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…
Last night, the Dallas Independent School District board of trustees approved that buyout plan for on-campus full-timers wanting to take the money and run before they’re laid off. At which point, the district handed to principals a FAQ, which the Dallas Friends of Public Education posted to its website this…
Had a long talk with Dallas Independent School District trustee Edwin Flores today about a lot of things, some of which I’ll get to tomorrow. But before tonight’s board meeting, I figured it was worth sharing at least this one thing — our chat about the proposal to pay the…
… but keep it short — you only get 255 characters.Oh, yeah — the district also just launched its 2011-12 Dallas ISD Financial Outlook website, which I told you yesterday was on its way. The DISD’s calling it a “Districtwide Clearinghouse of Ideas and Information.” You’ll find pretty much everything…
It’s been a long while since Dallas Independent School District District 6 trustee served up a hot sports opinion on her blog. But given the looming “new reality” that has led to trustees being asked to consider giving teachers $10 million to scoot before they’re fired, Ranger can hold her…
Potted palms and wildflowers flanked the podium at the Ann Richards Middle School construction site this morning, where Dallas Independent School District officials talked about the energy efficiency, sustainable landscape, an exterior sundial that will make the school a landmark of green design. Of course, that’s not the kind of…
When last I looked at the Dallas Independent School District board’s meeting agenda for Thursday, there was no item offering to pay some 1,000 teachers up to $10,000 to take early retirement under the so-called “new reality.” But, sure enough, it’s there now, as Tawnell Hobbs noted this morning: “Consider…
WFAA-Channel 8 ran an “exclusive” last night recapping some of the potential staffing cuts on Dallas ISD campuses, should the super’s worst-case scenario become reality. Of course, those are the same grim numbers Dallas Friends of Public Education had already posted to its website — cuts ranging from a possible…
Inside Track February 2011 from Dallas Independent School Dist on Vimeo.What you see above is a video the Dallas Independent School District just posted to Vimeo in which district spokesman Jon Dahlander asks Michael Hinojosa to discuss the “staggering” worst-case scenario outlined at the board meeting two weeks ago. I…
Texas Trib’s editor Evan Smith just posted his lengthy chitchat with three state House first-termers — all Republicans, all from ’round these parts (Dallas’s Stefani Carter, Mesquite’s Cindy Burkett and Grand Prairie’s Rodney Anderson). The full sitdown runs a little more than 37 minutes, but Smith has trimmed out a…
I see the Dallas Independent School District board has pulled from its Thursday meeting to-do list the following consent agenda item: “Consider and Take Possible Action to Approve the 2011-12 Campus Staffing Formulas, Non-Position Campus Formulas, and Non-Campus Staffing Guidelines.” Which, for those who need a refresher, the Dallas Friends…
Brother Bill Holston directed our attention yesterday to the Facebook page of former state Rep. and movie star Allen Vaught, who writes of “organizing a grassroots program focusing on the legislature and DISD to not gut our schools.” I called Vaught at his office at Baron & Budd for more…
The editor of our sister paper in Houston just forwarded along a press release sent out moments ago by the Houston Independent School District: “Arnold Viramontes, the Dallas ISD chief of staff, is coming to HISD to oversee the district’s technology operations.” The entire release follows, but Viramontes, of course,…
What you see above is a video presently making the rounds amongst those of us who live in the T.C. Marsh-W.T. White feeder pattern: Marsh eighth-grade U.S. history teacher Miguel Solis speaking a few days ago at Teach for America’s 20th Anniversary Summit in Washington, D.C. And when I say…
In this morning’s New York Times, James C. McKinley looks at how Texas’s $27-billion budget shortfall is about to devastate districts statewide — while using the same word as Dallas Independent School District Michael Hinojosa only a few days ago to describe the coming cuts: “draconian.” McKinley’s piece comes but…
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 Cowan take a look at how wound up in…
