Harry Trujillo

01/04/06 DISD Central Office Revamp

Dr. Michael Hinojosa’s revamping of the Dallas ISD central office may bring dismal and poor changes to the school system. Proper school governance matters because it defines the rules by which change can be implemented. This kind of poor judgment, in bringing in a CEO without any educational administrative financial background into the Dallas ISD school district's governance which has caused educational constraints in the past severely limits the district's ability to improve its schools and is wrong.

No one person can be held directly accountable to the parents and voters for the performance of the district but the Dallas ISD School Board Trustees, where petty politics and personal agendas often interfere with the management of the schools, and Dr. Hinojosa, who is accountable for his governance changes and possible inactions. The trustees should impose their authority and hold Dr. Hinojosa responsible for any failures of the school's business practices otherwise these elected officials will be pointing their fingers at everyone else. By adding one top level administrator, Dr. Hinojosa increases his staff and dilutes superintendent oversight below him.

Dr. Hinojosa should not consider previously failed measures, including governance models already tested in the DISD with a chief of staff for everything and everyone reporting to the chief of staff. Dr. Hinojosa needs a qualified, competent, and seasoned treasury officer who will properly administer and manage the Dallas ISD’s assets and the district's treasury department. The new school finance chief of staff should be able to find out where the school district is financially and where it needs to go.Eric Anderson,chosen as Chief Operating Officer over nonacademic departments, should have at least completed a Texas approved graduate-level program of educational administrative study and at minimum, at least completed four full year’s preparation in education finance before starting his new job and ample experience as a chief school administrator.

Furthermore, Mr. Anderson is not certified as a Certified Texas School Business Official (CTSBC). The Texas Association of School Business Officials (TASBO) requires school business officials certify educational administrators with a Certified Texas School Business Administrator Certification (CTSBA). Both certifications require a specific amount of experience and must have completed certain training courses to qualify for TASBO certification. Mr. Anderson may have extensive knowledge in the private sector but he fails when it comes to state requirements for a school treasury officer.

Those requirements for certification require the applicant have: Three (3) years of school business experience and served two (2) consecutive years in one school district. Dr. Hinojosa should have made sure Mr. Anderson had proper experience, educational, and financial credentials. It is essential governance of the DISD be reformed now, but it's structure should only be changed to guarantee accountability and to streamline decision making, particularly with regard to the district's annual budget. A new governance model is the single most important prerequisite for the ultimate success the scholastic reform body Dallas Achieves hopes to attain. In addition, this type of reform certainly helps solve the enormous fiscal challenges now facing the DISD. Those selected to lead this badly needed reform effort should at least know about education and not be selected based on petty politics and personal agendas.

Dr. Hinojosa's reorganization is self described as an effort to shore up the district's business division but equally leaves the average DISD shareholder dismayed this revamp increases the salary burden on the taxpayer's of the DISD and leave harmless and actually awards (Chief of Staff) those who did not prove to be adequate stewards of the district's resources and hard earned paid school taxes.