Front Porch Conversations with Mary Ellen Kustin, School Board Candidate

On May 2, 2026 I had the distinct pleasure of attending a Front Porch Conversations event in Hendersonville, NC. I’d heard about another one happening before with Councilmember Gina Baxter, but sadly couldn’t make that one.

This was, of course, the same day as the Hendersonville May Day Strong: Workers Over Billionaires event so I basically went straight from the May Day event back to my house and then headed out about half an hour later to the Front Porch Conversations.

The weather was a little sunnier in the afternoon, but sadly not much warmer. Still, the light sprinkles of rain from earlier had completely vanished and our hosts had a lovely house with a beautiful backyard that felt both homey and welcoming. We had plenty of room to mingle and grab finger foods (shoutout to Foxy Otter Catering for some of the platters that were pleasing to both the eye and palette) before the event began.

I sadly did not get any photos, but that’s because the event, food, and fellow attendees were so interesting that I didn’t even think to pull out my phone.

Note: Any commentary in italics is my own and all links are of my own finding, which means they may not fully and accurately reflect the opinions and beliefs of the speakers at the event. Links I share are invitations to learn more about some of the issues we discussed. I always learn a lot by writing these pieces and by doing the research to find reputable and accessible articles for further learning and I hope the links benefit my readers as well!

We settled into our chairs in the backyard as Preston Blakely, Mayor of Fletcher and all around interesting person to talk to (one of my highest compliments!), stood up and welcomed us all to the event.

Preston talked about how he’s been organizing front porch talks like this one. He’s running unopposed as the incumbent candidate this year and so can spend some extra time supporting his fellow candidates in Henderson County. Preston brought up the recent NC Supreme Court Leandro decision that stripped previously promised funding away from lower-income NC school districts.

He reminded us that “hope comes with action” and that we need to organize, vote, and defend democracy!

Lynne Russo, current NC House candidate for district 117, stood up to briefly speak next. She talked about how important it is for us to focus on local candidates and issues as things continue to fall apart on the federal level. She reminded us that North Carolina is currently 46th in the USA for teacher pay, so 45 states pay their teachers better than we do and only four have worse pay.

Lynne would like to focus on the school vouchers issue (recent news about that here) and address the lack of care for public education that seems to currently be endemic in Raleigh. Lynne said that she supports Mary Ellen because she “leads with common sense” which we certainly need more of in our elected officials. Lynne talked about how our state government is too busy banning books in Chapel Hill and talking about firing squads to even get a state budget passed.

Then Mary Ellen Kustin took the stage, I mean porch <3

Mary Ellen talked about her desire to put children first and how she’s run for school board several times because this is important! She first ran in 2022, when the role was still considered non-partisan; but in the years since it’s become partisan in Henderson County, with candidates here recognized as being part of a specific party on the ballot.

Mary Ellen wants public schools to be safe for all students, no matter who they are. All teachers want to see their students succeed and to be seen.

“Strong public schools are foundational for democracy” in part because critical thinking is so important when choosing governmental representation. School budgets are an issue Mary Ellen plans to tackle because it’s vital to pay teachers fair salaries so students can have thriving teachers who aren’t worried about paying their bills and can stay in their position long term.

As a member of the school board, Mary Ellen promises to advocate for more funding; both locally as well as from the state budget. Currently, around 60% of our county’s school funding comes from Raleigh, ~10% comes from the federal government, and ~30% comes from local taxes. The folks running against Mary Ellen appear to be nervous about what books children are exposed to and don’t want to ask for more funding for our schools, which doesn’t bode well for providing a quality education to all of our children.

A member of the audience, Tom, spoke up. He said that we don’t need to have kids in the school system to recognize the importance of strong public education and teachers who care (and who also get paid fairly!). He then asked Mary Ellen:

Q: How does all the new housing in our area affect local schools?

Mary Ellen’s Answer: Due to the inequality of funding within Henderson County, many of the new developments are concentrated in the areas that have the more well-funded schools, yet all schools in the county should be well-funded in similar ways. She’d like to see the county using the buildings we already have, some of which are not being used. There are overcrowding issues that need to be addressed.

Q: Another audience member asked how Mary Ellen would address the growing problem of immigrant/Hispanic families feeling unsafe, as he’d heard from an informal poll of folks from those communities. He asked how she would help address those communities’ concerns and help keep children safe from the trauma of ICE raids.

