RAISE YOUR HAND TEXAS

Missy Bender joined Raise Your Hand Texas as the regional advocacy director for Collin and Denton counties in fall 2019. She served as a trustee on the Plano ISD Board of Trustees for 13 years, including three years as the board president. During her elected service, she promoted future-focused strategic planning efforts, the transformation of instructional and learning strategies, and the addition of a full-day early childhood program in Plano ISD. With an interest in statewide legislative advocacy, Missy partnered with other trustees and superintendents to inspire statewide trustee colleagues to move away from solely compliance-based governance to an approach enabling each student to maximize their personal potential. Over the course of six legislative sessions, Missy led legislative accountability and school finance advocacy efforts and convened educational, nonprofit, and business organizations to find common legislative ground.