By Bill Zeeble, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-900198.mp3
Dallas, TX – School board candidates elected in this Saturday's races face shrinking budgets that'll make difficult money decisions even tougher. KERA's Bill Zeeble takes a look at one Dallas race that is representative of others across north Texas.
Whatever your school district, Jacki Laine says this year, it's struggling. Laine with the Texas Association of School Boards, says half the state's districts have adopted a deficit budget.
Jacki Laine, Director, Government Relations, Texas Association of School Boards: They are also facing significant cost increases to comply with new accountability mandates that are going to start taking effect in the next couple years.
Laine says lower property values across north Texas create a sort of perfect storm for school districts.
Laine: They are struggling to cover costs and voters can't afford higher taxes and the state has a budget deficit & shortfall looming. So these are tough times.
Dallas Independent School District candidates in the southeast District 4 know they'll face difficult budget decisions. Incumbent trustee Nancy Bingham says she already has the necessary experience. Last year for example, she says trustees made the controversial decision to slash funding for Learning Centers, which date to the federal desegregation order. They were designed to help low-performing minority students.
Nancy Bingham, District 4 Trustee: We cut back millions of dollars from Learning Centers because the data was showing the kids in the Learning Centers aren't doing any better than the ones in the regular comprehensive elementary schools. In fact in some of the Learning Centers they were doing worse.
District 4 Candidate Camile White, a community activist says Bingham made the wrong decisions when slashing the budget. Seeking votes in a Pleasant Grove, White says she's especially upset by Bingham's vote more than a year ago to approve teacher layoffs because of a surprise deficit.
Camile White, District 4 candidate: Instead of cutting costs by getting rid of teachers, you need to look at, do you have too much staff in some departments, administrative positions downtown? You get rid of one administrator, you can save two teaching jobs. A lot of things could be done to help make sure we're running a good tight ship. The other District 4 candidate, Jesse Diaz, knows budget cuts are difficult. The real estate agent and LULAC activist wants to trim administrative fat before laying teachers off. But he says teachers who are not performing need to go.
Diaz: It's important we look at the budget and see where we'll make some cuts. It's going to be painful. We also must look at teachers. We have teachers that should not be there. Year after year, their students are low-performing. We need to deal with those teachers.
School board candidates across north Texas know in this coming school year, balancing dollars with school needs while keeping tax paying constituents happy may be tougher than ever.
Dallas County Results:
http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/TX/Dallas/16612/23482/en/summary.html
Sample Ballots:
http://www.dalcoelections.org/may82010/SampleBallot.pdf
Tarrant County Results:
http://tcweb.tarrantcounty.com/evote/cwp/view.asp?a=770&q=475891
Sample Ballots:
http://tcweb.tarrantcounty.com/evote/cwp/view.asp?a=770&q=475814
Collin County Results:
http://www.co.collin.tx.us/elections/election_results/2010/050810/050810CAT.htm
Sample Ballots:
http://public1.co.collin.tx.us/elections/polling_locations/default.aspx
Denton County Results:
http://elections.dentoncounty.com/go.asp?Dept=82&Link=75
Sample Ballots:
http://elections.dentoncounty.com/go.asp?Parent=1116&Link=1117