By Bill Zeeble, KERA reporter
Dallas, TX – The Dallas School Board has revised its budget in the wake of a huge defict disclosed in September. In the current school year, the DISD will be at least $30 million in the red. That is after it laid off hundreds of employees, including teachers.
Business executives like Phil Ritter, with Texas Instruments, volunteered to help in the crisis. He says the district must hire more qualified accounting personnel after the new year and pay them the going rate, despite the district's deficit.
Phil Ritter: It's going to be hard to bring in qualified administrators when we laid off teachers. But if you don't do that, we are going to have these problems again. It's that simple. And you've got to engage the community and tell them why you're doing it.
A new chief financial officer joins the Dallas Independent School District next month.