Dallas ISD is looking to make certain efficiencies in a bid to better allocate human resources to improve student outcomes by identifying high school programs that have little enrollment.
According to the district’s superintendent, there are some classes with enrollment below 15 and even 10 students, and cuts could enable officials to move faculty around and shore up funds to hire more counselors.
“I’m doing a disservice if I’ve got a program that doesn’t connect to those high-wage, high-demand jobs because I’m putting kids in a situation where they’re not going to be part of the economic engine,” Superintendent Stephanie Elizalde said, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Dallas ISD has been struggling in recent years to maintain adequate student achievement outcomes. According to its latest accountability report for the 2021-2022 school year, only 59% of the 8,003 students who graduated that year met “College, Career, and Military Readiness” standards despite the hard work of teachers and staff.
Additionally, only 41% of students in the district scored at grade level on their STAAR exams, and nearly 20% of students in the graduating Class of 2022 earned a high school diploma in four years when the statewide average was 90%.
“We’re still scrubbing the data. It’s going to be some rough waters, no doubt. And we just have to be focused on doing the things that we know are gonna get us those outcomes,” Elizalde said, per DMN.
One of the factors driving the move to cut high school programming is Dallas ISD’s alleged budget woes. Although the district adopted a record-high budget of $2.5 billion for the 2023-2024 school year, Dallas ISD continues to lag behind most public school systems in terms of student achievement outcomes. Declining enrollment, possibly due to flagging outcomes, has squeezed prospective district spending since state funding of public education in Texas is tied to student enrollment.
Hiring more counselors is part of the district’s plan to improve student outcomes.
“It’s one of the few things that you can invest money in that actually has a dividend to it. … We’re all recognizing that we’ve got to put more resources into this space,” said Commit Partnership CEO Todd Williams, who has been trying to help area school systems deal with their budgetary problems, according to DMN.
