Dr. Julie Lara currently serves as the Director of the English Learner Support Division at the Texas Education Agency. In this role she oversees Bilingual Education and English as a Second Language policy and programmatic guidance for K-12 emergent bilingual students and their families. She is committed to elevating achievement and educational equity for over one million emergent bilingual students and their families. Prior to TEA, Julie has supported the education of culturally and linguistically diverse students in a variety of capacities: as a middle school special education teacher, teacher leader, teacher preparation supervisor and university professor. As a classroom teacher in an affluent suburban district, she witnessed first-hand the educational inequities experienced by students of color and their families, which prompted her to leave the classroom to pursue other leadership roles. Dr. Lara has a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland University College and a master’s in educational administration from Texas State University. She earned her doctorate in Special Education with a focus on multicultural education from the University of Texas at Austin – she is a proud Longhorn. Dr. Lara, a native Texan calls Corpus Christi her home. She is the oldest daughter of nine siblings and a first-generation college student. She lives in Austin with her four teenage children David, Adam, Michael, and Vivienne.