Back Talk Oak Cliff

DISD news roundup: No election, new CFO and another investigation

Lots of DISD action this week ... here's a brief summary of some of what went down, along with (of course) a little commentary:

• After its embarrassing financial crisis, DISD is spending $258,000 annually to hire a new chief financial officer. Larry Throm comes via Austin and Lubbock, where he is credited with being a tough watchdog on district finances there. "Dallas is absolutely fixable," Throm told the DMN. "I would not have taken the job if I didn't think I could be successful. They need to install some internal controls, generally accepted accounting principals and some safeguards."

DISD board vote may extend trustee terms and delay May election

When Carla Ranger starts looking like the reasonable one on the DISD board, we might have a big problem. But that seems to be the case on the board's possible vote today to delay the currently scheduled spring elections for trustee seats currently held by Edwin Flores, Leigh Ann Ellis and Ron Price.

In a nod to stability, the board is considering extending board terms, which would mean the three trustees wouldn't face re-election until 2010 as opposed to May 2009. The board is relying on a state law that allows school boards to extend trustee terms; DISD's lawyers apparently are giving the board the go-ahead even as Ranger cites other legal opinions saying such a move would be illegal.

Jim Schutze weighs in on the idea in this week's Dallas Observer, and most of his points are dead-on.

Extending trustee terms is a good idea, giving the volunteers we elect a longer period of time to learn the ropes and at least try to keep everything honest on Ross Avenue.

But voting to extend the terms to get around having an election, as opposed to making the term extension effective after the next election cycle, essentially trumps our right as voters to have a say on DISD's ongoing issues. It could very well be in DISD's best interests — and it certainly is in Supt. Michael Hinojosa's best interest — to keep these three supportive board members on the job. But that's just not the way things should be done in a democracy. An election to vote in new board members, if that occurred, might make things even more messy at DISD, while re-electing these three board members would send a message that stability is what voters want.

But that's a decision for voters to make, and it shouldn't be taken away from us by the very people whose actions many are questioning.

Council subcommittee considers a smoking ban in bars, billiard halls

A city council subcommittee is considering expanding the city's current smoking ban from restaurants and workplaces to bars, billiard halls and within 15 feet of entrances to publicly accessible villages, according to the DMN. A majority of the six councilmen on the subcommittee seem to be leaning in favor of the proposal, according to the News story and more comments on its blog.

I have to admit that when the city council first decided to restrict smoking in restaurants and other public places a few years ago, I had my doubts: It seemed like a draconian measure, and it seemed likely to drive business out of Dallas. Today, though, I haven't seen a single study indicating that significant business was lost to the more smoking-friendly suburbs, and the air in most places I go these days is cleaner and clearer.

Easing credit crunch puts the convention center hotel back on track

Good news for fans of the taxpayer-owned downtown convention center hotel, as well as for the pending DISD bond issue: The credit market, at least for public works projects, appears to be easing enough to allow AA-rated and above public entities to obtain financing. A DMN story indicates the city of Dallas intends to close on $253.3 million in water improvement project bonds this week; a few weeks ago, this and just about every other bond project in the country were frozen due to lack of capital or political will or lenders — take your pick. The $550 million convention center hotel, which Mayor Tom Leppert and many city councilmen have vowed to fund in January, requires issuance of municipal revenue bonds to generate the cash, so now that the market is coming back, lack of available funding shouldn't hold back Leppert or the council. I guess we'll see if the May referendum on the project causes the council members any heartburn when it comes time to approve the bonds in January.

DISD whittles budget deficit to $28 million

Lots of DISD news Thursday, most of it positive, as the board met to discuss budget deficit progress, extending trustee terms, reviewing academic progress and evaluating how improvements to the accounting program are going. Here's a brief summary:

• The biggest news: Last year's DISD budget deficit, originally estimated at $64 million for this year, has been lowered to about $52 million as a result of additional state and local revenues. And this year's deficit, originally estimated at $84 million, has been reduced to about $75 million, prior to the recent teacher layoffs (which are projected to reduce the deficit by about $26 million) and program cuts (which reduce the projected deficit by about $28.2 million, leaving the district still about $28 million over budget for this year.

DISD 'ghosts' on the comeback trail?

Jim Schutze has a thoughtful column in this week's Dallas Observer about the state of DISD and what needs to be done. Rather than try to paraphrase what he's saying, since he covers a couple of topics, I'll let you read it. There is an interesting trip down memory lane for those of us who have been in Dallas for awhile, though, as Jim discusses past superintendents Yvonne Gonazalez and Waldemar Rojas, neither of whom lasted 12 months in the top job. The good times just keep rolling ...

