New Site Lets You Look at Numbers Crunched by DISD's Citizen Budget Review Group

By Robert Wilonsky Fri., Apr. 8 2011 at 8:22 AM

Courtesy Dallas Independent School District

At left, Steven Korby, director of DISD's financial services, chats up Chief Financial Officer Alan King before the first commission meeting in late March.

Who knows how seriously the Dallas Independent School District's board of trustees will take the suggestions of the board-appointed Citizens Budget Review Commission -- which, as far as Carla Ranger's concerned, exists in large part to push the super's charter-school agenda. In the end, the commission has no real authority. It exists to pore over the budget, find the waste and excess that exists at 3700 Ross, recommend some cuts here and some retooling there and hope the board's willing to nut up and play Dave Kovic to its Murray Blum as it finds ways to lose $86 to $150 million, best case, from the budget.

And you can play along: Mike MacNaughton of Dallas Friends of Public Education -- and trustee Bruce Parrott's appointee to the commission -- sends word that, why, just this morning he's launched the unofficial "public portal and blog" of the Citizens Budget Review Commission. Writes MacNaughton:

The site is a repository of the documents that Dallas ISD is providing to the Commission Members ...and also provides the data from public suggestions and an interactive Blog that is sure to generate interesting comments and questions. So, tell your friends and family and other concerned taxpayers that you now have a seat at the budget table at DISD -- feast or famine your participation is important!

The commission meets every Monday and has done so three times so far; the documents section lets you see what they've been looking at and the kinds of questions they've been asking of the district (along with some of the responses). You can also see the more than 140 suggestions the DFPE received since putting out the call in February, among them: "Consider a 9 hour school day instead of a 7 hour school day, but only have school 4 days a week" and "fire all academic coaches" and "stop busing kids that are not handicapped."

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StopDISDorg

DISD could save lots of our tax dollars if they would only listen to the voters and taxpayers!

DISD MUST STOP wasting our tax dollars on renovating schools that will be demolished. Like the newly renovated O.M. Roberts. Millions were spent to renovate the school now DISD wants to demolish it and spend another 22 million to reconstruct a new one. Why not finish the renovations instead of wasting more tax dollars. Bond monies will be used for this project, but if the citizens, voters and taxpayers had a choice they would revote to keep our teachers, revote for better education and revote for preservation.

And...in addition to the reckless demolition of the O. M. Roberts school DISD also seized homes residing behind the school only to destroy them to put in parking lots / playgrounds in-between the remaining homes. Does that make sense?

**NOTE DISD sent the residents letters in November informing them that their property was no longer needed, but DISD moves forward on spending millions to pave in a concrete wasteland in-between homes.

The contractors doing these renovations and building new schools/parking lots are not suffering through any budget crisis.

Also, over 1,600 signatures were submitted to DISD for DISD to consider an alternate solution that IS available, but they refuse to consider it.

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...

Doug

A moron who used to run the Lancaster ISD proposed a 4 day school week to save money...but of course when he was challanged by the board to explain how that would save money...he was unable to do so. After all, you still have to pay everybody. If memory serves, a district also needs permission from the state to do so, teacher contracts have to be modified, etc. Bottom line...it saves virtually nothing.