Maria Salgado-Whitman files paperwork for PVUSD Governing Board

Maria Salgado-Whitman, a Tatum Highlands resident, parent of three PVUSD students, and operations manager at a Phoenix-based commercial HVAC contractor, filed candidacy paperwork at the Maricopa County Recorder's office Tuesday morning to seek one of the open seats on the Paradise Valley Unified Governing Board in the November 2026 election.

The filing was witnessed by Maria's husband Tom, their three children, and Janet Crowley, a retired PVUSD elementary-school principal who has known the family for nine years. After filing, Maria spoke for about three minutes from the front steps of the Recorder's office.

The full prepared remarks are reproduced below.

— — —

I just filed paperwork to run for the Paradise Valley Unified School District Governing Board. I am doing this for one reason. I have three kids in this district. They are eleven, nine, and six. Their classrooms tell me different stories about the same district, and the board has not asked them what their classrooms feel like.

First, an audit. I am asking the district to publish the room-by-room utilization for every campus, before the November bond question is finalized.

Second, a redraw. I am asking the district to use the audit to recommend new attendance boundaries for the 2027–28 school year. The current map is from 2014. The neighborhoods are not from 2014.

Third, a moratorium on new bond questions until parents have had a chance to read the audit and weigh in on the redraw.

I am not running on a culture-war platform. I am not running for a party. I am running because I am tired of the math problem in my son's third grade being something the seven adults in charge of fixing it have not even acknowledged out loud.

Thank you. I am going to go pick up my middle child from baseball practice now.

— — —

Maria's full bio, persona disclosures, and the campaign's complete policy positions are available on the campaign website. The campaign will be filing its first quarterly contribution disclosure with the Maricopa County Recorder in July.