How about an extra year for DISD trustees?

With many parents and teachers eager to blow up the entire DISD school board, word comes today in a DMN article that some board members not only aren't eager to leave — they're considering plans to extend their terms.

The board will consider a proposal Thursday to extend individual trustees' terms from three years to four, giving Leigh Ann Ellis, Edwin Flores and Ron Price an extra year before facing election (currently, their terms end May 2009). The rationale is that a trustee new to the board could use an additional year to do the job more effectively. Ellis told the DMN it takes a couple of years to understand the district well enough to have an impact.

Predictably, the same people who are calling for board members to resign as a result of the budget problems aren't in favor of the board extending members' terms. From a practical standpoint, the proposal makes sense — a four-year term (already implemented in Austin and Houston) would provide more time to do the job right and, theoretically, more board continuity since terms would be staggered with four members up for election at one time and the remaining five up for election two years later — as opposed to electing three board members every year.

Unfortunately, from a PR standpoint, this proposal might be a little harder to defend, since it does give the appearance of board members extending their own terms, much like Mayor Michael Bloomberg recently lobbied for in New York (he said given the troubling economic times, it would be too risky for New Yorkers to have an untested mayor on the job; Bloomberg wanted to run again, but couldn't because of term limits unless the city's charter was changed, so it was). Personally, I don't have a problem with the DISD proposal, but it probably would be better to carry out the May 2009 elections, as planned, and extend the terms of those elected then for four years, similarly adjusting the terms of the other trustees as they come up for election until the rotation is correct.

Also Thursday, the board will be hearing from Supt. Michael Hnojosa, who is scheduled to lay out a plan to make sure DISD doesn't face another budget crisis anytime soon. Who knows? Maybe public interest in what's going on in Washington will allow Hinojosa and DISD to get back on top of education here out of the limelight. Relatively.

DISD's Hinojosa could face a 'no confidence' vote by trustees Monday

DISD school board trustee Ron Price submitted a letter, co-signed by trustees Carla Ranger and Lew Blackburn, at last night's board meeting calling on the board to meet in emergency session Monday to consider a vote of "no confidence" in DISD Supt. Michael Hinojosa. The information was reported on WFAA-TV last night, along with video of people attending the school board meeting chanting "Jack Lowe must go" and yelling out all kinds of things after the board meeting ended.

A "no confidence" vote, as I understand it, doesn't have any legal status, but it would continue eroding the public's support of district leadership, as well as serve to keep the big budget scandal in the news, further eroding the public's support of district leadership. In fact, further evidence of the continuing drumbeat seeking to get rid of Hinojosa showed up on the DMN's education blog yesterday. The NEA-Dallas, a teacher's organization, attempted to survey its membership concerning Hinojosa and the school board; 428 teachers and DISD employees responded, according to the poll, which was sent to teachers and also linked on the DMN blog so other DISD employees could respond. (I'm just reading this in the introduction to the survey, which you can read by clicking here: Download neadallas_confidence_survey.pdf)

Leppert says our votes count. Except for the convention center hotel?

Here's an interesting juxtaposition: Mayor Tom Leppert is circulating an email with the top headline saying "Convention Center Hotel Critical to Dallas' Future", while the second item is headlined "Vote! It's Your Voice!" (Click here to download tom_leppert_email.pdf and see the email.)

The irony: At least one Leppert spokespuppet on the council already has chortled out loud that even if Dallas residents vote in favor of a potential referendum scuttling the $550 million taxpayer-owned convention center hotel downtown, those votes won't stop the council from moving forward to build the hotel.

So whose voice is Leppert talking about?

A credit card solicitation every week — what's up with that?

Not surprising news from credit card firms is that they're tightening credit, raising interest rates and taking cards away from some people. But buried in the story about the credit crunch is this interesting tidbit: "Mail offers to new and existing customers are on pace to drop below 8.4 billion pieces, the lowest level since 2004." A little quick math shows that 8.4 billion credit card solicitations divided by 300 million U.S. residents means that each of us, on average, received 28 mail solicitations this year. And if you further parse the numbers, eliminating about half of the population that is (or at least should be) too young to receive a credit card and people who don't have any income, that means that the rest of us receive about one credit card solicitation per week. No wonder so many people have more credit than they need or can handle.