K-12 Funding and Administration

Will the Real Jesus Please Rise Up and Kick John Wiley Price in the Junk?

They say the devil can quote scripture as well as the righteous, which helps explain the confusion sown by Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price, who whipped out his New Testament this week and rained thunder down on Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Mike Miles. Price is burni ... More >>

Greg Abbott's Domestic Partner Benefits Ruling Greeted With a Shrug

At first glance -- and second, and third -- Attorney General Greg Abbott's opinion on Monday that cities, counties, and school districts are barred by the Texas Constitution from offering health benefits to the domestic partners of employees would seem to be a stumbling block on the road toward equa ... More >>

Here Are All The Reasons Why Texas Teenagers Can't Seem to Stop Getting Pregnant

Congratulations, Texas! After a lot of hard work and many long nights, we're number one in the nation for repeat teen births. According to the Centers for Disease Control, which released a new report on April 2, in 2010, 22 percent of Texas teenagers aged 15-19 who gave birth were delivering their ... More >>

Months After Prime Prep Hired Former State Board of Education Member, A Lawmaker Aims to Shut the Revolving Door

Sometimes it seems like all we ever do here at Unfair Park is bitch about the dastardly and frivolous legislation our elected representatives concoct down at the capitol. But not every bill sends us lunging for the bottle. Take this measure, filed by Sen. Bob Deuell of Greenville, barring State Boar ... More >>

Texas Public Schools are Still Teaching Ridiculous Things About the Bible

Six years ago, SMU religious studies professor Mark Chancey teamed with the Texas Freedom Network to produce a report on the Bible classes that were proliferating in the state's public school classrooms. Chancey's not-very-surprising finding was that these classes were not so much even-handed, acad ... More >>

No, Six-Gun-Toting Teachers Will not Rove DISD Campuses (Updated)

As we reported earlier, newly elected state Representative Jason Villalba announced his intention to file legislation allowing Texas school districts to arm trained faculty and staff members. "School marshals," I think he calls them. In case you were wondering whether we might see ol' Coach prowlin ... More >>

Texas Lawmakers Beware: The American Federation of Teachers is Coming for You

Last spring on the steps of the State Capitol, it was possible to buy a highly metaphorical cupcake, one that would cost you just $100 million. The "Billion Dollar Bake Sale" was put together by an outfit called Save Texas Schools, and it was meant to draw attention to the $5.4 billion Texas lawmak ... More >>

Gail Spurlock, the State Ed Board Candidate Who Thinks Pilgrims Were Commies, Didn't Graduate from College

You know Gail Spurlock for finally revealing to the world that the Pilgrims were not only a persecuted religious minority who established a beachhead of European settlement in North America but were, more importantly, communists. It's why they died. This wouldn't have been terribly newsworthy were S ... More >>

George Clayton Is Not Giving Up His State Board of Education Seat Without a Fight

Back in May, longtime Dallas Independent School District educator George Clayton was defeated in State Board of Education reelection bid, apparently ending his all-too-brief, redistricting-shortened two-year term. The loss was partly because he was badly outspent by Tincy Miller in her attempt to r ... More >>

The North Dallas Plot to Take Over DISD

Rich, white, North Dallas businessmen are plotting to take over Dallas' schools. Maybe this time it'll work.

Jennifer Sprague, DISD's New Communications Chief, Will Make $185,000 a Year. Yes, That's Too Much.

Big front-pager in today's Morning News about how Mike Miles, Dallas ISD's new superintendent, will pay his new communications chief, Jennifer Sprague, $185,000 a year. The general consensus among those interviewed for the story: Holy hell that's a lot of money for that job. Which makes sense becaus ... More >>

Mike Rawlings Endorses DISD Candidates, Continues His Wade into District Politics

Much has been made of Mayor Mike Rawlings' foray into Dallas Independent School District politics in recent months. Depending on who's talking, his involvement is either the leadership and commitment this city needs to save its schools; another sign of the business community's hostile takeover of th ... More >>

State Board of Education Candidate: Pilgrims Were Communists, And That's Why They Died

Allow us to introduce Gail Spurlock, a Republican from Richardson seeking her party's nom for the State Board of Education seat. She has some interesting things to say about history in this interview with the North Texas Council, a group "concerned with the direction our country is taking with regar ... More >>

DISD (And A Whole Lot of Other School Districts) Not Buying Cheating Allegations From The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

On Monday, we told you the Atlanta Journal-Constitution had published a broad investigation concluding that hundreds of school districts, including Dallas Independent School District, displayed "troubling test patterns" that could indicate widespread cheating. That day, DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander ... More >>

Investigation of Standardized-Test Cheating Finds "Troubling Patterns" in Dallas ISD Scores

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a sweeping investigation over the weekend of possible cheating on standardized tests in dozens of school districts across the country, and Dallas Independent School District made an appearance. The AJC examined test results for 69,000 schools in 49 states ... More >>

In Dallas ISD, Algebra for (Almost) Everyone on the Bridge Over the Opportunity Gap

Make no mistake: The achievement gap is still a seemingly uncrossable gorge, and minority students in Dallas and across the country are still pretty much hosed. But in a few key areas at least, black and Latino students are slightly less hosed here than they are in other large, urban school district ... More >>

Dallas ISD Board to Consider Allowing Ads In Schools. Just Nothing "Obscene," Please.

