and why we decided to run is to really have good representation in Austin of our hard. working families in District 37. All right. So let's talk about the district. So at the Texan, we have the Texas partisan index where we measure each district's partisan lien using the median two-party vote in the statewide races, like averaging out

the last two of general elections. So H.E. 37 went from a 51% Democratic leaning, you know this, rating in 2022 to a 53% Republican rating in 2024. So from someone that lives down there, what do you think drove that shift? So we saw that in 2022 when the gerrymandered redistrict. the districts. And the state represented the time was Alex Dominguez in 2022. And our incumbent actually was able to turn that, clip that seat for two terms now. So, you know, we see right now it was favored as far as Republican. We do believe our area is, they're independent voters. They're going to

vote on the issues. They're going to vote on the things that are going to affect them and make their life's better. So I really do think this time, we have a really, really good chance, you know, really flipping that seat back to blue and have really true representation of the area and have true representation here in Austin. So you mentioned the incumbent Republican representative Janie Lopez, who flipped the seat, but then she held it with a 10-point lead in 2024. So can you be a little more specific about what you think is made, the Democrats think is going to allow them a path back, some specific things. So the last election, she was actually, it was a presidential election. So I really think that was in favor of, you know, not just the incumbent, but any Republican.

This time during the midterms, we're seeing that the challenges that we're facing as a state and as a nation are really affecting our everyday lives. So when we look at how is that going to flip back to blue or how our voters going to vote, they're going to vote with the individual that they believe will really represent the needs of their area. And that's what we're seeing today. When we're knocking on doors, we're hearing people. We're really seeing the thing that's affecting them is affordability and high prices. And the only way we can make a dent in that or bring some relief to families is to have state representatives and your legislators truly represent the areas they represent. And you had mentioned the DLCC, which is the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which has highlighted your race as one to flip. How has that national support played out in your campaign?

campaign. Where do you see that, like affecting your campaign? So at the national level, I wouldn't necessarily say it's at the national level, but I will say across the state, we see multiple support. We see people reaching out as far as, you know, hey, we can do this. We, you know, we can flip this seat back. But we really see that when everybody comes together, I'm talking top ticket down and everybody's on the same page. Everybody's working for results. Everybody's working to help communities and families. that's where we're going to really make a big impact on the ballot November 3rd. I meant like with a national organization supporting you. Like I understand that obviously H.T.37 is local and all of that.

But when you get like a larger group that has their eye on you, it can. It really highlights the race. Sorry. Yeah. I guess it really highlights the race. And when we look at the targeted races across the nation, you know, we have some in every state. It really brings a lot of awareness. And it really brings as far as, you know,

Individuals interested in your race. I mean, we've talked to, our campaign has talked to individuals from, you know, Washington, the D.C. Or, you know, things like that. So it does bring a lot of awareness to our race. And I really think people are watching it from afar nationally. And they're really interested in what's going to happen November 3rd. And I think everybody's really excited on the momentum as far as the party's been able to bring, our Democrats. But, you know, the biggest way we can make change is at the ballot box.

So I think people are really excited about that. It's definitely got eyes on it that might not have noticed it before. Yeah. So let's talk about education. You have this long career in public education. You describe that as the foundation of strong communities. And one of your main goals that you list is like returning. You say the state funding back to the public schools. So what are two or three? I say two or three because I know with educators. There's so many things. Oh, either list goes up. Or everything. You know. So what are two or three that you consider the biggest funding needs in public schools right now? I really think, number one, we have to really increase our ADA, which is our attendance daily rate, right? We have to ensure that we match it with the inflation we're seeing across the state, across the nation. When we look at funding as far as ADA compared to school vouchers, so what they're receiving,

there's about a $3,500 difference there or more, depending on what the student qualifies as far as the voucher, but we see a discrepancy and funding. We see our schools in need of repairs and things like that, that, but I would say our biggest concern is raising that ADA and ensuring that schools are properly funded. We want to ensure that they have the proper interventions, the proper resources, because studies show when we have early intervention in reading, that makes tremendous gains as far as later in life as the student, you know, goes through their middle school and high school

and even post-secondary. So we have to ensure that we invest in our curriculum as well. And we have to ensure that we're not rating a school or a district on one day, one test, that's going to gauge that particular student or campus or district on one test. We have to ensure that there's a rubric that grades in district or campus in multiple areas. You know, we have parental involvement. We have dropout rates. So we have to ensure that, one, we have the proper funding through ADA. We have to ensure we have the right curriculum.

And then we have to ensure that we have the right teachers to properly retain them and properly prepare them to enter the classroom. and really ensure that our students are successful. So my next question had been, what are some non-funding changes? But you kind of wrap them up a little bit together. Although, is there anything else that, like, say that there was no change in funding? What are some things that you would like to see changed in public schools?

I would say, as far as I mentioned earlier, we talked about the curriculum. We talked about retention of teachers. But we also got a look at ensuring that our students are prepared through maybe strengthen our CTE programs. We have to ensure their post-secondary readiness. We have to ensure that their workforce ready. And when we get that funding, when we prepare our students properly,

we see tremendous gains as far as in the workforce around society. But I would say that we have to strengthen our interventions as far as making sure that we early identify these interventions and that students get the help and the resources they need, whether you're a bilingual student, a special education student, but we have to ensure that you properly, you have the proper resources as a teacher to educate those students. I know, it is hard in education to separate the funding.

It's always an interesting question because sometimes you don't get the funding like you're talking about that you would like. And so then it's like what are the things that schools can do? Because last session lawmakers passed a Houseville too, which has been talked about quite a bit. The $8.5 billion in new public school funding. But they did pass it along with the, you call the voucher system, the education savings account, which was $1 billion.

Recently, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick was talking to Education Commissioner Mike Marath, and he was talking about some different numbers more than the ADA across all the funding all funding sources, saying that, you know, Texas gives across all the sources 90 billion to public public schools and that it was that they were saying that went around to roughly 16,500 per student. What is, and they were kind of, and he was questioning them, the idea that the state, the argument that the state doesn't spend enough on public education. So how do you respond to those kind of numbers and that kind of comment? I would see, we need to see where that 16,000 is because when we actually, through real life experience in the classroom on the, you know, as a campus

principal previously to the special education director, you see firsthand the effects. And we may say 16,000, but when we look at all the bills and legislation that's passed, that puts the pressure on the local school district. So whenever there's a bill passed, for example, I'm going to, you know, for example, you know, name one, every student on the bus had to have a seatbelt. Well, that recently passed last legislative session, but schools were tasked with this, but weren't fully funded to make those changes. So little things like that put pressure, more pressure on the school's budget, on the school district's budget. So we have to ensure that if we're passing these legislative bills that we're properly funding those because a lot of times maybe they're funded a fraction of that and which puts the pressure on our LEAs. So I really like to see where that 16,000 is per student.

You know, if you're either not feeling like you're getting that money or don't feel that that's adequate, But is there a number in mind across all funding sources that would be more adequate in your opinion per student? Currently right now, I would say what we see with inflation, about 8,500 as far as because ADA is about 6,200 right now. There was an increase about $55 to the past legislative session, which $55 doesn't get much. But when we compared to inflation, it has to be between $8,500 to about $10,000 per student is what we see right now, right? It was personally. But, of course, there's also different measures. There's different needs, different supports that students need, different programming.

So that could also be more. So switching a little bit to the TFA program, according to the comptroller's office, there are 141 students that are zoned for Harland and CISD, which is where you're at, that are receiving funding. What would your message be to family who have, they have chosen private school or homeschool in the past and now they're getting support from the state? Or they're excited to go look for that new fit using those funds. What would you say to those families? I would say that public education is probably the best education that student can receive as far as looking at fine arts, athletics, being a well-rounded student, receiving the supports they need through special education. I believe that public education is top tier, and there's no better choice than that. So I would say to the parents, give us a chance, give us an opportunity to really show all the things that we can offer as far as public schools in Texas.

And, you know, our students really grow. When we look at post-secondary or college readiness, our students are repaired. And I think we have to, you know, ask what should we tell a parent is give us an opportunity. Give us a chance to really show what our public schools stand for. And there's nothing better. Just to push back a little bit. I have, you know, interviewed some parents and that had been at public school.

I mean, those are some anecdotal situations. But even when, you know, Commissioner Marath will give the numbers, he'll say there's always a lot of room for improvement. There are some lower numbers in Texas that schools are struggling. That is, and nationwide as well. It's kind of an education academic crisis going on in general. So, but for parents that are like, we have tried public school and we're not satisfied with, like, what's happening here? So you say, what do we tell those?

Yeah, because there are, that is a common discussion in the education world. And a lot of times when we're not happy as far as with an education, whether it's private or public. It's usually a moment of time of miscommunication or perception of the situation. We can name thousands of hundreds of situations of things that maybe didn't go right or something happened, right? But if we have the conversation, if we have an opportunity to find common ground, we really need to offer public education as our first choice because we have a lot to offer. No, I know that's what you're going for. Just, you know, asking that question. So looking to the 90th legislative session, you know, anyone following the selection cycle is hearing about you mentioned affordability.

You're talking about property taxes. We're talking about data centers. Those are kind of the things that are coming up. Very hot topic. Yeah. And so my question for you is, how do those priorities line up with H.D. 37 with the statewide? And then are there issues unique to the Rio Grande Valley that deviate from those or are they pretty well aligned? Overall, they're pretty well aligned because we're seeing District 37.

It's no different from the national or state issues that we're seeing. However, I think we're in unique is that the amount of attention that we're seeing as far as with data centers, as we have broken ground, actively broken ground last week on those data. You perked up at that question, so I can tell that's fresh on your mind. That's what we're hearing when we're knocking on doors. That's what we're hearing when we're speaking to voters is their concern. But their biggest concern is affordability and the economy. When we don't have a livable wage, when we have minimum wage, it's still 725 an hour,

where families are struggling to put food on the table, pay their bills, that's very frightening. You know, we see also 90th legislation, you know, we talked about education, but we also health care. When we look at health care in Texas, expanding Medicaid, the state of Texas is, you know, 17% of Texans are uninsured, which is the highest throughout the nation. We have to ensure that our rural areas have health care as well. But, you know, we also have to ensure that we also support our water and infrastructure. As we see the need in the state of Texas, we see these tremendous heat that we see and these water shortages. We have to ensure that we're prepared also for 20, 30 years and for many generations to come.

But also, you know, unique to District 37, you know, one of the priorities was also to have a veteran cemetery. being my dad that he's a Vietnam veteran, Bronstar veteran, it's real important that we are able to honor our veterans in District 37 as well. But we have hundreds, hundreds of thousands of veterans in our area. So we have to ensure that we support them as well.

But every issue is important. And the 90th legislative session is probably the most important. But we have to ensure that we make smart decisions that we're properly supporting these bills and that they have the proper resources. But we have to ensure at the end of the day a constituent, a voter, a family, is it better? Did we leave them better than where we found them?

And we have to ensure that they are, you know, represented. Regardless of income, background, party, we have to ensure that we're working for everybody. A couple follow-ups on that. One is with the Veterans Cemetery. Is that something that you, if elected, will personally be driving? Working with others. Yes. Working with others to ensure that we have.

It's important to. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Especially with family in the military. That's very, really important. The other thing was, where does the border and immigration fall being in South Texas,

as it doesn't seem to be discussed as much during this election cycle, but even we were just at the Republican convention. They were talking about it a lot. So I'm just curious, closer to the border, what is the discussion around that issue? So we are seen at first time. You know, I think a lot of times when we talked about these deportations and things like that, Well, I guess we didn't really, I'm talking about the area, didn't really believe it until we saw it. And we started seeing it firsthand happening in our communities where it's affecting child care, where it's affecting our food industry, where it's affecting our construction areas.

It's affecting every facet that we see down there. And when we see it firsthand on the side of the road, it's alarming. It's alarming because they first was stated that we're only going to get the criminals. and, you know, we're only going to, you know, but that's not true, right? We have some hardworking individuals in the communities that are giving back to the community that are working in the community. And, you know, deportation, immigration is a very important topic down there because it affects everybody.

