Charles A. Luke

Charles A. Luke (born 1961) is an American educator, author, nonprofit leader and consultant and one of only a few sitting superintendents to run for a state political office in recent years. Luke has served as a leader in the Texas education and nonprofit arenas for over twenty years. His published writings include political analysis and educational funding.

Background

Luke was born on August 17, 1961 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He attended school in the Tulsa Public School system and in 1979 graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, a magnet school with a specialized curriculum. After high school Luke served as a pastor of two Southern Baptist churches from 1981-1994. Luke attended Texas Tech University, graduating magna cum laude with a BS in Education in 1990. In 1995 he received a master's degree in education administration from that same institution. In 2007 Luke received his doctorate in education administration from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas.

While serving as a Texas public school superintendent Luke launched a 2002 primary campaign against strong incumbent Jim Keffer in a bid for the Texas House of Representatives. Running for the seat from District 60 representing Hood, Eastland, Brown, Stephens, Shackleford, and Palo Pinto counties, Luke established himself as a diligent campaigner but lost the election garnering just over 26% of the vote in a three-person race.[1] Luke was also a candidate for the governor’s appointment to the state’s Teacher Retirement System in 2001.[2]

After the election Luke accepted the position of Superintendent of Schools of Buffalo, Texas where he was credited with bringing peace to a district that had been in turmoil. While serving at Buffalo, Luke published his first political article in 2005 entitled "Can Terrorism Alerts Make You Ill?"[3] in the journal Christian Ethics Today. The article explored the psychological effects of governmental terrorist alerts on the overall population through the development of mass socio-genic illness.

A second political article was published in 2006. The article, entitled Democracy in Iraq: Is it Possible? [4] was also published in "Christian Ethics Today" and discussed the possibilities for the Bush administration of establishing a democratic form of government in Iraq. In 2007 Luke published his dissertation entitled "Equity in Texas Public Education Facilities Funding".[5] The dissertation explored levels of equity in Texas state funding for public school facilities through a careful analysis of capital expenditure outlays among the states 1,039 school districts. Luke’s findings indicated that there was poor facilities funding equity and poor wealth neutrality with regard to facilities funding across the distribution of Texas public school districts.

Other articles by Luke include:

Luke, C. (2008) Servant leadership: Path to organizational health. Christian Ethics Today. 70:3:24

Luke, C. (2009) Horizontal and vertical equity in Texas public school facilities funding. Equity Center News and Notes. (Austin, Texas) 28:1:307

Luke, C. & Winn, P. (2009) Making a school budget work in tough economic times. Texas Study of Secondary Education. (Texas Association of Secondary School Principals: Austin, Tx.) 18:2: 15-17.

Luke, C. (2009) Wealth neutrality in Texas public schools facilities funding. Equity Center News and Notes. (Austin, Texas) 28:4:1-2,6.

Luke, C., Horton, C. & Winn, P. (2009) A work of the heart: The tale of one school’s commitment to the whole child. Journal of the Effective Schools Project. (Tarleton State University: Stephenville, Tx.) 16:52-56.

Luke, C. (2012) Understanding the fundamental cost of education. Friends of Texas Public Schools: News and Events (Plano, Texas).

In 2007 Luke launched the firm TPDS, LLC, a consulting firm providing ongoing executive management and marketing services for a variety of client bases encompassing the fields of education, non-profit, technology, oil and gas services, and compliance.

Luke served Volunteers of America – Texas in various volunteer and paid positions over a nine-year period from 2003-2012. His responsibilities included the establishment of governance and long/short-term goals, the oversight and development of a number of programs and assisting the CEO/Board with the development of corporate strategy.

In 2012 Luke founded the Tarrant County Spiritual Care Network, a nonprofit organization focused on providing spiritual care and support for the clients, staff and leadership of Tarrant County, Texas.

In 2013 Luke assisted founder Rev. Charles Foster Johnson in the launch of Pastors for Texas Children, a nonprofit organization that provides “wrap-around” care and ministry to local schools, principals, teachers, staff and schoolchildren; advocates for children by supporting the free, public education system; promotes social justice for children; and works to advance legislation that enriches Texas children, families, and communities.

Luke currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Veterans Coalition of Tarrant County, the Fort Worth Mayor’s Faith-Based Cabinet, and the National Faith-Based Committee of the Child Welfare League of America.

References
  1. Shea, Gwyn (2002) Texas Secretary of State race summary report: 2002 Republican primary election. http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/forms/2002rprim.pdf
  2. Teacher Retirement System of Texas (2001) "Nine candidates qualify to run for seat on TRS Board." February, page 4.
  3. Luke, C. (2005) "Can terrorism alerts make you ill?" Christian Ethics Today, 55:11:3 (Summer).
  4. Luke, C. (2006) "Democracy in Iraq: Is it possible?" Christian Ethics Today, 62:12:5 (Winter).
  5. Luke, C. (2007) Equity in Texas public education facilities funding, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas. Published digitally online at https://digital.library.unt.edu/permalink/meta-dc-3647 .
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