Dallas Examiner, 3/10/11 - "Budget cuts: Community looks for intelligent answers"

Sen. Royce West and Rep. Yvonne Davis were on hand at Concord Missionary Baptist Church last Sunday for a short yet tightly focused community meeting about the state budget and what it means for Dallas parents, schoolteachers, elected officials, and other interested stakeholders. Among those present were city councilman Tennell Atkins, and DISD trustees Lew Blackburn, Bernadette Nutall, and Carla Ranger.

“The reason for the meeting was that people want to come together to get intelligent answers on what we’re facing as far as school districts,” said community activist Claudia Fowler. Fowler stressed the educational nature of the meeting, and the intent of Sen. West and Yvonne Davis to dispel misinformation about both the state’s fiscal position and to persuade attendees of the importance of putting sustained pressure on the Capitol.  

“What we’re going to do as community activists and as parents that are concerned, [is that] the NAACP is going to take charge over the phone banking, we’re going to do massive phone banking of PTA, parents, auxiliaries in the schools, and it’s probably going to be in English and Spanish to make sure that all people are reached,” said Fowler. “We did determine that we are going to go to Austin next Monday the 14^th. We’re going to go with our Fight For Change mobilization of parents, teachers and students.”

This was seconded by Atkins. “[We need] to come to Austin to make sure that the state legislators understand that these cuts are unacceptable to the Dallas Independent School District, to our region in North Texas, and we’re going to come down there, we’re gonna call, we’re gonna talk, we’re gonna write, and we’re gonna show up and say this is something that is not acceptable. Short and to-the-point.”

The original worst-case scenario for DISD, according to a Feb. 8 briefing by Superintendent Michael Hinojosa to the DISD Board of Trustees, was about $250 million in cuts, which would mostly have come from teacher and administrator salaries. Under this scenario, as many as 3900 positions would have been in jeopardy. However, information presented at the Sunday meeting suggests that this worst-case scenario may not come to pass.

“The $250 million that was our worst-case scenario, they think it may be $167 million at the end,” said DISD Trustee Bernadette Nutall. “That’s not good, but it’s better than $250 million. And they’re working hard to figure out ways to save public education.”

While part of the meeting amounted to State Budgeting 101 (for example, educating participants about the tripartite budget writing process—i.e. the House, Senate, and Legislative Budget Board), the sense of emergency in the air, and the need for aggressive action on the part of Dallas stakeholders, was most palpable.

A particular focus of Black Democrats’ ire has been what they view as the budget shell game being played by Republicans, with potential revenue streams ignored and the Rainy Day Fund being declared off-limits. For example, it was suggested that as much as $30 billion a year in potential revenues is lost each year because of the state’s failure to close certain corporate tax loopholes.

“We’ve got everything on the table,” said Atkins about the DISD budget. “But then, too, they also got to look at what the state has on the table, and what is out there from the state’s side. Do they have everything on the table? They (Democrats) think that the state is probably hiding money or playing a shell game. They’ve got some [revenue streams] out there that they’re not telling the public. Are they looking at corporate America and seeing what kind of taxes they’re paying? Are they paying their fair share of taxes?”

“If we’re going to do this, everybody’s got to put their hand on the table.”

The importance of African-Americans doing their part to make sure that the state antes up has been made ringingly clear at the various events that have been held where the subject has been the state budget, and last Sunday’s was no different.

 “I’m actually going to Austin with a teacher’s group on Monday,” said Nutall, referring to the same mobilization mentioned by Claudia Flowers. “Adam Medrano (District 8 trustee) and Bruce Perry (District 3) are going as well. And so we’re going to get to talk to some legislators down there, and we’re excited about that. So I’ll get to go down there and see all of this in action.”