Edgar Pacheco, Jr. Executive Director

Edgar is our first Executive Director and will be the new voice of The Southern Center.

A native of Brownsville, Texas, Edgar experienced first hand the difficulties faced by students with disabilities in the Valley's public schools.  

Edgar has a history of advocating for public education education. He ran for a position on the Pearland Independent School District Board of Trustees in the 2020 election and garnered 7511 votes.   He has been a delegate to the Texas State Republican Convention and a National Alternate Delegate to the 2020 Republican National Convention. 

During the 87th Regular Session of the Texas State Legislature, Edgar whipped the vote for HB 1252 - a bill to extend the statute of limitations for special education complaints in Texas from one year to two years. The Edgar Pacheco Jr. Act was signed in 2021 by the Governor of Texas and became law. 

Edgar earned his associate’s degree from San Jacinto College  and is pursuing a BA in Political Science at Houston Baptist University.

From our November 11, 2021 Press Release:

            "Edgar was among the first special education advocates to volunteer for SCCA, and he 

              has served informally as our spokesperson for a number of cases supported by SCCA 

              over the past seven months . . . 

             Since we officially started tilting at windmills on March 31, 2021, and were granted 

             501c3 status on July 14, 2021, The Southern Center has provided resources and 

             volunteer services for a number of cases involving special education litigation in Texas

             and Virginia; we've advocated on behalf of parents and teachers to restore local control 

             over public health issues, like face-covering requirements, by taking legal action to 

             restrain statewide anti-mask mandates . . . ; we've raised $1,000 for education recovery 

             in southern Louisiana . . .  and, well, our latest effort is a big deal for us. Edgar has 

             been working .  . . with the LEP mothers named in the federal suit filed [on November  

             11, 2021] . . .  and he has observed the issues in the federal complaint firsthand. Their 

             complaint is due in large part to Edgar's persistent efforts and to his desire to solve 

             problems he witnessed during his own tenure as a student with a disability in Texas 

             public schools.

              . . .  [We are] in awe of the way Edgar's faith tradition informs his work in the world."

Both a committed Christian and a conservative activist, Edgar advocates for students and their parents and amplifies their voices as a way of sharing his faith.

The Southern Center for Child Advocacy is a non-profit, nonpartisan, nonsectarian advocacy organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for all K-12 children in public schools across the South.