Our Washington correspondent Brendan McKenna files this dispatch:
Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert didn’t get a chance to tout his efforts at aiding the Dallas Independent School District at a press conference Thursday morning. Word is he was held up at the White House – just a few blocks away from the National Press Club where the press conference was held.
The press conference announced the results of a poll commissioned by the National Education Association, among others, that proclaimed voters are serious about keeping arts, innovation and creative education in schools – willing to reward politicians who increase funding for such programs and punish those who make cuts.
The findings merely confirmed what Dallas leaders have known for a decade, said City Manager Mary Suhm, who appeared in Mr. Leppert’s stead. She also praised Dallas’ civic and educational leaders for committing $16 million to put arts teachers in every school in the district – a goal that she said will be achieved this fall.
Arts and creative educational programs make for better students, who earn better test scores, and graduate to become better workers who can enhance the city’s tax base, Ms. Suhm said.
“To me, as an administrator, it’s a very direct return,” she said. “Policy makers in Dallas have put the money where our mouth is.”
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Posted by Bill Betzen @ 6:27 AM Mon, Jan 28, 2008
As Mr. Leppert and other Dallas officials talk about DISD, will they mention the efforts to reach the continuing majority of Dallas 9th graders who do not graduate with their class in 4 years? Just google three words, Dallas, Student and enrollment. The results are a spreadsheet with enrollment by grade going back 11 years. Why is nobody talking about the missing children at graduation? It almost seems that there is an effort to ignore them.