Coming available on February 6 is the new Parent Portal for all Dallas ISD parents.  By using this portal, available in Spanish and English, parents will be able to keep up with their child’s academic information.  Attendance, grades and upcoming as well as completed assignments will be available for viewing on a protected website.  For more information go to the Dallas ISD website at: www.dallasisd.org.

Starting today, Dallas ISD'S Magnet Program will begin accepting applications for the 2012-2013 school year.  Applications for the magnet, academy and vanguard school can be picked up at all schools, on the DISD school district website and at the Administration Bldg located at 3700 Ross Ave.

Application deadline is January 31. You can find more information at www.dallasisd.org

Last week I talked about the possibility that the DISD's Current Budget Woes Might Be A Gift. Specifically I discussed how, if done correctly, the impending layoffs and belt tightening could lead to efficiencies in operation and lean but effective teaching staffs. What I didn't expect was the targeting of the most successful schools in the district for the deepest cuts. Mr. Hinojosa...What are you thinking?

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Like many school districts across the country, the DISD is faced with making deep cuts in order to balance their budget for the 2011-2012 school year. As of data reported through 2009, the DISD is the 14th largest school district in the country with over 159,000 students, 10,643 teachers and 2,208 staff. The initial statewide budget plan would cut Texas education funding by $9.3 billion making the DISD's share of this reduction $250 million or roughly 25% of the current budget. 85% of the DISD's current $1.2 billion budget goes to payroll.

Superintendent Michael Hinojosa's proposed areas for the $250 million budget-reduction include:

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DISD administrators are mulling over the possibility of creating a middle school for students not yet prepared for high school but who are older than the average aged middle school student. The proposed plan calls for 200 8th grade students at least 15 ½ years old or who have failed the TAKS reading and math tests three times to enter the school in the fall of 2011. 7th grade students who are older than 14 ½ years would follow in 2012 and 6th grade students older than 13 ½ years would begin attending in 2013. Attendance at this school would not be voluntary with assignment dictated by the new policy. The goal of the school is to help reduce the dropout rate and to ensure that ultimately students would be entering high school at the same age as their peers.

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