BY CHARLES MCCLURE
news@ltview.com
When asked why he is stepping down after 12 years on Place 1 of the Lake Travis Independent School Board of Trustees, current President Jim Cummings answers with two words — “it’s time.”
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Cummings first squeaked out a victory in a field of five candidates — including an incumbent — in 1997.

 “I ran because I kept recognizing a need for change in the district at that time,” Cummings recalled after completing his final full regular session last Thursday. “I felt called to be a trustee. I had considered it for many years before I actually ran. Finally, a couple of my friends came to me and suggested that I run as a trustee. Then I began looking at other schools and realized we needed new leadership among our trustees. We needed good leadership at the schools.”
Cummings said LTISD was already a good district.
“But I thought we could get a lot better,” he recalled. “In fact, I felt we needed a lot of improvement.”
When he ran, the school district had just failed to pass a $42 million bond package. Cummings realized the district needed the expanding facilities, and he and his fellow trustees immediately went to work to repackage the bond proposal, which ultimately was approved by voters.
Life as an LTISD trustee in those days was no bed of roses. In fact, the board was deeply divided, unlike the placid calm that typifies most meetings these days.
“We had contentious board members,” Cummings recalled. “Our board was actually divided right down the middle. You realize that if you have 3-3 votes going on at the board, then the community is equally divided. But if the board can reach consensus, then you know the community can reach consensus too.”
In 1997, Cummings still had four children at home, and for kids in the same house can only mean one thing — life was hectic and busy. But there is something about Cummings that lends one to believe he likes a busy schedule. And there is no doubt that family and faith are at the center of his life.
“I prayed with my family for a long time before I made the commitment to run,” Cummings said. “In my first election, my kids were actually very excited. And in subsequent elections, they actually helped me. A school senior can talk to a lot of kids and they can vote.”
Life has come full circle. All of his children graduated from LTISD and his youngest daughter is a teacher at Serene Hills Elementary School.
“Next year, my oldest grandchild will enroll at Bee Cave Elementary School,” Cummings chucked. “We’re now in my family’s second generation of attending Lake Travis schools.”
Having served so long, Cummings has seen LTISD achieve many milestones along the way. But for the district’s senior trustee, one decision stands above the rest — the hiring of Superintendent Dr. Rocky Kirk.
“When Rocky came, he began his work to bring LTISD into a new era,” Cummings said. “And he has accomplished so much. A couple of years ago, I looked around and realized that Lake Travis is in a new era.”
Cummings said LTISD has seen great strides in every aspect.
“Our academic programs are excellent,” Cummings said. “We are really preparing these students for college and life. When I first arrived at the school district, we were only mediocre in our University Interscholastic League Academic competitions. Even our athletic programs now excel. While I realize it is sports, there was a time no one around here would have dreamed that Lake Travis would win two football state championships in a row. There was a time we struggled with losing seasons on all of our athletic teams.”
Cummings understands there is no underestimating the role that parents and students play in the district’s success.
“We do enjoy a good demographic with parents and students who care about education,” Cummings said. “We have a caliber of students and parents that allow us to do better than most districts. And for a long time we could just ‘do okay’ without much effort. It just happened. But when Rocky came along, he became strategic about how we could take the district to the next level. We had some students who were sliding through the cracks. It has been our goal to make certain that every student has the chance to make the most of their potential.”
Cummings first moved to the area in the infancy of LTISD when virtually the entire school complex was at what is now the Lake Travis Elementary School campus. It was about that time that Lake Travis property became a hot commodity on the real estate market, in conjunction with Texas vaulting into the fastest-growing state in the U.S.
“Back in 1986, the current middle school was the high school,” Cummings mused. “Right after that, the first version of the current high school was constructed.”
By time Cummings joined the board, LTISD was growing by leaps and bounds. In 1997, the school district had roughly half the number of students it does now.
“The high school had doubled in size twice since I first joined the board — that says a lot about the growth,” Cummings said.
Cummings believes the repackaging of the $42 million was a turning point for LTISD.
