02-27-20 Testimony Before Dallas ISD Board on Supplantation, 2020 Bond, and Single Spreadsheet Transparency

I am here to pull together three related themes of thought. Please see footnotes and linked sources at www.dallasisd.us. The themes are Supplantation, 2020 Bond, and Transparency

Supplantation is the replacement of Regular funds that come from the property taxes all Dallas residents pay into Dallas ISD.  Regular funds make up almost 64% of all Program Funds used to educate our children.  Regular funds should be equally distributed so that every Dallas student receives the same amount of funds each school year used for their education.  Sadly these funds have never been equally distributed in Dallas ISD.

Five years ago there were differences of over $2,000 between DISD schools.  Now the largest differences are half that, but still $1,000.  Those differences show high poverty schools receiving the lowest amounts and schools with more wealthy student populations receiving the most Regular funding per student.

(To better understand the supplantation history in Dallas ISD please go to
http://billbetzen.blogspot.com/2018/04/government-response-to-4-21-15.html and see the 9 page federal letter on the supplantation complaint documenting the allegations which they stated they would not investigate.  The 15 allegations are clearly documented, true, and have never been disproven.)

The 2020 Bond requires Dallas Citizens to trust Dallas ISD as a good steward of the hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds they manage.  Multiple assaults on that credibility are happening almost weekly.  Another one happened last night at Spruce and a public meeting about the 2020 Bond.  As DISD staff clearly documented the history and damage from redlining in Dallas ISD over the years decades in the past, I looked up the funding for 92% high poverty Spruce and compared it with the funding for 52% high poverty Woodrow Wilson.  Wilson had $310 more per student than Spruce and also had class sizes that were a full student smaller than Spruce!

This was shared at the meeting and DISD staff were quiet.  Current discrimination by race was not on the table.  (See blog posting on this meeting at http://billbetzen.blogspot.com/2020/02/transparency-within-dallas-isd-will.html.  It includes links to data sources so you can do this when you attend a DISD Bond meeting.)

Transparency arguments declare that public schools now have greater transparency than ever in Texas History.  I agree!  But that transparency is fragmented into hundreds of spreadsheet in hundreds of locations.  The most critical data for each school must be gathered into one large spreadsheet including all 261 Dallas ISD schools and academies and 250 of the most valuable and in demand variables, especially funding and expenditures as well as academic achievement and demographics of both teachers and students.

(See http://billbetzen.blogspot.com/2020/02/single-spreadsheet-transparency-for.html for more information on Single Spreadsheet Transparency.)

I applaud DISD for the exposure of racist treatment of our students 30+ years ago.  Now Dallas ISD is doing well enough to also admit, and expose, the racist treatment of our students continuing to happen now.

Please see www.dallasisd.us for more information on these issues.