DALLAS ISD

Not that it was ever in doubt, (but I'll blog it since the district went through the trouble of doing up a news release) the Texas Education Agency "reaffirmed" its decision to allow DISD's first 2008 bond sale -- $400 million -- to be backed by the Texas Permanent School Fund, which means the district will receive a better interest rate (the AAA rating). DISD will begin selling the bonds tomorrow.

Just last week, two main debt ratings services (Fitch and Standard & Poor's) downgraded the district's underlying bond rating from AA to AA- because of its budget shortfall. The underlying rating reflects the district's financial strength. As long as DISD gets backing from the Texas Permanent School Fund for future bond sales, the lower underlying ratings won't have an affect.

Go to the jump to read the district's news release.

It's been a couple of weeks since the last COW, and with so many comments to choose from, I picked a winner and a runner-up.

This commenter paid attention to a news release issued by DISD concerning the fake Social Security number fiasco. I should note that public relations folks working in communication offices learn early on to use "positive" words in news releases in an attempt to convince the public -- and reporters -- that things aren't really so bad. (Click here for a related blog post). This COW winner saw right through it in the DISD news release, which steered away from using the words "false" or "fake" in describing the district's practice of issuing Social Security numbers to foreign hires. (It didn't matter that the district's own investigative team used the word "false" throughout its report on the practice.)

It's time to get some feedback on DISD's new grading rules -- you know the ones that make it harder to flunk a student.

We're three months into the school year and would like to hear your opinion on the new grading system. Does it require a lot more work? Have kids found a way to beat the new system? Are you more apt to give a student a 70 to avoid being hauled on the carpet by your principal? Or is it the best thing that's come out of this DISD administration?

(Click here and here to read the background information on the new rules).

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

**Dallas Observers' Jim Schutze weighs in on DISD's "theory of action for change."

**DISD's pending bond sale mentioned in the NY Times.

**An Austin-area couple has had it with the "Raptor" -- that irritating driver's license scanner being used in DISD and other school systems -- and is suing the Lake Travis school district over the device. (Click here to read an an earlier blog post on the scanning device in DISD).

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

In a sharply worded post on her blog, trustee Carla Ranger criticizes fellow board members for voting to extend board terms from three years to four at last week's meeting.

"Last week's 7-2 vote on adopting four year terms was a reflection of the current willingness of the Dallas ISD Board to use ruthless politics to preserve its power," Ms. Ranger said on her Dallas ISD Journal blog. (Trustee Adam Medrano joined Ms. Ranger in voting against the extension.)

Ms. Ranger hopes to have the board's decision reversed. She plans to file objections with the U.S. Department of Justice and has already contacted the secretary of state's office and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Robert Scott for clarification on a law that gave school districts a deadline of Dec. 31, 2007 to extend trustee terms. DISD cites other laws in making the term change. (Click here for all the background information).

Trustee Leigh Ann Ellis will host an informal discussion at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Bryan Adams High School, 2101 Millmar Dr. She will be joined by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. The two will take questions and respond to concerns from those in Ms. Ellis' District 3 community in northeast Dallas.

About four weeks ago, three trustees (Price, Blackburn and Ranger) requested an "emergency meeting" to take a vote of confidence in Superintendent Michael Hinojosa. The meeting has not been scheduled, and it's anyone's guess when board president Jack Lowe will schedule it. (I've left messages with Mr. Lowe asking him to give me a call.)

Mr. Lowe has said that he believes he has 60 days to schedule the meeting. Not so. He has no time limit to schedule the meeting, according to board policy (as pointed out by NAACP president Casey Thomas and confirmed by DISD attorney Jack Elrod). The 60-day rule applies to placing items on the board agenda for discussion -- it does not cover "emergency meetings."

So that means Mr. Lowe could schedule the meeting 120 days from now, or whenever he wants.

Update, 11/26/08, 12:55 p.m.: I just talked to Mr. Lowe (who has laryngitis). He felt that having the confidence vote within 60 days is reasonable, but he's still not sure when he will schedule the meeting.

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

**DISD's financial disaster is affecting its bond rating with two main debt ratings services. Click here and here to read the news stories.