“I think we learned to do a better job of building a consensus within the board and the community,” Cummings said. “We also pulled the community into the process to get a better idea of what ought to be in that bond. We wanted to establish community support before we put it back on the ballot.”
Without hesitation, Cummings said that of all the duties that come with being a trustee, he dislikes the election process most.
“It is not a pleasant process,” Cummings said. “They tend to be nasty. I have only run uncontested once and two of the three races were nasty. So the worst part of being a trustee is running in a difficult race.”
For Cummings, the most gratifying part of working as an LTISD trustee, is watching children excel.
“There’s nothing more gratifying in the world than seeing a child succeed,” Cummings said. “Just the other night we heard a student talk about how much he had learned about creating short films. Now, he and a buddy are
He also believes partisan politics are irrelevant at the school district level.
“My supporters are all over the map in their political beliefs,” Cummings said. “There is just no room for partisan politics on a school board.”
And that, Cummings said, is yet another blessing.
Cummings has lived all over the world. His father worked for Pfizer, the pharmaceutical firm, and Cummings spent time in various places as child, including India.
He met is wife while in college at the University of Wisconsin and spent most of his career in financial work. In fact, he came to Lake Travis after being transferred with the firm he worked for at the time. Later, he handled finances for his church and in recent years, he has built homes with his brother-in-law.
“I am very blessed,” Cummings admitted. “All of my children live here in Austin. None of them have moved away. My oldest daughter (Jennifer Bailey) is at The Homestead, my oldest son (Ryan Cummings) lives across the lake in Ridge Harbor, but he works for me as a superintendent and is about to get married. I have a son who is an architect (Andrew Cummings) who lives at the Apartments at the Galleria, and my youngest daughter (Sarah Cummings) teaches at Serene Hills. And both my sister and parents live in Lago Vista.”
Cummings and his wife, Bonnie, have married 38 years.
For Cummings, being a trustee has been rewarding, but it was never a job he wanted to do for a lifetime.
“I think this is something God called me to do for a season,” Cummings reasoned. “That season is now over. For me, I couldn’t step down under better circumstances. We have a great administrative team — this administrative team is next to none. We have a guy at the top [Kirk] who knows how to find good people and has integrity at the heart of everything he does. So I felt I needed to step off at a time when someone else could step on and serve for a while, so that when the next leadership change comes about — when Rocky decides to retire — we have some people on the board who have been there for a while, rather than folks who have just been elected. So I felt like I needed to stay on for another superintendent change, or step down when we had some great people looking to serve.”
Cummings is delighted that Guy Clayton will succeed him as the Place 1 trustee. Clayton will be the first graduate of LTISD to serve on the school board.
Cummings said the same challenge that has faced school districts for years will continue to be finances. The Texas School Finance System has been mired in controversy for years and now, schools all over Texas will be facing shortfalls in the coming years.
“Fortunately, we are in better shape than most to cope with these problems,” Cummings said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t fall off the cliff if the state doesn’t do something.
“I think the second biggest challenge facing the district is continuing to get good people in the school district,” Cummings asserted. “But Rocky has a knack for hiring good people. The problem is that other school districts like to come in and raid our people.”
Cummings said that was likely a natural process — that school districts will always hunger for talented teachers and administrators.
“We have a reputation that if you are looking for a good administrator, go look at Lake Travis,” Cummings said.
Cummings said that the beauty of the Lake Travis area does have a positive impact on attracting good employees.
“But the other part is the leadership team,” Cummings said. “People want to work around good people like those we have here.”
Cummings thought he would take a little down time after leaving the school board, but he said providence had other plans for him.
“I thought I would take a some time off, but it now looks like I will be busier than ever,” he smiled. “I have an opportunity to work for my church in a leadership role [Austin Ridge, formerly Westlake Bible Church] and it will keep me busier than the school board ever did.”
It is the friendships he will miss. He has grown close to several trustees, but has particularly developed a friendship with Kirk, one he thinks will last a lifetime.