Big Business Takes Over DISD!! Arrggh!
Here’s a question for you. I want you to think about this.
The latest $1.35 billion DISD bond is being held up by a frivolous lawsuit. The longer we wait to start selling these bonds, the higher construction costs will rise. Too, waiting puts in question the AAA rating of the bonds. So a group of businesspeople has stepped in on the district’s behalf to try to get things moving.
We’re going to get to the question. Hang on. One more thing you need to know:
Don Williams — a longtime supporter of the district, an education reformer, and a former Trammell Crow honcho — has rounded up a bunch of C-level business executives to fix the problems at DISD headquarters. They’re going to roll up their sleeves and dig up the rot that runs through the district’s financial infrastructure.
Here’s the question: do these seem like positive developments to you? Do you see the business community taking a more active role in DISD’s operations as a good thing, a reason to hope?
Or do you see all this as one huge conspiracy, a devious ploy by the rich and powerful to rob the district just when it’s at its weakest?
Okay, that’s more than one question. I’ll give you some time to think it over. Meanwhile, I’ll turn comments on.
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I would rather buy a slug of Lehman Brothers bonds than risk one penny on DISD. Rating DISD AAA is almost criminal!!
No. No. Yes.
Yes, the district needs to get moving on the bond issue. If local businesspeople want to roll up their sleeves and donate their time to help, good for them, since I’m going to assume less than 10 perecent of them have children in DISD schools.
Yes, getting businesspeople involved is a good thing. See my answer to the first question. I’m not trying to inject politics into this, but it DOES take a village. And if our leaders can put the good of the community ahead of making a buck, knowing the return will benefit our city’s schools and neighborhoods, let me know how I can help.
No, it’s not a huge conspiracy. I hope the district is past the point where somebody’s cousin or brother gets a deal or a bad business agreement goes down. I have confidence in Dr. Hinojosa, the board and district volunteers to make this negative into a positive.
As an aside, maybe there’s benefit in seeking advice from leaders who faced similar issues in their large urban districts. I hope DISD’s leaders have reached out to them as well.
Yes, respected members of the business community getting involved in the financial system of DISD – we all know they need all the help they can get in that arena (see the audit report we all waited so long for last spring!) It gives me great hope that competent people will quickly help the district get the correct controls and systems in place. That alone gives me great hope!
No, I don’t see it as a devious ploy to rob the district. Take a look at who these people are that are volunteering to help!
DKC the bonds are rated AAA not the district.
I wish they’d dig out hinojosa, the true root (IMHO) tell me again in these times of Enron, Arthur Anderson etc., how a CEO of a large organization can not know its financial health?
Bring in the guy that turned Austin ISD around. People hated him at first but he cleaned the crap up.
I’m wondering if the kitchen cabinet can do worse than what we currently have. Let ‘em have a go at it.
merten has been drinking schutze’s cool-aid.
What would Schutze do?
Puh-lease. This is exactly what the district needs — a business mentality to steer the ship and get its dying show back on the road. (It would be asking a bit much of the district to demand that it teach students not to mix metaphors — that would be asking it to run before it can walk, and putting the cart before the horse besides.)
At the least, it’s a harmless development, and at the most hopeful, it’s miraculous.
They (DISD) are approaching it like it’s an admin problem, not a classroom problem. This cure is limited to fixing the financial issues, and that’s it.
It’s not a conspiracy; it is another lateral step that won’t make the kids better students.
If Dr. H’s incompetence is costing over 1200 DISD employees their jobs, why do we need new schools? Who will be the teachers, principals and janitors for new campuses when our current schools are losing teachers, principals and janitors?
The DISD bond election was always about construction contracts — never about educating kids.
Another problem — Dr. H is eliminating science and math teachers but keeping bilingual teachers.
There’s not a whole lot “business” people can do to improve the DISD — other than split it up into 3 or 5 smaller, more manageable districts. Of course, this is not about manageable districts or educating kids. The DISD budget is about creating work for construction companies.
Get those teachers out of the way, so we can keep the dirt flying building new schools when the DISD student population is declining.
As someone that has both family and friends affected by the layoffs, good for them to volunteer and see what’s going on. The DISD needs experienced financial executives to help deal with this issue.
A lot of this may turn out to be about having the proper financial controls and triggers in place. The execs mentioned have the experience and know-how to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
It’s not a huge conspiracy. Don’t you want financial experts dealing with this? I do.
@tobie…”DKC the bonds are rated AAA not the district”
The bonds rating is based on the ability of DISD to pay them back. So I stand by my point!!
