Lamar CISD Superintendent and TASA President-Elect Roosevelt Nivens, Ed.D., has been selected as one of four finalists for 2026 National Superintendent of the Year®, an award given by AASA, The School Superintendents Association.
Nivens and the other finalists were chosen from among the state Superintendents of the Year for the national award program, co-presented by AASA, Corebridge Financial, and Sourcewell. It recognizes exceptional superintendents for their outstanding leadership and dedication to advancing public education in their communities.
“Dr. Nivens is an inspiration to everyone who knows him,” said Kevin Brown, executive director of TASA, which nominated Nivens for the national honor. “His personal story is powerful, and it fuels his desire to help children and serve his community so very well. I have often heard him say that as a former offensive lineman, he moves things out of the way so that children can reach their potential and fulfill their dreams. Roosevelt is a man of integrity, faith, hard work and inspiration to all. He is an exceptional ambassador for Texas and the entire public education community.”
Nivens has served as superintendent of Lamar CISD, one of the fastest-growing districts in Texas, since 2021. Prior to that, he was superintendent of schools in Community ISD, a district encompassing four communities in a fast-growth area in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. He began his career in education in 1996 as a teacher in Dallas ISD before working as an assistant principal, principal, and assistant superintendent of achievement and organizational management in Lancaster ISD.
Nivens is passionate about ensuring that students have choices and opportunities, and he deeply believes in the power of “speaking life” into others, shaped in part by his own experience of having a teacher believe in him when he was a struggling student.
“Every day you walk into the boardroom, every day you walk into the office, every day you walk into the classroom, remember there’s a young person in there that is thirsty and hungry for you to see them and to help them,” he said. “That’s what we do as educators. This is our purpose. And our purpose isn’t what we do. Our purpose is what happens to others when we do what we do.”
The son of educators, Nivens earned his bachelor’s degree from Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, and his master’s and doctoral degrees in education from Texas A&M University-Commerce. He also trained at the Harvard Executive Leadership Institute, the Harrison Williams Collins Executive Leadership Institute and the Thompson Executive Leadership Institute.
A TASA member since 2008, Nivens has chaired the Advocacy Committee and the Editorial Advisory Committee and served as vice president of the association. He is currently serving as TASA president-elect and will lead TASA in 2026-27 as president.
In 2019, Nivens was named Region 10 Superintendent of the Year and National Superintendent of the Year for the National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE). In 2022, he was named Latino Serving Superintendent of the Year by the Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (ALAS).
In September 2025, following Nivens’ selection as Region 4 Superintendent of the Year, the Texas Association of School Boards named him the 2025 Texas Superintendent of the Year.
Nivens and the other finalists will have an opportunity to meet the national education community during a press conference on January 8 that will be livestreamed for journalists, public education advocates, and the finalists’ supporters throughout the U.S. The 2026 National Superintendent of the Year will be announced, and the state nominees honored, at AASA’s National Conference on Education, February 12-14, 2026, in Nashville.
