By BJ Austin, KERA News
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-967112.mp3
Dallas, TX – Education is NOT one of the duties of the Mayor of Dallas, but it is a major campaign issue. KERA's BJ Austin reports what each candidate would do to help public schools.
In some cities the Mayor oversees the public school system: New York City, Boston, Chicago and recently Los Angeles. In Dallas, a 9-member elected board governs the school district. But on the campaign trail, the candidates for Dallas Mayor are often asked about education.
That puzzled candidate Mike Rawlings at first.
Rawlings: For the first two weeks I tried to lecture them that the mayor doesn't deal with education, and they'd look at me and say what are you going to do about education.
So Rawlings, a Former Pizza Hut CEO, like his opponents, is talking about what he would do to improve Dallas schools.
Rawlings: We've got to impact policy and funding at state level. The urban mayors have never gotten together and dealt with this issue in Austin. The Mayors that deal with DISD have never gotten together so I'm creating a Mayor's Task Force there. We're also going to leverage 100's of organizations who want to work with DISD and lift them up.
Candidate and Councilmember Ron Natinsky says he'll ask the business community to recommend candidates for important school positions.
Natinsky: Get some really top notch people that understand how to move education forward in the principal positions in every one of the schools in the city. I've been over to Kimball. The principal there has totally turned the attitude and scholastic level of those students around. I think if you brought the right people to the table, you could focus some of that private energy and resources toward helping move the district forward without the district having to spend hard dollars.
Former Police Chief David Kunkle would consider spending "city" money on after school programs.
Kunkle: I'm a strong believer in after school programs because in the absence of parental involvement when parents are working that's about as close as you can get so a child has a safe place to come after school and they get people who can help them with their homework and access to computers.
Commercial real estate executive, candidate Edward Okpa goes where no candidate has gone before. Okpa would support the Dallas I-S-D raising taxes.
Okpa: There are 16 school districts in the Dallas County area. Do you know where DISD stands in their tax rate? They are #14. If you look at the tax rate it is one of the lowest. One of the challenges is maybe DISD is not collecting enough money to run the program.
All four candidates say the Dallas school district is doing much better than most people think. But the district needs resources, and each candidate says he'll rally those resources if elected Dallas mayor.
At a recent mayoral forum, Dr. Tom Wilson, who runs several charter schools, was pleased to hear the candidates put education high on the priority list. He says there are great needs and public funding is shrinking.
Wilson: We're trying our best to reach this inner city and make a difference in Oak Cliff. And I believe that education is the thing that is most needed.
Dr. Wilson says education is the key to the city's future growth and success, and the Mayor has a prominent role to play.
We've posted new videos of the candidates talking about this issue on the Voters Voice page at KERA.org. You'll also find links to voters guides with information about all of the North Texas elections.