​At the end of yesterday's lengthy, heated debate over hopping into a bed made of tax-free bonds with Uplift Education, Mayor Mike Rawlings delivered the passionate testimonial Jim and I referenced. Several Friends of Unfair Park have asked to hear the entire thing, the "Our Poor Kids" speech, so I've snipped out the excerpt and dropped it below. Long story short: "I believe freedom is choice, choice creates excellence, and excellence graduates kids." And, far as he can tell, there ain't a lot of excellence in the Dallas Independent School District: "Twelve percent of our students graduating from DISD schools are ready for college. It's only 12 percent. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a problem."

On Monday, Rawlings will debut his Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan, which will include DISD; how, he won't say just yet. But it wasn't long ago that Rawlings offered a sort of sneak peek in The Dallas Morning News, providing the paper with his report card for the district. To summarize: Amongst a few "signs of hope," he wrote, "we have a lot of ground to make up." At which point the mayor laid out a handful of "tactics critical for our success," among them:

Continue to foster our high-performance public charter schools such as Uplift and KIPP, which are growing and preparing students for college at a record pace. We must find facilities for them to expand.

The entire city council will be briefed on the Uplift bond issue next week, after which there will be a vote the following Wednesday -- Carolyn Davis v. Mike Rawlings, rounds two and three. As the mayor said yesterday, "This is a tough time in this city."More >>

"We will not be great city unless DISD becomes a great school district."

​This was a good day -- such days do occur -- to study democracy in action at Dallas City Hall. The city council engaged in a smart debate on a proposal to help a charter school organization sell bonds to build more charter schools.

The mayor and council decided not to decide. If you listened to the whole thing, you had to agree with the final non-decision.

This was all about a group called Uplift Education asking the city to give a certain kind of legal imprimatur to Uplift's upcoming attempt to borrow a bunch of money to build new schools. If the city ever agrees, Uplift will be able to borrow the money at a lower interest rate.

According to the lawyers for Uplift and to city staff, the city will never be on the hook for anything even if Uplift gets in trouble making its payments.

Seems like one, two, three, right? The city creates this legal agreement to "sponsor" Uplift's borrowing. That way Uplift saves $300,000 on its mortgage. Uplift spends the three hundred grand on kids and classrooms instead. No skin off the city's nose.

The problem was that somebody tried to slide this whole thing under the council's nose. Whoever was running it, they stayed silent on the issue until the very last moment, beyond the time when the city council would be able to ask a lot of questions. Then they said they had a big deadline and everything had to be approved immediately. Then they slipped it into a part of the city council voting agenda that normally is reserved for small housekeeping items most council members don't even look at.

So what did all of that accomplish? It made the whole operation smell like a Nigerian banking scam. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that Uplift also is involved right now in an effort to build a school in the middle of a bar and entertainment district in what skeptics in that neighborhood are suggesting may be a shady real estate scam.

All of this comes right in the middle of an extremely contentious campaign by the Dallas school system that will shutter 11 schools in areas where the district says there aren't enough kids.More >>

​Jim will be along shortly with his take on the passionate discussion surrounding Uplift Education's efforts to get the city to assist with the selling of bonds to help with the charter school's expansion. I'll just note this: During his closing remarks on the subject, just before council voted to delay the issue till a full briefing can be brought to the horseshoe next week, Mayor Mike Rawlings came this close to cry-shouting about the subject of the Dallas Independent School District and how it's time to help "the poor kids" in the city. Said the mayor: He's going to take on the DISD "in a personal way" beginning next week.

I asked the mayor's chief of staff, Paula Blackmon, what he meant by this. She would only say that the mayor will address the subject Monday, at Jack Matthews's South Side Studios on 2901 S. Lamar, when he unveils his so-called Southern Dallas Economic Growth Plan. That will take place beginning at 4 p.m.; says the invite, the event should last till 6 and includes some sort of a reception with the mayor.

But Monday's presentation is merely the first of three Rawlings will give; the others follow at the same spot, at the same time, on February 23 and March 1. Blackmon says the presentations will be the same on each day. If you're interested in hearing Rawling speak in person, you're invited: Just send an RSVP to this email address. And be sure to let them know which presentation you plan on attending.

The former Baylor offices at 2625 Elm in Deep Ellum where Uplift Education expects to open a new campus in August

​At this very moment the city council members are discussing whether they'd like to get into the bond business to help Uplift Education with its plan to sell tax-exempt bonds to help open a new charter school in the former Baylor offices Deep Ellum. (Sounds, so far, like the item will be deferred, though, as Angela Hunt just said, "it sounds like we're being asked to take sides" -- charters or DISD.) Last week, business owners from the area met at the Deep Ellum Foundation's HQ to fret about what the project will mean for their bars and restaurants, specifically a rule that prohibits new alcohol-having businesses from opening up within 300 feet of the school. (Privately, some of them have started calling Uplift's new venture "Nightlife High.")

But last night, Sean Fitzgerald, president of the Deep Ellum Community Association , dropped by the weekly meeting of the Deep Ellum Enrichment Project (D.E.E.P) to cautiously deliver some good news. He "can't say a whole lot yet," but after a meeting with Uplift higher-ups, it's possible that they will agree to lobby the city to grant a variance on the 300-foot rule, making it possible for new bars and restaurants to freely open up around the school.

"In general, the tone of that meeting was very positive," Fitzgerald told the crowd, consisting of several dozen who'd crammed into La Bella Cupcakes on Elm Street. "We want to be in control of the nature of this neighborhood." Small business and bars, he said, "are our life-blood. ... We're still in negotiations, but we can probably work out a way that this is a win-win."

More >>

​Earlier today Rudy posted an explainer to the City Hall blog about those so-called "conduit bonds" Uplift Education hopes to sell with City Hall's backing. But long story short, per a Los Angeles Times piece last year, they "allow private entities to tap into low-cost municipal bond financing for projects that boost economic development" -- in this case, Uplift's planned expansion into Deep Ellum and Fort Worth. The council's been promised that the creation of this so-called Education Finance Corporation wouldn't be the obligation of the city, per tomorrow's agenda, and that "the issuance of the bonds does not impact the credit rating of the Sponsoring Entity," which would be the city in this case. But as The Times piece points out, "Although conduits account for roughly 20% of all municipal bonds, they have been responsible for about 70% of all defaults in the municipal bond market in recent years."

That's just one reason Alliance AFT, which reps local teachers, has Big Problems with the city's involvement in Uplift's expansion efforts. But there are myriad others, of course, all of which are outlined in a letter we received this afternoon; it's below, but of course. And now there are some at 3700 Ross wondering why the city didn't reach out to the Dallas Independent School District before it rushed through this item, which only debuted as a consent addendum item Friday -- a mere five days before council's scheduled to vote on the creation of the corporation. DISD higher-ups don't have anything against charters -- in fact, some of Uplight's board members are part of the district's Commit! initiative -- but a few do privately wonder if Mayor Mike, who ran on a platform to save DISD, isn't giving a helping hand to a competitor.

I've just been told the item's been pulled from the consent agenda -- no surprise, given several council members' what-the-hunh? responses at yesterday's Economic Development Committee meeting. The council was also just sent a memo containing four pages' worth of A's to the Q's asked yesterday, including the big one: "What happens when a conduit corporation ... defaults?" Well, as The Times explains, the investors lose; the feds too, since they're not getting the tax revenue from the sale of these particular bonds. The memo to council also. Fourteen speakers are lined up to address the council about this tomorrow. Popcorn's popping.More >>

​We started this morning by noting Brett Shipp's piece from last night suggesting the Texas Education Agency is threatening to withhold Dallas ISD from close to $80 million in federal funds birthed by No Child Left Behind. The reason, says Commissioner of Education Robert Scott: Only 40 students out of an eligible 29,349 have gotten their after-school tutoring paid for. Which, on the surface, sounds just horrible.

But DISD says today that's far from the whole story. Like, very far. Like, not even half the whole story. More like a couple of chapters from a really long story.

As proof we were sent the January 27 letter interim DISD superintendent Alan King sent to Scott in response to his January 13 warning letter on which Shipp based his account last night. In the letter, which follows, King writes that the reason DISD hasn't spent the money is because while performing its annual audit the district discovered "potential irregularities involving invoices received from several vendors" -- all of whom, incidentally, are tutoring services approved by TEA. Writes King, who later outs the issue as one involving double-billing, "the district took immediate action by reorganizing the department in charge of oversight for the program and hired a forensic team to conduct further investigations into the program."

King writes that district staff and TEA employees chatted about this in October, and that the result was an "action plan" that would resolve the hold-up. In the meantime, DISD continued trying to find out where the irregularities had come from -- inside 3700 Ross or with the contractors TEA had signed off on. Says the letter:

The initial concerns were that district employees were being paid by both the district and vendors for the same work or tutors were being paid by multiple vendors for the same time period. The District's Office of Professional Responsibility conducted a sampling of interviews with several district employees and found no indication of employee misconduct. The District, therefore, concluded that the apparent fraudulent activity was conducted by the vendors and the forensic audit team focused their procedures on these vendors.

Now here's where it gets really interesting ...More >>

​The Texas Education Agency released its federally mandated, No Child Left Behind-backed Adequate Yearly Progress report back in August, at which point it was revealed that the Dallas Independent School District missed the mark for the third consecutive year -- which interim superintendent Alan King blamed on the "annual ratcheting up of standards," in part. Maybe -- or perhaps, as Commissioner of Education Robert Scott pointed out in a January 13 missive to King and DISD board president Lew Blackburn, the district's not spending its NCLB Supplemental Education Services funds properly ... or at all.