A: Mary Ellen informed us that, although 15-20% of the Henderson County population is Latino, ~30% of students in Henderson County are Latino. So this is a very important issue to discuss for our wider community. She told us about a great migrant education program where the schools here collaborate with schools in Florida to help students still graduate on time when their families move after apple season is over. Mary Ellen stated that she would take a stand against ICE ever being at schools or bus stops.

Gina Baxter, Councilmember, added to what Mary Ellen had already said: Strong advocates of safety for ALL people are important at every level of local government. Supporting policies that protect residents and keep them safe is “not a radical one-off” but rather needs to be a network or system for making positive changes.

Q: Another audience member asked what can be done now that the Department of Education is dissolved (fact check: the Department of Education still technically exists and is currently hiring new people, despite having been severely hollowed out over the last year) and what can be done about North Carolina vouchers taking so much money away from public schools.

A: Mary Ellen said that vouchers are a lose-lose situation and that the phrase “school choice” is “1984 speak.” Vouchers severely undercut public education funding and the income cap was eliminated. So even though vouchers are made available to poorer families first, they often can’t afford to pay the difference, so the voucher funds often end up going to people who are more well off (and often go to those whose children were already attending private schools). Private schools can legally discriminate racially and are not required to provide necessary services for disabled students, discriminating on that basis as well.

Mary Ellen talked about growing up in Columbia, SC in the 1990s and hearing about how much better public schools were in North Carolina vs South Carolina. NC had solid school funding at the time with good teacher salaries, but that funding and those salaries have continued to fall over the years, starting around 2010, showing a lack of care from the NC General Assembly for our teachers here in North Carolina.

Q: Where do we go to most effectively voice concerns about protecting our kids?

A: Divide and conquer, because we need to address safety at all levels. Mary Ellen mentioned the Public School Strong group as a common-sense response to the “Moms for Liberty” nonsense. She recommended that we send comments in multiple formats when providing a public comment to the school board: speaking out loud at the meeting AND also putting it in writing via email or even snail mail.

Q: An audience member who immigrated from Brazil said that it can be overwhelming to get involved and asked how we can make it easier.

A: Mary Ellen reminded us that it’s good to start small. Nobody can do everything so we should do whatever resonates with us the most. We can get together with neighbors and meet them where they are. The largest group of voters in North Carolina are unaffiliated and Henderson County Public Schools are the largest employer in the county — so people of many different political backgrounds are involved in and working for the public school system here.

We can post on social media and do whatever work resonates most with us: Hosting gatherings, getting to know people, or joining groups like Public School Strong or Moms Demand Action.

Basically: Pick something interesting. Getting involved in any way is helpful!

Q: The next question was from a retiree who’s new to North Carolina. They asked whether there are nurses in all the public schools and how vaccines and infectious diseases like measles are handled in the public school system here.

A: There are nurses in every school and vaccines are required for attendance unless a family has a religious or medical exemption. Measles rates have, thankfully, gone down for now. Blue Ridge Health clinics, which was started to serve migrant workers, has clinics in some of the public schools. Schools with Blue Ridge Health clinics usually have medical personnel at the school who can examine sick children and even call in prescriptions.

Q: Mary Ellen mentioned a then-upcoming group chat folks could join for parents of neurodivergent (ND) students and the next question asked her to elaborate on that.

Personal note: as an Autistic person myself, I super appreciate that Mary Ellen uses the term “neurodivergent” both properly and confidently!

A: Legally the public school system is required to support all students of varying support needs so Mary Ellen would like to discuss with families how the schools can best support their ND students. Sometimes there’s bias involved when teachers recommend assessments and there needs to be both oversight and open communication with families so that the Henderson County Public Schools can better serve neurodivergent students.

Preston Blakely ended the conversation by thanking us for attending and asking us to consider where else these discussions might be held in the future: maybe at a public park or other public location, to make these events more accessible and to more effectively meet folks where they are.

All in all, this was a great event, I’m glad I attended, and I encourage folks to attend conversations with candidates and elected officials any chance you get. Being able to actually talk directly to the people who are local and care about local issues is so incredibly valuable for our communities as well as for our representatives.

If we want to have a say in what our elected officials do, we need to communicate with them.

Thank you for reading and for caring about what happens in our little town/county!

~Betsy