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Greetings, District 2!
Spring has sprung and there is a lot happening with the Dallas ISD School Board. Please find news on what the Dallas ISD Board has been up to below.
Dallas ISD District 2 Monthly Updates:
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THANK YOU: To ALL of you who so graciously and generously donate your time, talent and treasure to help improve our Dallas ISD student outcomes and experiences in so many ways, THANK YOU! To our PTAs, Site Based Decision Making Committees, corporate and non-profit partners, task force volunteers, tutors, coaches, cheerleaders and so much more, we appreciate you and your support immensely! If you’ve been wanting to get involved, but are not sure how, check out these upcoming opportunities to volunteer.
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Finance, Football and Furries: The Texas House Public Education Committee recently held a hearing on House Bill 3, which proposes the establishment of Education Savings Accounts, featuring extensive testimony from both supporters and opponents and providing a comprehensive overview of the arguments surrounding the bill. To learn more, you can access video of the hearing here. A primer on topic is available from Raise Your Hand Texas, and my D2 predecessor penned an opinion piece on the fiscal impacts of ESAs/vouchers during the last legislative session. Recently, District 2 resident and journalist Kevin Sherrington weighed in on the debate in relation to football. Make no mistake, the claws are out on the voucher topic - I share this opinion piece on furries to assure our taxpayers that there are not, and have not been, litter boxes for kids in Dallas ISD schools.
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School Choice is alive and well in Dallas ISD and I encourage you to explore the many options, including IB, P-TECH, magnet schools, career institutes and more, here.
March Board Meeting Debrief: This month, Dallas ISD had its regular board briefing and meeting. I’ve chosen to highlight a few items below:
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Dallas ISD Priority Setting Update: At our meeting, the Board and Superintendent continued conversations to establish priorities for the next five years, with a few minor changes from last month to the middle school, college and career readiness and constraints. Leadership ISD’s summary can be found here.
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Artificial Intelligence Task Force: Dallas ISD is exploring the integration of AI to enhance teaching, learning, and assessment. To ensure responsible AI use for staff and students as it becomes a greater part of daily life, the district is developing guidelines and crafting an AI playbook.
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Budget Update and Planning: Budget season is underway! This month, a series of community meetings provided updates on the current budget and preliminary plans for the next fiscal year. A summary can be found on p. 9 , here. Additional budget details will be presented to the board in the coming months, with the goal of approving the 2025-2026 budget at the May meeting.
Dallas ISD Bond Construction Update: Across the district, campus upgrades funded by the proceeds from the 2020 Bond continue, with more information on the Bond 2020 dashboard. Looking forward, a Bond Steering Committee has been created to explore and assess future districtwide capital improvement needs and provide input into the potential next bond package development process.
As always, please reach out to me if you have thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello!
Best,
Sarah Weinberg
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