Dr. Jim Cain was elected to the Lone Star College System Board of Trustees, District 9, on November 3, 2020.
After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1969, Jim started his career as a teacher and coach in a small farming community in Illinois. From there he moved to Texas and was a teacher and administrator in the Clear Creek ISD until beginning his work in the Klein ISD in 1978. During this time, he received his Masters and Doctorate degrees in School Administration from the University of Houston. Jim served as an assistant principal and principal on five campuses in Klein, then as an instructional officer and director of school administration. He became an area superintendent in Fort Bend ISD, and returned to the Klein ISD as an associate superintendent for administration in 1999. He became the Superintendent in Klein in 2004 and served in that role until his retirement in 2016.
In 2011, Jim was named the Texas Computer Education Association Superintendent of the Year and also garnered the Tech-Savvy Superintendent Award from eSchool News. In 2012, the Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce recognized him with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, he was named a finalist as the Region 4 Superintendent of the Year. He has served as president of the University of Houston College of Education Alumni Association, and was named the association’s Volunteer of the Year in 1995. The Ron Hickman Scouting Ideals in Action Award was presented to Jim in 2013 from the Phoenix District of the Boy Scouts in America, and in 2015, the Friends of Texas Public Schools named Jim its Ambassador of the Year. In 2016, Jim received four honors, the Walter Kase Award from the Houston Anti-Defamation League, the John Kelley Distinguished Service Award from the Greater Houston Football Coaches Association, and the John Pickelman Leadership North Houston Fellow Award. In August, 2016, the Klein ISD Board of Trustees named the school district’s fifth high school as Klein Cain High School.
Over the years, Dr. Cain served on the boards of the Cypress Creek YMCA, the Texas Council on Economic Education, Northwest Assistance Ministries, Texas Academic Decathlon, The Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, WINGS Prison Ministries, the Academic Lifelong Learning program at Lone Star College University Park, and the Harris County Municipal Utility District 383 Board. He also is a child advocate for Children’s Protective Services in Montgomery County, Tx., and mentors students in the Klein ISD.