09/25/06  DISD and FEDERAL FUNDS
David Tuthill

In my last letter (July 2006) regarding the Dallas Independent School District's credit card spending that the Dallas Morning News reported, I mentioned I would not be surprised that the DISD would be in the news again.  I am sorry to say I was right.

Credit card spending was the latest on a long list of problems:

*Golf Trips with Vendors by Technology Superintendent
*Excessive cell phone bills by trustees
*Driving expenses for employees
*Poorly executed contracts with Vendors (Kinko's Coping)
*And The Credit card scandal.

Now it is reported that the DISD employees have misspent Federal Grant monies on such things as faculty banquets, Ipods, play stations and bikes.  The guidelines
suggest items that would complement the educational process (what schools are for and why the children are there - to be educated).  Books, rulers,and pencils are suggested as appropriate.  This is ironic since the last meeting I attended at my neighborhood grade school contained a sales pitch by the staff for the attendees to contribute money to augment supplies teachers were buying (out of their pockets) for the students.

Long time ago, a father of a good friend of mine (who was not able to handle his finances correctly) told him "If I have 10 dollars and I owe someone 10 dollars and I go out and spend that money on beer then I have not spent the money correctly".   This was a no brainier! 

If teachers are spending their own money on classroom supplies because the district will not supply them and at the same time other DISD employees are buying Ipods, play stations and bikes etc., then there is a very big problem regarding their priorities.

In the past, I have opined about excessive spending for the football sports program.  Last year, video equipment was purchased so that each coach could videotape their players at a significant expense per school.  Monies spent on football stadiums, to provide state of the art stadiums, seem to be out of line when the primary job of schools should be education.

With the talk in the media about vouchers and holding schools accountable, it appears the nation as a whole is not satisfied with the educational system. 

In all fairness, I feel teachers do a very hard job caught in between an administration that seems unable to manage the schools or control spending and parents of students who have abdicated their responsibility to raise their children to the schools.   Teachers are underpaid and not appreciated.  I would not what their
jobs but admire them for doing it.  They must truly believe in what they do.

However, with all this waste and mismanagement, I am left wondering if anything can be salvaged from this continual mess.  There is a faction within the DISD that seems intent on conducting themselves as players in a Jerry Springer show.

I would not normally care about this waste when I read it in the Morning News if it were not for the fact that each year I pay an ever increasing amount of property tax monies (a majority of which are DISD taxes) for this nonsense.  

As reported in the Morning News, the tax relief I should expect from the Texas legislature's sessions on school finance/property tax relief will be minimal.   It seems the DISD folks are unable or unwilling to control themselves especially since they have an continual hand in my wallet.  When I attempted to discuss DISD credit card abuse with a neighbor who is active in the PTA, she quickly scooted away and closed the door on me to avoid the topic.

When are the scandals going to stop?  
When will the DISD get its act together? 
When are the taxpayers going to get relief from this mindless uncontrolled spending that is allegedly "for the good of the children"?

David W. Tuthill