​We first touched on this back in June -- the possibility that the Dallas Independent School District might turn its schools and buses into billboards, because, hey, every penny counts these days. And while, oh, Morgan Spurlock might think it's a terrible idea ("Are we going to live in a time wher ... More >>

Hurrah for a Hero at DISD

​May I offer one more word about Joseph Drake, the Dallas teacher put on suspension last week after sending an argumentative email to school board member Edwin ("Snidely Whiplash") Flores? Fourth-grade teacher Joseph Drake, who told Flores that his depiction of teachers as lazy slug-a-beds w ... More >>

Survey Says Texas Schools Are Now a Little Less Awful at Teaching Students Sex Education

​Just three years ago, 94 percent of the state's school districts told their kiddos: Just say no to sex. And that was that when it came to sex ed -- abstinence only and nothing but, which was working out real well considering that Texas's teen-pregnancy rate was the third-highest in all the land. ... More >>

Report to Higher Ed. Board: Politically Charged Curriculum Not Preparing Kids For College

​Get ready for remedial history, college-bound Texans, because the statewide blueprint that dictates what you learn in high school isn't doing you any favors -- a longstanding tradition in public secondary education, according to a report prepared for the Texas Board of Higher Education. A 19 ... More >>

Dallas ISD Versus the World: Playing Around With the Bush Institute's "Global Report Card"

From the Global Report Card/George W. Bush Institute​The George W. Bush Institute this morning unveiled its Global Report Card, which compares and contrasts 13,636 U.S. school districts with their in-state peers and national and international counterparts. Long story short: U.S. school districts, ... More >>

New Texas Education Law Could Help Render Board of Ed Culture Wars Obsolete

The State Board tried to save McCarthy's legacy, and this is how we treat them?​The jury's still out, but the fact fetishists at the Texas Freedom Network seem to think that the recently enacted Senate Bill 6 may help neuter the historically science-averse state Board of Education. The law pr ... More >>

Maybe DISD Super Hinojosa Is a "Rock Star"?

Patrck Michels​Back in September, when Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa was being considered for the Las Vegas gig, trustee Edwin Flores told Unfair Park: "He's a hot commodity. Outside of Dallas he's a rock star." A few Friends of Unfair Park with long memories ... More >>

TEA Looking at Letting School Districts Draw From Fund Balance During Budget Crisis

Commissioner of Education Robert Scott​About a month ago, Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon Dahlander told Unfair Park that even during this current budget crisis, the district has no intention of touching its fund balance, which, he said, should sit at somewhere near the $100-milli ... More >>

DISD Super Testifying in Austin This Morning

​At this very moment, the state Senate Committee on Education -- which includes chair Florence Shapiro, John Carona and Royce West -- is hearing testimony related to these seven Senate bills, most of which would let school districts increase class size and give teachers furlough days and further f ... More >>

DISD Trustee Eric Cowan On "Mass Layoffs," "The New Reality" and How We Got Here

Patrick MichelsEric Cowan​Dallas Independent School District trustee Eric Cowan's first blog entry of 2011 is a sobering follow-up to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa's budget-gutting presentation to the board on Thursday: "The Economics of Public Education." There's no easy way to sum it up, as Co ... More >>

In Light of Budget Shortfall, Dallas ISD Trustees' Resolution to "Make Education a Priority"

​Earlier this afternoon, over on the DISD Blog, Matthew Haag posted a memo Dallas Independent School District sent to district employees Friday, in which the super warned: The state's mammoth budget shortfall could result in "a staggering $180-$200 million" being excised from the district's budget ... More >>

Dallas ISD One of Five U.S. Districts to See Slice of $3 Mil Aimed at Feeding Kids Breakfast

​This morning, the D.C.-based Food Research and Action Center released a report -- School Breakfast in America's Big Cities 2011 -- that takes a look at the free-breakfast programs in 29 of the nation's largest school districts, including the Dallas Independent School District. Says the study, dur ... More >>

Dallas ISD Just Announced Its New Chief Financial Officer On the Facebook

​And his name is Alan King. My mom'll be thrilled -- she's a big fan of the late comic. Ah, wait. Wrong one, of course. No, this is the current deputy superintendent of the Lewisville Independent School District, who replaces the headin'-back-to-Austin Larry Throm. Before he was up in Lewisville, ... More >>

Who says Arizona's SB1070 is Anti-Mexican? Besides Everybody, We Mean.

