Gehrig Salda?

		2/19/8 *DISD School Bond: 'Will Haste Make for More Waste of Taxpayer Trust and Support?'*
Gherig Salda?

DISD Board Chair Jack Lowe wants board members to vote by February 25th on whether to hold up to a $1.3 billion bond election in May. He wants to take Dr. Hinojosa's recommendation for a bond election to a vote before board members get the results of the audit that was performed. For a May bond election, the Board must vote to authorize the election at its February 25th meeting. A couple of board members are saying not so fast.

Some taxpayers are saying haste could make for more waste.

It is refreshing that some school board members actually want to hold Dr. Hinojosa and his team accountable for how our taxpayer dollars are spent before giving the go-ahead to try to seek billions more.

Some DISD Trustees have been so focused on "Road to Broad" and "Dallas Achieves", that they have given Dr. Hinojosa and his team blind support and a pass on all their missteps.

While laying out the larger vision and framework for achieving goals is good and proactive, policy makers must also keep their eye on the ongoing operations to assure the vision-framework being developed are overlayed on a bureaucracy that is constantly examining itself, improving its strengths and diminishing its weaknesses. That has not been the case at DISD, where there has been mismanagement upon mismanagement and reactive leadership.

Dr. Hinojosa's modus operandi has been to ignore warnings of misdeeds until it hits the press. Then, he tries to act like he's all over it and will get it fixed. "Yeah, right!" P-card theft, grade fixing, etc. Dr. Hinojosa was warned, but he did nothing until it hit the press. Where he has taken reactive measures, the situations still aren't fully resolved. With his record of ineffectual leadership, Dr. Hinojosa now wants the DISD Trustees to rubberstamp his plan to build more schools.

Most taxpayers support the idea of every student having the best learning environment possible, including facilities. However, taxpayers also want to be confident that when our hard-earned tax dollars are spent by a government entity, the money is well spent and well documented with wise stewardship evident from beginning to end. We cannot currently say that about the DISD. This superintendent has not engendered a feeling of confidence among taxpayers regarding his administration's stewardship of our taxpayer dollars.

Our kids may need more and better schools, but we can hold off until we know for certain that DISD will get it right a majority of the time and not wait until a scandal hits the newspaper before problem areas are addressed. This taxpayer would like to thank Trustees Leigh Ann Ellis and Carla Ranger for wanting to make sure the DISD is getting it right before asking taxpayers for more money.

What is the harm in waiting for an audit to let you make a better informed decision?

What is wrong with having the bond election in November instead of May? Or waiting until May, 2009?

What is wrong with making sure the DISD has mended its ways? The audit would help reveal some of that.

DISD Board Chair Jack Lowe is a business man. Does he run his business the way he allows Dr. Hinojosa to run the school district? Does he make billion dollar business decisions before having all the facts?

This taxpayer asks Chairman Lowe and the other Trustees not be in haste to make this billion dollar decision. The DISD School Board should take time to to be sure waste has been largely eliminated before taking us down billion dollar road. If not, it's possible DISD taxpayers will throw up a roadblock by voting NO!

Is it worth risking a NO vote so Dr. Hinojosa can continue to get blind support?

Will haste make for more waste of taxpayer trust and support?

Gehrig Saldaña