And when we see those effects, whether it's, you know, a child going to school or somebody trying to work, to put food on the table, regardless, it raises concerns. And switching to another hot topic, property taxes. Yes. You had written, I know you're on your website, you said that your plan would call for cutting them by expanding the homestead exemption and then using state funding to further compress school property taxes for homeowners. Some of this sounds familiar or sounds similar to Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick's. Can you elaborate if on like what is similar or what is different? I know he talks about, you know, the exemption amount, senior freeze age.

And he talks about, you know, cutting versus a limit. Where do you fall in some of those things? So it's very simple. You properly fund the schools. You're able to bring some property tax relief. Right now, we're in a position where we do not fund schools. So the property taxes takes that increase. So if we tap into our rainy day fund for education, if we properly fund our schools,

we're able to bring some tax relief. Now, as a homeowner, you do want to see your homestead exemption up, right? We did see it go to 140,000 last legislative session. It may increase this legislative session. But when we see that property, that homestead exemption rise, we see school districts receive less money. So if we property fund our schools, then we're able to bring relief. You know, we talked about Governor Abbott saying eliminating property tax. But what's our plan on public aid?

The link there is what's going to get dicey in an idea session. So that's where the... So that's what, you know, so we have to ensure. sure that if we bring relief, you know, property owners, it's more difficult now than to own a home than ever before. Prices have skyrocketed. Properties are so expensive. So renters, you know, are paying high rates as well. So yes, if we bring property tax relief, but there's also has to be a fold of funding our schools. So it's going to be interesting in the 90th legislative session because that is a hot topic. But, you know, we also got to bring things like, you know, appraisals.

You know, we have appraisals, we have market values. We have to ensure that those are a line also to actually what the properties are worth. So, you know, allowing also our homeowners to be prepared. You know, what if we don't appraise every year? What if we give the homeowner a chance and opportunity to prepare every two or three years? Because we do see an increase of market values and appraisal values. But where is the line drawn, you know, for a homeowner? Whether you own a small home or larger home or multiple properties, where do we draw the line? And, you know, can we offer to homestead. You know, there's a lot that comes in when we talk about property taxes, but it's all going to come down as how well are we prepared to support schools or local schools

to ensure that we're able to bring property tax relief. So right now you don't have a number for the homestead exemption that you have landed on because of that issue of the schooling. So you're kind of holding out on that. That's not actually not to say that we have an exact number. However, we did see the 140,000 bring some relief. But if we have we increased it to one, 60, 180, that's great far as the homeowner side, but we're also seeing the other side of that, which is school. So it's the balancing act? Yes. Yes. And then as we end, what is one subject that you feel that people are not talking about enough? And you wish reporters or people at the door would ask you about? I would say rural health care. So being that Willoughsea County is in

District 37 and there's counties across the state that do not have a hospital or have hospitals closing, which means less health care, less opportunities for health care throughout the county. So when there's an emergency, they have to travel 30, 40 miles to get the care they need. So, you know, this next legislative session also is really paying attention to rural health care and ensuring that they have access to health care and they have more resources because as we're seeing less and less health care. We want to ensure that we expand on the health care and provide everybody the health care they need, whether it's from a small time cold to stitches or whatever it may be, right? We want to ensure that they can get the proper need and care that they need, whether you're in a

rural county or you're in a city. So making sure that we have that and really expand Medicaid as well. You know, I did touch on that earlier, but as state of Texas, we are the highest in uninsured Texans. So we want to make sure that we also talk about that as well because health care is important. And regardless of age, we have to ensure that we have health care. So a Vicki Goodwin brought this up when I was interviewing her that she had kind of felt that health care has fallen. It's important. She felt it was important, but it has fallen down with some of the other topics that are hot topics right now that are taking up more energy.

They are out of the room. But she had also mentioned that she would like to see more focus on that. Yes, because that affects everybody, regardless of party. You know, one point or another, we're going to need some care, whether, you know, depending on what we're doing, right? But access to the health care is important and to ensure that people have access. So that's one of the areas we also need to talk about. Okay.

Well, thank you so much for joining us. We will be, like most people, looking at South Texas, looking at your race to see, like, where everything ends up. And so, yeah, we're excited. Thank you for joining us. All right. Thank you.