Dallas ISD Wants Your Suggestions On How to Trim $253 Million From the Budget ...

By Robert Wilonsky Wed., Feb. 23 2011 at 3:51 PM

Categories: Edumication News

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... 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 the district's made public so far -- all the PowerPoints related to possible teacher layoffs, further info about the $10,000 buyout offer ("If approved by trustees, employees will need to personally deliver a signed S-54 form to the Human Resources department ..."), all the Austin-based consultants' presentations given to district officials ... a real, um, clearinghouse.

As for those suggestions, says the district:

Your thoughts and ideas are important as the district examines its options to work through this important budgetary issue and process.

During the next few months, this site will be a clearinghouse for all matters related to the creation of the 2011-2012 budget. Let us know what information you would like included on this Clearinghouse, and send us your ideas and suggestions for budget cuts.

I'm just gonna cut and paste the last two weeks' worth of comments, 255 characters at a time.

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Install solar panels on schools. Electric company would then pay the Dallas ISD each month. How great is that!!!
Give 8 tardies equal 1 unexcused absence. Less parental trouble and classes. Less bitching about long long carpool lines too. It's a win for everyone.
Funny, the kids themselves would immediately recognize this for what it is: a bounce house for their parents, designed to harmlessly bleed off all that excess energy from being frustrated at the district. Okay, me next - bad, BAD district! Boing! Boing! Boing!
"... but keep it short -- you only get 255 characters." Classic DISD. They really, really, really, really want to hear from you. Just keep it to one character per million dollars of budget shortfall. If they really, really, really want to hear from us, they'd sit down with Dallas Friends of Public Education. DFPE is ALREADY out in front of this issue with real solutions. They want to make it look like they are listening but they gin it so that no one can really say anything.
Why is the Superintendent's salary listed in the budget as $715,517? He expecting another raise?
Eliminate the Police Department. DISD is top heavy, so a lot of the administration staff can be eliminated. Teachers should be the last thing looked at in the budget because they are most important.
Or, Miller Lite Senior High.
hey, robert, that's what we got you for. your's supposed to print these out and stuff them into the DISD suggestion box, right?
DISD is wasting tax dollars on renovating schools only to turn around and destroy them. After spending millions in renovations for historical schools like O.M. Roberts they turn around and decide to demolish and spend more of our tax dollars on new schools. That is a waste! In addition to the reckless demolition of the remodeled O.M. Roberts school, DISD has already succeeded in seizing some of the property in the Jubilee Park community. Now DISD is saying that it will keep those properties only to demolish to make room for parking lots - right in between the remaining homes! More tax dollars wasted to demolish homes, trees, prepare land for a concrete wasteland. The contractors (DISD's friends) working on the new schools won't see any shortage of funds coming in..NO Pay cuts for them! Learn More at www.StopDISD.org Click on the link below to view Satire Video on DISD's Land Grab http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ms3yWn-BkI
What's that guys name in charge? He does speaka da english, right?
Another bonus of the bilingual program: If there is 1 language arts teacher for 1st or 2nd, or 3rd, or 4th grade or 5th, that teacher has to be bilingual to serve the Spanish-speakers. If your child is NOT a Spanish speaker, well too bad for your child. He/she will be taught by a person who very likely does not have a total grasp of English, American children's literature, etc. That could happen to your child every year in elementary school. If your child falls behind other 4th graders (for example) in the nation, you won't know it unless you demand the ITBS be given to your child. ITBS scores, by the way, have been trending down in DISD, coinciding with the advent of the Gomez Gomez model roosting in DISD.
I think the restraining order still prevents me from doing so.
Well, it depends. DISD is doing their damnedest to eliminate English as a Second Language. They want to teach kids who hear Spanish at home to learn in Spanish. So, not much is spent on ESL. Instead, from Kinder to 5th, any child whose parent marks "Speaks Spanish at Home" on a form is instantly slotted into a bilingual class, complete with a teacher recruited from Spain or somewhere. The teacher is often fluent in academic Spanish (which most DISD kids don't hear or speak even at home), but the teacher is usually not very fluent at all English, which is okay since no one monitors them to make sure they're teaching a bit of the day in English. The children have math in English; everything else is in Spanish. They're supposed to gradually add in more English every year, but when kids and the teacher aren't very comfortable in English, everyone just lays low and speaks Spanish. These "bilingual" teachers (they are not required to take an English proficiency test) get paid more, plus they get up to $5000 stipends. On top of that, the district takes care of their INS attorneys, paperwork, and finding a place to live. Don't forget the cost to travel the globe searching for these bilingual teachers. And the good news? They are now talking about EXTENDING this Spanish ghetto through middle school. More trips, more teachers, all new Spanish textbooks at the middle school level, more INS forms, etc. Too bad the SATs aren't given in Spanish, since that's the only language these kids will be fluent in. And even if the SATs were in Spanish, do you think most college classes are offered in Spanish? Edwin Flores is a huge, huge supporter of this broken model that teachers, the state of CA, and the state of AZ have already tried and abandoned. It's called the Gomez and Gomez model. Looks great on paper. Immersion is the only thing that works. Everyone knows it, but no one profits from it. And no global travel....
DISD Clearinghouse, aka Black Hole
Gosh--and only 13 days after the Dallas Friends of Public Education started a public campaign to gather and present the issues to the administration and trustees.... www.dfpe.org
Sell naming rights to the schools. ExxonMobil Elementary doesn't sound so bad if it means there aren't 240 students crammed into a single classroom! And like the kids would know who Ashley Madison really is anyway.
Really, I appreciate all the suggestions. But make sure you at least copy the district on 'em? http://www.dallasisd.org/finoutlook/feedback.cfm They can do more with them than I.
First, get rid of the Superintendent. What a waste of money he is! Then hire someone who understands finance and accounting to run the school district. The superintendent should be a "money person," not a teacher with no financial experience. DISD is a complex financial organization. It needs a financial professional sterring the ship. Then go back to basics, reading, writing and arthimetic. If someone wants to learn something else, let them pay for it. No pre-K. Let churches fill that gap. And finally eliminate the sports programs. Once again, if someone wants to play a sport, let them find a club team and pay for it themselves. But first, get rid of what's his name! And by the way, if more than three children from one address, make the parents pay a surcharge for the extras!
Stop the bilingual classes that have as few as 6 children Revisit resources spent on Bilingual as oppose to ESL Stop Stiphens Stop recruiting from foreign countries Cut administration salaries and numbers Stop having "supervisors" that supervise 1 or 2 people (check maintenance) Stop trying to get rid of experience teachers and look at "Teach for America", etc. Reevaluate all contracts - technology, consulting,supplies,maintenance, food, etc Drop PK for now Reevalute Sports Programs Delay any additonal building of schools that have not started, only work on renovations Reevaluate bond repayment Fire some of the outside council Remove all unfilled positions from HR list Reevalute Management of each department (Maintenance for example has atlease 3 top level managers) Ask the employees (not just the teachers, but support staff also) how can the district save Have Public Meetings
Might as well bring back Gonzalez, at leasts she found money to buy nice furniture.
How much does DISD spend anually on ESL?