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 have disagreed, but the district…
State Sen. Royce West was there; so too Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, former mayoral candidate and “homeless czar” Tom Dunning, Arts District exec director Veletta Lill and an Alan Peppard’s column worth of bold-faced bigwigs with deep pockets. The affair, spread over the Booker T. Washington High School for the…
Last night, Robert teased us all with the news that Lynn Moak, from Dallas ISD’s lobbyist-consultant group Moak Casey & Associates, would be taking a seat before trustees this afternoon with an update from Austin on the Legislature’s attempts to finesse away the state’s budget shortfall. Earlier estimates, you’ll recall,…
From the looks of the bare-bones agenda, the Board of Trustees Budget Workshop doesn’t appear to be all that exciting, especially when you consider that tangible answers about the budget-cutting to come are still a couple of months off. But this evening I called Dallas Independent School District spokesman Jon…
On Friday we were introduced to the Dallas Independent School District’s Citizens Budget Review Commission, a 10-member group selected by the school board and Superintendent Michael Hinojosa that’s been tasked with helping the administration find places to slash and burn the budget — without losing teachers, at least as far…
Two weeks ago Bill Zedler, state rep for District 96 in Arlington, tossed into the legislative heap House Bill 2454, which would prohibit “discrimination by public institutions of higher education against faculty members and students based on their conduct of research relating to intelligent design.” It was referred to the…
On Friday, the Dallas Independent School District unveiled its line-up for the first-ever Citizens Budget Review Commission, a trustee-appointed group charged with helping the school district find ways to cut the budget — without, it would appear, trimming teachers. Channel 11 was on the scene for last night’s first meeting…
Two weeks back we noted that at least one person had already been appointed to the Dallas Independent School District’s first-ever Citizens Budget Review Commission: Dallas Friends of Public Education’s Mike MacNaughton. The commission, made up of trustee appointees, was a board brainstorm in an effort to find fresh eyes…
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-million mark. Explained Dahlander, the DISD’s reserve fund is not…
By now you’ve read this (I hope), and it now appears the governor’s going to allow the state Lege to take $3.2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to pay down some of that budget shortfall, which may just save a few teachers’ jobs. But Michael Quinn Sullivan, president of…
One week ago today we took a look at Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores’s proposal to rework how the district determines who its “best teachers” are before mass layoffs begin courtesy the state’s budget shortfall. After which it went before the board at Thursday’s briefing. After which it…
Dallas Independent School District Superintendent Michael Hinojosa was among those who spoke Saturday in front of the guesstimated 12,000-plus parents, educators and students amassed in front of the state capitol building in Austin. His brief remarks are above. They am what they am. Dalton Sherman spoke after the super and…
Superintendent Media Availability from Dallas Independent School Dist on Vimeo.When I asked Jim for his take on yesterday’s board briefing at 3700 Ross Avenue, this was his initial pass: “My interpretation of the day’s events is that we are all dangling on the end of Rick Perry’s yo-yo string and…
Jim — lucky — is at 3700 Ross at this very moment, where the trustees are doing a little math involving employees and enrollment. Moments ago, Carla Ranger wanted to know: If enrollment has dropped, why has the number of employees grown? She didn’t get the answer she wanted; she…
Twice in recent weeks I’ve heard Dallas ISD trustee Edwin Flores discuss his proposal to rework how the district determines who its “best teachers” are — the first time, when we spoke two weeks ago about the district’s offer to buy out full-timers, then again at his budget town hall…
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 flexibility in…
When Dallas Independent School District Michael Hinojosa initially told the school board last month about the coming budget cuts that could result in the district laying off 3,100 on-campus full-timers and some 600 at 3700 Ross, he warned that under the so-called “worst-case scenario,” the losses could add up to…
At last week’s budget town hall, Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores took a thinly veiled shot at U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett, who he did not name, over the $830 million in federal Education Jobs Fund money presently sitting in D.C. As Flores told it, Doggett’s blocking the money…
Fired up over the very real chance that nearly half the teachers at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts could be let go, senior Korey Elizabeth Parker paced the Wyly Theater stage last night, letting the crowd know that in the coming budget battle, she…
While we await some return phone calls, this just in: There’s a “community meeting” scheduled for tomorrow night to discuss possible cuts at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing & Visual Arts. Per the Dallas Friends of Public Education, the meeting — which I’ve been told is really…
FOX & Friends, starring Channel 5’er-turned-Daily Show punching bag Gretchen Carlson, ran a piece this morning on Dallas ISD’s up-to-$10,000 buyout incentive offered to teachers through March 8. As soon as I saw the name of the teacher interviewed (Beverly Stergeos) I hit The Google! to see where she works;…
View more videos at: http://www.nbcdfw.com.Above is KXAS-Channel 5’s story from last night about teachers who camped out at 3700 Ross last night to sign up at 8 this morning for their up-to-$10,000 buyout; on the other side is WFAA-Channel 8’s. In both I see my son’s kindergarten, first-grade and art…
