Rain-Dancing DISD Super Michael Hinojosa Invokes Popeye at Save Texas Schools Rally

• StopDISDOrg: Everyone knows what the current BoT mod of operation is: screw up or cr*p all over whatever is going on, then demand money to fix it, then shower that money on construction cronies. Money in, money out. Favors in, votes out. Disgusting

• Preston Hollor you are so right! Our O.M. Roberts school is under student enrollment and DISD proceeds to demolish it to build an 800 capacity school after spending 2.6 (m) in renovations. Citizens, Voters, Taxpayers please open your eyes...DISD get's and "F" in math they want to blame Austin, but think about this problem...the answer for this problem is DISD and the money managers they are to blame for the crisis in Dallas and it's time for DISD to listen to what its taxpayers are saying! Contact your elected DISD official and tell them we say NO to wasting our tax dollars; No! to destroying our newly renovated schools; NO to destroying our neighborhoods to put in parking lots in-between homes! Yes! to utilizing our tax dollars to better educate our children; Yes! to greater compensation for our teachers; and Yes! to preserving our beloved O.M. Roberts and our neighborhood!

• DISD Teacher is correct. Do you guys forget that the shenanigans with Hiney, Flores, and the BoT started waaaaaaaaay before the Tea Partiers? It cannot be said enough: The DISD takes in over $1 BILLION DOLLARS. It's studnet population is shrinking. Yet it still needs MORE money and MORE schools? Gritch at Perry and Austin all you want. If you get your way, you might (just maybe possibly hopefully) kick the can down the road a year, maybe two. But the same old problems will always crop up as long as Hiney and Flores keep getting their way. And you guys are falling right in their trap. The BoT has completely mismanaged the District and they've got you yelling and screaming at Austin. You guys are Hinojosa and Flores' dream come true.

• "public sediment" I don't know if that was a typo or intentional, but either way, I'm stealing it. Genius.

• Thank you DISD Teacher for telling it like it is. DISD is trying to divert the truth and in the mean time they're still 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 plan 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. DISD's contractors (FRIENDS) building new schools won't see any shortage of funds coming in..NO Pay cuts for them! There are alternate plans, but DISD refuses to consider them instead they rather waste our tax dollars! We do NOT want to keep paying for unnecessary new schools and renovations when the state of DISD’s education system is still in dire need of its own repair. We want DISD to focus on improving the quality of education for our students and work on increasing the compensation for our teachers NOT destroying our historical schools and neighborhoods! 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

• Yeah, see, that's the point: we could cut a lot and never affect 1 child. There really is that much fat in DISD administration.

• Don't know about code compliance, but much of the stock has diminished in Lake Highlands. Seems Kit Lane, or whatever NW of 75 & LBJ and Buckner have large low income apts.

• Richardson is doing well in many ways and although I realize that this is a sensitive topic for this media site, my understanding is that many potentially ghetto-esque apt complexes which did not come up to city codes are no longer around.

• I live in RISD. Our district seems to be doing fine. I know there will be a few layoffs, but they have managed to live within their means. They haven't built a high school in 40 years, and have but two sets of athletic facilities.

• YES MA'AM TEACHER. You tell it like it is. I'm still trying to forget Yvonne Gonzales.

• There's certainly more than enough blame to go around--Perry, the Legislature, the BOT and Hinojosa at the local level. But the bottom line is a bunch of schoolkids shouldn't have to pay for it.

• So are you okay with Hinojosa being the highest paid superintendent in the state in spite of DISD's horrible reputation and actual performance? Are you okay with kids crammed 40 to a class while Hinojosa has a driver and 2 secretaries and a $200,000 a year "Chief of Staff"? Are you okay with the fact that Claudia Rodriguez, an administrator, may get $60,000 worth of raises in less than 12 months time? Do you think the billion dollars (literally one billion) DISD already gets could not actually be enough to run a shrinking district? These are simple yes or no questions. I see your posts lambasting Republicans and the Tea Partiers, but I never see you address the excesses that have led to this "crisis". Forget the politics: Do you think the school board is spending the money wisely? At what point do you say "enough" to the school board members and the superintendent who are blowing through all this money like anthills of cocaine?

• Hate to interrupt all the political bashing going on here, but the fact remains: Whether to cut administrators or teachers in DISD is a decision made by the DISD School Board members. The same people who gave $77,000 worth of raises to 3 people in December. The same people who voted to extend their own terms. The same people who brought us an excessively expensive version of bilingual ed, complete with the "need" for European travel (to Spain!). The same people who are building schools that will sit empty so construction friends get our tax dollars. Go to Austin. Yell at Perry and all the Republicans. Completely empty the rainy day fund. But when that money is gone and our superintendent is still the most highly paid in the state in spite of DISD's dismal performance, when all the consultants cash their checks, and when beleagured taxpayers see their private school tuition rise along with their school taxes, what then? Our school board is DISD's problem. DISD takes in ONE BILLION DOLLARS a year. Maybe if they didn't blow so much of it, there wouldn't be a crisis. How self-serving of Hinojosa to demand more money when he is grossly overpaid and the district he runs serves up failure after scandal after debacle.

• Yeah, you might want to take another look at the old white crowd in that video before you try making that argument.

• Pretty sure that's been universally rejected by everyone but fringe birthers in my corner, too.

• "I love the state more than you do" is.

• And I recall the usual suspects acting like it was tantamount to treason to do so. And now everyone on the right side has to be real careful not to hint at anything like that lest they be condemned as a Neanderthal. The other side... not so much.

• I'm guessing if anyone in the Tea Party was actually young enough to have a pre-teen to trot out they could, or did. But the great majority of TPer's are over the age of 60.

• Imagine the giggles if the Tea Party trotted some pre-teen out at some rally to say: "Mr. Obama. I know you love this country. But I love it more. And your taxing and spending is going to rob my generation blind in a few years." But when the Liberals do it, everyone is suppose to be moved to tears.

• So now, "I know you love this state" is questioning someone's patriotism? We've come a long way since "liberals hate America" only a few years back.

• I seem to recall national republican neocons questioning the patriotism of anyone for either party who questioned the invasion of Iraq. Personally, I don't believe Perry is driven by ideology, he was originally a democrat after all. He switched sides when the public sediment in Texas shifted to the right. I believe he is just another power-hungry politician doing whatever it takes to increase his own power and enrich his friends, family and contributors from the public troth.

• Guess you've been down for the count for the last two years of non-stop Obama-is-a-foreign-born-America-hating-terrorist bullshit we've all been subjected to. Pretty sure that came from your corner, dude.

• <i>Dear Governor Perry, I know you love this state, but there are millions of us who love it every bit as much and <b>maybe more.</b></i> Ah, yes, the questioning of patriotism -- OK as long as you are questioning a Republican's patriotism.

• The problem needs to be attacked on multiple fronts: 1. Short-term, tapping the rainy day fund is probably necessary. 2. Close the various loopholes in the business tax that caused the shortfall in the first place. (Or you could uncap property taxes, but good luck with that.) 3. Kill all "bilingual" (wink wink) programs beyond say third grade. They do not achieve their stated objective, nor were they intended to anyhow. That would save a ton of money that could cover other costs, plus we would finally ditch a system that is based on political pandering, not educational theory. 4. Kill the state accountability system (AEIS/GPA/PEG). You have to follow AYP from the feds anyway, so no sense spending money on two systems. Having the two systems is also quite confusing.

• This kid definitely has a career in politics ahead...no fear. :) I hope somebody comes up with a better solution than the "rainy day" fund. It's a band-aid that will fall off in a couple of years before the wound has healed.

TotalComments: 25