**Channel 8 catches up on DISD's fingerprinting process. (About 10,000 employees left to be fingerprinted.)

**Houston union chief writes about "value-added" ranking of teachers and mentions DISD.

**Aimee Bolender, president of Alliance-AFT teachers association, is leaving her post in January. Read the letter she sent to her members here.

**Bad news for DISD board president Jack Lowe -- Zale's stock has plummeted. Mr. Lowe is the company's chairman.

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

**A California website weighs in on DISD.

**Channel 11 shines a light on a DISD principal who did not evacuate his school after a bomb threat.

**In case you missed the blog update, the parents of the student killed in Austin will receive his diploma.

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

... to defray his out-of-pocket printing expenses.

Farber said he has sold about $350 in ads, more than enough to make up what the school budget doesn't pay for. He said he still has ad space for next semester, and whatever extra money he collects will go to the math department for other teachers to use. Checks are made out to the department.

The full report here.

(Hat tip to This Week in Education for spotting the link.)

I have a notebook full of loose ends relating to Sunday's postmortem on the budget deficit.

First, the reporting for the story leaned heavily on the management letter that the district got last June from it's independent auditors, which you can read for yourself here.

The letter warned the district:

• to start comparing actual expenditures vs. what was budgeted (pg. 26)
• that the district unknowingly ran a $23.7-million General Fund deficit in 2006-07 (pg. 29)
• to stop using fake budget codes (pg. 12, 23)
• to start reconciling their accounts - errors do not get detected on a timely basis (pg. 7, 11, 12, 13, 18, 20, )
• to hire more competent people (pg. 5, 6, 12) who have a sense of urgency (pg. 24)
• that managers do not verify payroll (pg. 7)
• that a lack of risk assessment prevents the district from identifying early warning signs of potential problems (pg. 9)
• that the district played loose with various funds, transferring money between them as needed (pg. 24, 13)
• that failure to track grant spending meant DISD under-spent available funding by $45.2 million.

Click the jump for some more loose ends ...

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

** A local "museum educator" who interacts with DISD says some of the best kids hail from the district. But the budget problems are really sticking it to them.

** BackTalker Norm Alston (disclosure: I'm a fan) says the trustee term extension was wrong on many levels.

** I wonder if the new Teen School Board will also vote to extend their terms?

** A pastor is at the intersection of two lives: the passing of a community educator and the wedding of a DISD teacher.

** Ruben Navarrette, Jr., a former editorial board writer, takes on the SSN controversy on a blog called Pajamas Media.

** You know you're reaching kids, Mr. Teacher writes, when their graffiti includes math problems.

** Where DISD's top guns live is fodder again.

** As Trey Garrison notes, good intentions, poor follow through on the back-to-school round up.

** No more new charter schools.

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

Update, 11/24/08, 3:45 p.m.: DISD has decided to give the Kings the diploma. District spokesman Jon Dahlander said it could take the district a few weeks to get the diploma but hopefully the Kings will have it before the end of this school year.

Remember James Dante Kings, the DISD senior who was found dead on Interstate 35 in Austin while on a school field trip in late March? His parents spoke at last night's board meeting.

Mr. Kings implored the district to work with he and his wife to come up with field-trip guidelines to keep the same thing from happening to someone else's child. (Mr. Kings believes that negligence of adults on the trip and bad security contributed to the death, which police say was a hit-and-run that occured late at night).

But it was Mrs. Kings' speech that tugged at the heartstrings. She made an impassioned plea for the district to award their son a diploma -- he was just a couple of months away from graduation and had passed his TAKS exams.

The Kings don't seem to be getting anywhere with DISD in receiving the diploma -- and they say their calls are ignored. I asked DISD spokesman Jon Dahlander for comment on the Kings' situation, and he said he's checking on it and will get back to me.

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

** As predicted, trustees extended their terms last night. Tod Robberson likens the move to that of Third World dictators. CBS 11 and WFAA filed reports. The Observer also gives us a blow-by-blow.

** Mr. Teacher deciphers report card codes for parents.

** A Fort Worth charter school closes long after my colleagues exposed its cheating ways.

** Two whistleblowers sue TEA.

** Colleen McCain Nelson revisits a murdered mother and community educator who was making a difference.

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

It's done. The DISD board voted 7-2 to extend their terms from three years to four at tonight's meeting. Trustee Carla Ranger, who has been outspoken in her opposition to extend the terms, voted no. Trustee Adam Medrano also voted no, saying the timing was bad.

