DISD news roundup: No election, new CFO and another investigation

Lots of DISD action this week … here's a brief summary of some of what went down, along with (of course) a little commentary:

• After its embarrassing financial crisis, DISD is spending $258,000 annually to hire a new chief financial officer. Larry Throm comes via Austin and Lubbock, where he is credited with being a tough watchdog on district finances there. "Dallas is absolutely fixable," Throm told the DMN. "I would not have taken the job if I didn't think I could be successful. They need to install some internal controls, generally accepted accounting principals and some safeguards."

DISD board vote may extend trustee terms and delay May election

When Carla Ranger starts looking like the reasonable one on the DISD
board, we might have a big problem. But that seems to be the case on
the board's possible vote today to delay the currently scheduled spring
elections for trustee seats currently held by Edwin Flores, Leigh Ann
Ellis and Ron Price.

In a nod to stability, the board is
considering extending board terms, which would mean the three trustees
wouldn't face re-election until 2010 as opposed to May 2009. The board
is relying on a state law that allows school boards to extend trustee
terms; DISD's lawyers apparently are giving the board the go-ahead even as Ranger cites other legal opinions saying such a move would be illegal.

Jim Schutze weighs in on the idea in this week's Dallas Observer, and most of his points are dead-on.

Extending
trustee terms is a good idea, giving the volunteers we elect a longer
period of time to learn the ropes and at least try to keep everything
honest on Ross Avenue.

But voting to extend the terms to get
around having an election, as opposed to making the term extension
effective after the next election cycle, essentially trumps our right
as voters to have a say on DISD's ongoing issues. It could very well be
in DISD's best interests — and it certainly is in Supt. Michael
Hinojosa's best interest — to keep these three supportive board members
on the job. But that's just not the way things should be done in a
democracy. An election to vote in new board members, if that occurred,
might make things even more messy at DISD, while re-electing these
three board members would send a message that stability is what voters
want.

But that's a decision for voters to make, and it
shouldn't be taken away from us by the very people whose actions many
are questioning.

Council subcommittee considers a smoking ban in bars, billiard halls

A city council subcommittee is considering expanding the city's current smoking ban from restaurants and workplaces to bars, billiard halls and within 15 feet of entrances to publicly accessible villages, according to the DMN. Our neighborhoods' councilmen, Sheffie Kadane and Angela Hunt, have different perspectives on the proposal, according to the News story and more comments on its blog.

I have to admit that when the city council first decided to restrict smoking in restaurants and other public places a few years ago, I had my doubts: It seemed like a draconian measure, and it seemed likely to drive business out of Dallas. Today, though, I haven't seen a single study indicating that significant business was lost to the more smoking-friendly suburbs, and the air in most places I go these days is cleaner and clearer.

Easing credit crunch puts the convention center hotel back on track

Good news for fans of the taxpayer-owned downtown convention center hotel, as well as for the pending DISD bond issue: The credit market, at least for public works projects, appears to be easing enough to allow AA-rated and above public entities to obtain financing. A DMN story indicates the city of Dallas intends to close on $253.3 million in water improvement project bonds this week; a few weeks ago, this and just about every other bond project in the country were frozen due to lack of capital or political will or lenders — take your pick. The $550 million convention center hotel, which Mayor Tom Leppert and many city councilmen have vowed to fund in January, requires issuance of municipal revenue bonds to generate the cash, so now that the market is coming back, lack of available funding shouldn’t hold back Leppert or the council. I guess we’ll see if the May referendum on the project causes the council members any heartburn when it comes time to approve the bonds in January.

Contest winners: Guess how Siegel voted

We had a tie — David Kindle and Geena
Hawryluk each picked four of the five races correctly, and each missed
the tie-breaker. They'll both get $50 gift certificates to The Grape.
The winner of the consolation prize for least accurate entry was
volunteer blogger Norm Alston, who picked two races correctly and
missed the tiebreaker. He gets a $20 gift certificate.

This
turned out to be one of the most popular contests we've ever had. Maybe
it was the prize. I was curious, of course, to see if people could tell
if my political analysis here was politically motivated, and I'm happy
to say that they couldn't. In fact, several people made that point on
their entries.

