The Dallas Foundation hosted a Community Matters event where the main topic of discussion was the post-COVID-19 state of Dallas education.
The organization’s chief impact officer, Drexell Owusu, was joined on a panel by Todd Williams, chairman and CEO of Commit Partnership, Dallas ISD Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde, and Yasmin Bhatia, president and CEO of Uplift Education.
To open the discussion, Elizalde described the impact that COVID-19 had on DISD schools and their students and teachers.
“We certainly saw that students who had [already] been struggling had some of the largest effects from not having in-person schooling,” said Elizalde.
Elizalde explained that what helped a lot of students was getting them back into the classroom, crediting Gov. Greg Abbott for the turnaround. Texas was one of the first states to lift lockdowns and get kids back into schools.
“We also know that because we were able to get our students and our teachers back into classrooms sooner than most other states, [and] I don’t always agree with the governor on a whole lot of things, but when we’re wrong, we’re wrong, and we needed to do it in the safest manner if possible, but our kids needed their teachers, and we are seeing the benefits of that happening now,” said Elizalde.
Despite the slight upticks in student performance following the district’s return to in-person learning, Dallas ISD continues to suffer from dismal student outcomes. Only 41% of students scored at grade level on last year’s STAAR exams. Additionally, according to the latest Texas Education Agency accountability report, almost 20% of seniors did not graduate on time.
As the panel continued to discuss issues plaguing school districts, the topic of school security arose.
“We’re coming up on the one-year anniversary of Uvalde, and I personally don’t feel like we’re hearing enough about school safety right now,” said Bhatia.
“It is such a real thing and so triggering for our staff and our scholars and our families, and it doesn’t always have to be about money. Uplift serves 23,000 children across 45 schools and they sit in six different cities in the metroplex. And the way the police respond when we call it about a potential threat, it’s very different, so even the state just helping put more consistency and alignment around the response of the police to issues around school safety could be really beneficial,” said Bhatia.
Elizalde alleged that Dallas ISD presently gets $9.72 of taxpayer money from the state per child for safety, noting, “That is what Texas thinks about safety for kids.”
She said they need at least $210 per child as a minimum starting point for conversation.