Since experienced financial experts are helping out does that mean the superintendent gets a huge raise and a big golden parachute regardless of job performance?
neither the DISD nor the bonds are rated AAA
the state’s Permanent School Fund, which insures most Texas school debt, is rated triple A
the DISD has underlying ratings of AA and Aa3 and one ratings agency recently lowered its outlook on the DISD to negative due to the fincl problems
i’ve said too much…buy me a beer (or three) and i’ll explain it to ya
OK racism is one of the reasons most business people don’t support DISD. Don’t jump on me, I’ve watched this over the last 35 years. They should be ashamed.
Racism is not involved in the bond program so the coalition to maximize whining are barking up the wrong tree. Almost all of the bond program projects are south of I-30.
The bond program is administered separate from the day to day DISD administration. Thank goodness.
Kids will still get a great education at many DISD schools even after the current debacle. Don’t throw your hands up in the air and dismiss all of DISD because of the incompetence at 3700 Ross. We have lived through this before..
Highway 6,
You are correct. Approached as a utilitarian patch — rather a foundation repair — I still think that, at worst, no harm will result.
Why do they keep hiring former gym coaches to oversee the district? A true CEO would have demanded accountability, in the form of weekly or bimonthly briefings. Hinojosa’s a fine man, but as to his competence, the proof is in the pudding.
Daniel: I asked that question of then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton once, when I was at a high school press association convention (yes, I was in high school, no, he didn’t try anything. He did however, steal my cheesecake.)
His response was that he didn’t know for certain, but he would guess it was that way because athletics budgets are usually much larger, and have several sports to oversee and budget for. Therefore, it could be that former coaches are seen as being more ready to handle the demands of a larger budget, having “practiced” before.
I didn’t say it was a GOOD answer – but that was his theory, anyway.
Same old, same old. Business people have examined the DISD finances before and found….that business people have no understanding of the state school finance program and school finances in particular.
In fact, the folks who have screwed up the finances this time are the “business” people that the current Superintendent brought in to run the biz side of DISD.
Oh I know this one. It’s 7. Right?
Hello. This kitchen cabinet is made up of the Dallas Achieves Commission that’s largely responsible for getting Michael to spend more money than he has had in the first place.
This “business rolling up their sleeves” bit is the biggest joke yet and it’s a shame people are buying it.
DISD needs someone who understands TEXAS SCHOOL FINANCE. Until then, this is only going to get worse or stay the same.
Dallas, you’re being duped. This announcement is nothing but a publicity stunt. Oh, and why wasn’t there a Hispanic in the first four announced? Is anybody thinking here?
well, i understand Texas school finance, don’t have an MBA (yet), but still it ain’t that hard
think they’ll hire a blowhard Eagles Phan?
If they want to fix something they don’t need C-level employees. They need the bald fat guys who work for C-level employees.
signed;
bald fat guy
@DKC…I stand corrected
I agree– CAN’T BELIEVE I’M SAYING THIS– with Sharon Boyd. What’s the point in building schools when we don’t have the money to hire people to work in them? When we’re (at least) $84M in the hole now and laying off people?
I smell somebody making the case for another DISD property tax rate increase. And it stinks.
On another note: I don’t care who is holding up the bond sale or why. The bottom line is the longer it takes them to sell the bonds, the longer it takes them to incur more debt to build more (empty) schools for more non-English speaking children, and the longer it takes them to raise my taxes and waste my money on low-performing schools and kids. Sorry about the runon sentence.
This whole “CEOs to the Rescue” is bogus. CEOs lead companies. If you want budgets fixed you go to seasoned accountants and analysts who can put all the pieces together. This is a fulltime job over months not something you do parttime.
Kitchen Cabinet?!?! Excuse me, accountability: none. Authority: none. Transparency: none. These guys are in it to keep the bond money gravy train on track. Mayor Leppert is in the construction business: what’s good for the bond, is good for his industry.
Everytime I hear kitchen cabinet it makes me think of the bug and rat poison I keep in the kitchen cabinet under the sink.
If you want to get Dallas Business behind axing Hinojosa, the best way is to hold the bond money hostage.
That’s all these guys understand. Then Hiney will really choke on his sandwich.
Besides why are we getting C-level executives? We should be getting A-level!!!! :>
Incompetence, corruption, fraud are tragically commonplace but not unexpected. Anyone who studies socialized institutions or bureaucratic behavior knows these are byproducts of a government monopoly.
The only hope for DISD is competition- school choice, tax credits, vouchers. You can’t just bring in business leaders to a Soviet style education bureaucracy and think things will change. The system is the problem.
Simple solution- give parents a tax credit for private school tuition. Let parents choose which public school they want and let public schools compete for students.
DISD as an institution is not worth saving. Instead, the students who need to be saved, from DISD.