A note about the answers, which come after the
jump. The presidential race was a trick question, since I wrote in Al
Gore. Anyone who said I voted for a third-party candidate would have
gotten credit for a correct answer. I do think it's interesting that
every entry said I voted for Barack Obama. The other race that made me
smile was the tie-breaker, in which two-thirds of the entrants said I
voted for Ed Oakley. Short memories, apparently, since I took
tremendous grief during the mayor's race for my criticism about Oakley.
I was described as bitter, which was one of the kindest cuts.

Ross Avenue: Let’s see the council get out of this

First, the City Council considered re-naming Industrial Boulevard to honor Caesar Chavez, the Latino civil rights icon. Then, it was going to re-name Ross Avenue in honor of Chavez, because it had other plans for Industrial. And now, it’s not going to re-name Ross, but will find another street to call Chavez.

And people wonder why I call this one of the least sophisticated group of politicians I’ve seen in my 20-some odd years writing about this stuff.

Election update, part II

• Yes, that was an impressive performance by Lupe Valdez in winning the sheriff’s race. She only ran about 35,000 votes behind Barack Obama in Dallas County, and she apparently got a lot of Republican and independent votes in the process. There were 289,000 straight party Democratic ballots, and Valdez got 388,000 votes. What does this mean? A lot of people think she has the jail problems under control.

• I noted last week how much fun the Democratic primary for county judge will be in two years given the results on Nov. 4. I’m not sure the Republicans will have quite so much fun. If Valdez can get one-quarter of her votes from non-Democratic voters, imagine how many votes a more respected Democratic candidate can get. By the way, one of the names being floated around as a possible GOP judge candidate is former Lakewood city councilman and erstwhile mayoral candidate Gary Griffith.

• My favorite number from the election, from precinct 1207 in Highland Park (voting was at Robert Hyer elementary on Caruth). George Bush got 82 percent of the vote there in 2004, with 952 votes cast. In this election, John McCain ran behind Bush by .7 of a point, with 2,604 votes cast. I don’t know that the .7 of a point is significant, but that 530 people voted for Obama in one of the most GOP precincts in the country is.

• Finally, don’t forget to enter the Guess how Siegel voted contest. The winner gets $50 in restaurant gift certificates from The Grape, and we’ll throw in $20 for the entry that is the most wrong. The usual rules apply (no Advocate employees, volunteer bloggers can enter, Wamre is the final judge, and he already has my vote summary in a sealed envelope in his office). Send your entries here. Deadline is 5 p.m. Nov. 12.

Technorati Tags: Dallas County elections,sheriff's race,Dallas County judge

An oil change you can believe in

Props to the Valvoline in Lakewood Shopping Center for its quippy
political commentary (and for turning a political catchphrase into a
marketing opportunity). Just for the record, this sign was posted
before the outcome of the election was announced, so the folks at
Valvoline can't be accused of jumping on the bandwagon.

DISD whittles budget deficit to $28 million

Lots of DISD news Thursday, most of it positive, as the board met to discuss budget deficit progress, extending trustee terms, reviewing academic progress and evaluating how improvements to the accounting program are going. Here's a brief summary:

• The biggest news: Last year's DISD budget deficit, originally estimated at $64 million for this year, has been lowered to about $52 million as a result of additional state and local revenues. And this year's deficit, originally estimated at $84 million, has been reduced to about $75 million, prior to the recent teacher layoffs (which are projected to reduce the deficit by about $26 million) and program cuts (which reduce the projected deficit by about $28.2 million, leaving the district still about $28 million over budget for this year.

DISD ‘ghosts’ on the comeback trail?

Jim Schutze has a thoughtful column in this week’s Dallas Observer about the state of DISD and what needs to be done. Rather than try to paraphrase what he’s saying, since he covers a couple of topics, I’ll let you read it. There is an interesting trip down memory lane for those of us who have been in Dallas for awhile, though, as Jim discusses past superintendents Yvonne Gonazalez and Waldemar Rojas, neither of whom lasted 12 months in the top job. The good times just keep rolling …