The Bush Institute Wants to Train Half the Country's Principals. D.C. Schools' Ex-Supe Kerri Briggs Tells Us How They'll Do It.

Kerri Briggs Speaking of the Bush Institute ...Its new director for education reform, Kerri Briggs, has been on the job for about two weeks now, after abruptly leaving her old job as D.C.'s state superintendent of education -- jumping ship from lame-duck mayor Adrian Fenty's administration almost a ... More >>

Dallas Independent School District Announces It Has Its Largest Budget Surplus, Like, Ever

​Shortly after the Clark County School District's board of trustees announced that Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa is a finalist for the top job there, the super released a statement in which he said, among other things:Tomorrow, we will announce our final budget ... More >>

Hinojosa "Humbled and Honored" to Be Finalist for Clark County Superintendent's Gig

Patrick MichelsPatrick took this photo this morning at the Jubilee Park event. I knew it would come in handy.​A few minutes ago, the Clark County School District announced: Sure enough, Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa's a finalist for the superintendent's job the ... More >>

DISD Superintendent Hinojosa Comments -- Kinda -- on Reports That He's Moving to Vegas

​I was on the phone with a Dallas Independent School Board trustee just seconds ago -- a trustee, mind you, who had not heard there were reports and a yeah-sure-maybe? that DISD Superintendent Michael Hinjosa's outta here, possibly as early as tomorrow, to take the Las Vegas gig -- when the follow ... More >>

On L.A.'s Skid Row, a generational war over how to teach the American children of illegal immigrants

School Board Trustee Carla Ranger Says DISD's Minimum Grade Policy Violates State Law

DISD trustee Carla Ranger​Three years ago, or shortly before the Dallas Independent School District introduced its "effort-based" grading policy, the school board reminded teachers: They were not to give students a grade lower than a 50 for any one grading period. As the great Kent Fischer noted, ... More >>

So, Texas-Style Learnin' isn't Good Enough for Californee? We're So Proud.

DISD CFO Says Budget's Balanced, District's Better Off Than City of Dallas, But, Still ...

​Speaking of the city's $131.1-million shortfall ...That very subject came up last night at the first DISD Budget Town Hall Meeting held at Walnut Hill Elementary, where school district staffers, principals and board members far outnumbered parents. (There were, maybe, 10 people in the audience no ... More >>

What'll It Be, George Clayton? A Further Look at Education Board's "Wild Card."

Your newest member of the State Board of Education, George Clayton​It took a while for Patrick "Buzz" Williams to get State Board of Education candidate George Clayton on the phone before the GOP primary earlier this month, but he finally did -- long enough to ask the North Dallas High School teac ... More >>

Grading on a Curve, or: How Old Do Those State Board of Education Candidates Think the Earth Is, Anyway? Let's Ask!

State Board of Education candidate Thomas Ratliff (and family), who thinks the earth is plenty old​Well, who knew? The eyes of Texas have been focused on the GOP primary race between Governor Rick Perry and challenger Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison as the ultimate throwdown between far right and ... More >>

Mary Kay Did Discover the Earth Was Pink

​Friend of Unfair Park The Big Guy just shot us an e-mail with the subject header "Mary Kay > Christopher Columbus." Also contained within his missive: a link to this Associated Press story about the brewing battle over State Board of Education's new social studies curriculum standards, for whi ... More >>

Civility is the Last Thing the DISD Board Needs

Sikh and Tired of School Bullies

​The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas just sent word that the organization, in coordination with a U.N.-affiliated advocacy group called United Sikhs, sent out a letter warning Texas school districts -- including DISD -- to protect Sikh students from discrimination or bullying. The miss ... More >>

State of the DISD Address, or: You Can't Have the Good Without Some of the Bad

Kimberly ThorpeAt the Belo Mansion this morning, Michael Hinojosa touched on everything from educational gains to the juvenile curfew.​Last time we checked, there wasn't much to laugh about when it came to the state of public education in Dallas. But leave it to Dallas Independent School Distr ... More >>

Stand-Up Guys

The Final Countdown

Rock the vote and party in Dallas

Battle Against Teaching Evolution in Texas Begins

Should creationism win out, textbooks throughout the country–not just Texas–will challenge the theory of evolution in science curricula