Nancy Bingham

Nancy Bingham died on Sunday 18 October 2026, aged 76. Her death was reported by The Dallas Morning News on 22 October 2026. The cause of death has not been made public. Arrangements were in the care of Roselawn Funeral Home and Memorial Gardens.

Dallas ISD said it was saddened by her death and grateful for her commitment to public education. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, who served with her on the board from 2011 to 2016, called her a true champion for children. Todd Williams, chief executive of the Commit Partnership, said she was relentlessly focused on every student in the district, not only those in her own district.

Nancy Kanaman was born on 17 April 1950. Her brother is Sonny Kanaman. Few other details of her childhood and education have been published. She married Jimmy Bingham, and the couple made their home in the Kleberg area of southeast Dallas.

Bingham spent more than 30 years teaching in Mesquite ISD, specialising in English as a second language and advanced reading. Her husband said that work, with students who came to Texas without the ability to read, write or speak English, was the start of a lifelong effort to make a difference for students.

After retiring from teaching she was elected to the Dallas ISD Board of Trustees in 2004 to represent District 4, which includes southeast Dallas and parts of Pleasant Grove, Balch Springs and Seagoville. "She jumped from one fire right into another," her husband said. She won re-election in 2008 and 2012. During her 12 years the board went through four superintendencies, those of Michael Hinojosa, interim superintendent Alan King, Mike Miles and Hinojosa again, and the district absorbed Wilmer-Hutchins ISD after the Texas Education Agency ordered it closed. Meetings routinely stretched past midnight.

Bingham backed the Teacher Excellence Initiative, a performance-based pay model adopted in 2014 that drew protests from teachers but which district leaders later credited with keeping effective teachers in classrooms. Miguel Solis, who served with her from 2013, said she was willing to make unpopular decisions to put students on a better path. Before stepping aside she wanted to secure an early college programme at W.W. Samuell High School, additions and renovations at Seagoville High School and upgrades at Spruce High School. She did not seek re-election in 2016, was honoured with fellow outgoing trustee Eric Cowan at a reception before her last meeting on 26 May 2016, and was succeeded in District 4 by Jaime Resendez.

Bingham was married to Jimmy Bingham. They had a son, Craig, who is married to Kim, and a daughter, Lisa, and she had numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a member of the Kleberg Neighborhood Alliance and was involved in Bible study and a women's ministry at her church. An avid gardener, she filled the garden beds at the family home with flowers.

Bingham is remembered as a trustee who brought a full classroom career to the Dallas ISD board, a perspective colleagues said most board members lacked. Education advocates credit the policies she supported, including performance-based teacher pay, with laying the groundwork for the district's later academic turnaround, and her advocacy helped bring new programmes and facilities to schools in southeast Dallas, Seagoville and Pleasant Grove.