As Brett Shipp reported last night, Scott's ticked and threatening to hang on to 'round $80 million in Title I funds, because "of the 29,349 students eligible" for after-school tutoring and remedial help, "only 40 students have received tutoring services to date." Writes Scott, the TEA "is gravely concerned about DISD's failure to comply." King -- who won't talk to anyone about anything these days, and who says there's a communications gap at 3700 Ross -- said in a statement the district's been working since October to resolve the issue. Said he, "We have addressed each of the concerns in the commissioner's letter." Well, then, problem solved! Meanwhile, Allen Gwinn's written an open letter to the commissioner: "Robert, I'm going to get straight to the point: please do us a favor and take over DISD."

Scott pointed out in his letter what August's report revealed: Eighty-five DISD campuses came up short on AYP, with two listed as "Stage 4, Year 1," meaning they need "a major reorganization or restructuring of the campus," and they need it yesterday. Those schools: Lincoln High School and Seagoville Middle School. So happens that on Thursday the DISD board will discuss what to do with those schools, before a February 23 public hearing after which plans will be submitted to the TEA.More >>

The map of Uplift schools, present and future, as presented in this morning's briefing to the council's Economic Development Committee

​You know the cell phones must have been burning all weekend when the first city council committee briefing of the week at City Hall on Monday morning starts off with a rebuttal. Wait, rebuttal already? While those of us out here in the peanut gallery are still wiping the weekend from our eyes, could you give us a hint what you're rebutting about?

Actually, I knew. I got some of those cell calls over the weekend.

Last week a few alert council members (cough, cough) noticed (ahem) somebody had slipped something into their "consent agenda" about authorizing the city to create something called an "Education Finance Corporation."

Wow. The city has never been in the education business before. The school district has always been in charge of the education business.

This is big.More >>

Via.

​We first touched on this back in June -- the possibility that the Dallas Independent School District might turn its schools and buses into billboards, because, hey, every penny counts these days. And while, oh, Morgan Spurlock might think it's a terrible idea ("Are we going to live in a time where your kid goes to Red Bull High?"), the school board might not.

On Thursday it's going to consider the policy rewrite you see below, which replaces this sentence -- "Advertising shall be prohibited in District schools unless approved by the Superintendent of Schools or designee" -- with this one: "Advertising shall only be allowed in District schools and facilities with the approved of by the Superintendent of Schools or designee." Which may seem insignificant, till you see the new policy completely eliminates the current no-way-no-how that reads: "Solicitations or use of the schools to promote the merit of products by brand names or trademark is prohibited by the Board."

Got a call into spokesman Jon Dahlander to see how that proposal to sell naming rights is coming. Till then, here's one further caveat from the proposed policy up for discussion Thursday:

Advertisements containing or promoting nudity, obscenity, vulgarity, illegal activities, drugs and drug paraphernalia, alcohol and tobacco products, sexual content or products, firearms/weapons or violence are strictly prohibited.

Well, that's no fun. More >>

​For the last few months I've been on my son's school's Site Based Decision Making Committee, as one of the Dad's Club reps, and last week was our first discussion about something that's been a topic of conversation at 3700 Ross for a good long while: the district's in-the-works teacher evaluation system. We were told last year this would be no easy feat, that it would take years to get right before final implementation. But at our SBDM meeting last week we were  told testing of the new system would begin almost immediately on 15 campuses following months' worth of discussions with teachers, principals, parents and PTA boards. We're among the fortunate 15.

So, then, how will this work? That's the subject of a DISD board briefing up for discussion Thursday, which you'll find below. But long story short: The district's looking at using multiple sources to collect data about a teacher's performance, everything from having outsiders ("content experts") and insiders (principals, fellow teachers) observe and report on what's happening inside a classroom to letting students give their feedback to having teachers put together portfolios for review to using video cameras to offer teachers a little "self-reflection."

So happens the last to-do is already taking place in 22 middle schools, as DISD is one of six districts nationwide presently taking part in the Gates Foundation's Measures of Effective Teaching project the board will also discuss extending Thursday.

The briefing also provides a look at some "best practices" 'round the country used to grade the graders, and it offers teachers, parents and principals' thoughts on this possible new way of evaluating teachers. "I'm having a hard time understanding how we can front the money to research and develop this project when we are in a crunch with the budget," says one teacher. "I realize the need to evaluate teachers and make sure we have great people teaching our kiddos, but when schools are cutting back and going without in major areas, I don't understand how this is a priority toward which the district should funnel money."More >>