Panning A Charter Takeover of ALL public Schools
The attempted charter takeover of the nation’s 14th-largest district is underway. Wealthy backers of the hostile takeover attempt have gathered enough signatures to force the anti-democratic maneuver onto the the November ballot. I first discussed the attempted takeover of Dallas in the post Beware: A Hostile Takeover of ALL Dallas Public Schools is Underway. I also visited Dallas on the invitation of several community groups in Dallas to discuss the Home Rule report and takeover. The nation must pay attention to this because this approach, if successful, may become the “reformers” next attack tactic of choice.
Notably, it appears that supporters of the takeover plan do not appear to be following the decades old Texas law that empowers them to takeover the Dallas district. The Dallas Morning News reported that
Dallas teachers group Alliance-AFT filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Dallas ISD, claiming that the district’s process to appoint a home-rule charter commission violates state law.The lawsuit filed in Dallas County District Court argues that Dallas ISD has not followed the 1995 Texas law that outlines how districts appoint a home-rule charter commission. District trustees are in the middle of appointing 15 members to a home-rule commission to draft a new constitution for the district.Alliance-AFT claims that DISD hasn’t followed the part of the law that outlines how the 15 members are appointed. By law, a quarter of the 15 members, or four members, must be classroom teachers selected by professionals on the district advisory committee.Texas law says that the professionals on a district advisory committee must be elected. But Alliance-AFT claims that DISD’s members were appointed.Alliance-AFT included an affidavit from DISD teacher and committee member Jimmy Guilllory, who said that he was not elected to the district advisory committee.
Dallas mayor Mike Rawlings, former Pizza Hut CEO, has been publicly supportive of the charter takeover (what he Panning A Charter Takeover of ALL public Schools | Cloaking Inequity: