VOTE NO on School Bond PROPOSITION 1, this Saturday, May 10, 2008!
Linus Spiller

I have been a long-term supporter of public education and the promise it holds for any person to experience a quality life.  My parents instilled this in my siblings and me, particularly my mother who was a 2-term school board member in my native hometown of Flint, Michigan.

My household has always enthusiastically supported the DISD and its initiatives, including affirmative votes for all bond programs. That is why it pains me to encourage Dallas voters to send DISD a strong message and vote NO in the May 10^th bond election.  Voters must understand that simply not showing up to vote to express their opposition is a vote in favor of passage of the Proposition No. 1.

My position may seem inconsistent to some, considering my son is a DISD graduate and I ran for a seat on the DISD Board of Trustees in 2006.  For me, the arithmetic is simple:  students in DISD are not learning.

Standardized test scores and individual school rankings are low.  Graduation and drop-out rates are a huge concern.  Students who pursue post-secondary education are so under-prepared that it is frustrating to college faculty and professional support staff like myself who instruct them in preparation for entry into the workforce.

I am the chair of the Site-Based Decision Making Committee at a new elementary school in my community.  We face the possibility of being rated as “low-performing,” as classified by the Texas Education Agency.  We have a great principal, dedicated teachers and a body of volunteers who are committed to student success, including college students that provide tutoring support in math and reading.

Despite this supportive infrastructure, our children run the risk of failure at this juncture in their academic lives.  This is in stark contrast to campaign mailers being sent out by supporters of the bond program, who would have us to believe that approval of a $1.3 billion dollar bond package and placing students in beautiful, state-of-the-art facilities like our sprawling 3-story campus will result in academic success.  Apparently, it doesn’t.

In a study by the America’s Promise Alliance, DISD is ranked 7^th worst in the nation for large school districts that successfully produce high school graduates.  According to the Texas Education Agency, the DISD ranked at the bottom of Dallas/Fort Worth school districts for the number of high school seniors who graduated in 2006.

That is appalling for the 12th largest school district in the nation, which has set a goal of becoming the “best urban school district” by winning the prestigious “Broad Prize for Urban Education.”

This goal is attainable; however, DISD should focus its immediate attention on why its students are not achieving academically rather than infusing more public dollars into a district that continues to demonstrate mismanagement of its finances at all levels at the expense of taxpayers.

The continued politics of race, including allocation of contracts, trustee in-fighting, and allegations of grade changing for student athletes, which has our children caught in the crossfire should serve as a huge red flag for any voter and the price tag we are being asked to provide.

As a Dallas County Community College District specialist in charge of coordinating co-curricular activities for Brookhaven College students, including tutoring programs benefiting three area school district’s, I often go beyond my specified job responsibilities to assist students who are not adequately prepared for college-level work, many DISD graduates.

This includes one-on-one tutoring, which I do because I have a sincere desire to help students achieve academic excellence.  However, many times I lament that I wouldn’t feel compelled to do so had they received a strong public school education before entering our institution.

These students often land in at least one remedial course to address academic deficiencies carried with them from their primary grades, with a high percentage becoming discouraged and dropping out, creating another level of retention issues for our college.

So while I understand and sympathize with the population growth the DISD is experiencing, I would like to see tangible results which ensures the district is committed to the education of students beyond words and campaign slogans, rather than its own agenda which no one understands before we support any future bond packages.

Linus Spiller
Dallas, Texas