At the meeting, Ms. Ranger relentlessly questioned DISD attorneys on whether it was legal. The attorneys didn't budge -- and said that it was.

The meeting was anything but boring. The audience kept up constant boos and outbursts -- causing board president Jack Lowe to threaten to remove some folks.

The change approved by trustees means no DISD board elections in 2009. So trustees Leigh Ann Ellis, Ron Price and Edwin Flores -- who would have had to run for re-election in May 2009 -- now will run in May 2010.

Read more about the meeting in tomorrow's newspaper.

Trustees are to approve his $258,000 salary at tonight's meeting. The district calls Throm, 58, "a game changer" and one of the best school finance experts in the state. Read the release here.

We'll post more as we learn it ...

Dallas school trustees are scheduled to vote on whether to extend their terms from three years to four at tonight's board meeting, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at 3700 Ross Ave. The agenda item for the terms is no longer on the board's consent agenda -- and is its own separate issue -- so expect to hear from trustees on the matter.

It's looking like the majority of trustees want to extend the terms -- but that doesn't mean they'll get to do so without hearing from trustee Carla Ranger who believes it would be a violation of state law.

But board president Jack Lowe said yesterday that attorneys inside and outside of DISD have looked over all the legalities and say it's legal.

There's been a lot said on this. Check out an earlier blog post here. And click here to review documents that an outside DISD attorney provided to the board that basically says they can legally extend the terms.

Back Talk Lakewood/East Dallas (a typically pro-DISD blog site) also is weighing in on the issue -- and surprise, surprise, they're supporting Carla Ranger.

Also before the meeting, expect to see a play in opposition to Superintendent Michael Hinojosa and a press conference by pastors who support him.

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

** The Observer's Buzz column wonders if it should crash Saturday's district party for its foreign hires (some of whom might be caught up in the SSN probe).

** You can give trustee Flores an earful on Saturday, if you want.

** Carla Ranger continues to contend that tonight's vote to extend trustee terms to four years is not legit. Is she right? Frankly, I don't think it even matters, although she's putting up a good fight.

** Jim Schutze asks if breaking up DISD is really the best thing to do.

** Statewide news: Jocks to get course credit. The State Board of Ed is still wrestling with evolution.

Got a link we missed or an item for the Daily Dish? Send it our way.

DISD is asking for an independent review of its recently ended practice of giving false social security numbers to foreign citizens who were hired to work as teachers.

The district has asked former U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins of Fish & Richardson, P.C. to review the practice -- how it started, who decided to do it, and if any federal statutes were violated. Coggins is expected to complete his work prior to the end of December.

Go to the jump to read the district's news release.

DISD school board president Jack Lowe said the board will vote to extend terms from three years to four at Thursday's meeting. (And there's every indication that there are enough votes for it to pass.) Mr. Lowe said lawyers inside and outside DISD have reviewed the legality of extending the terms and they say it can be done.

But some folks in the community, including Dallas NAACP president Casey Thomas, are in an uproar over this. They don't believe that DISD can legally extend the terms because of a 2007 law that gave school district's a deadline of Dec. 31, 2007 to do so. But DISD is using a 2003 law, specifically created for the district, to move forward with the vote.

Mr. Thomas contacted an attorney with the Secretary of State's office who said DISD cannot legally extend the terms. But lawyers at the Texas Education Agency say it's their opinion that the terms can be extended. (I just got off the phone with Secretary of State spokesman Randall Dillard who would only say that his agency will touch base with TEA to "get more understanding" on the Senate Bill that DISD is using to vote on the terms. His agency had only been looking at the law that provided the deadline.)

As I've said in the comment section of an earlier post, it would likely take the Texas Attorney General's Office to render an official opinion to get to the bottom of this.

What the media, blogs and others are saying today.

** The SSN dustup pushes our editorial board closer to asking for Hinojosa's resignation: He "should have on his desk today the resignations of any administrator culpable in this scam. And if he will not or cannot, he should do us all a favor and pink-slip himself." Yikes.

** WFAA reports on the proposal to extend trustee terms. Two laws might be in conflict on this issue.

** New study: "Students in schools that use Reading First, a program at the core of the No Child Left Behind law, scored no better on comprehension tests than students in similar schools that do not get the funding."

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