Students, principals, and community representatives packed the Omni in Downtown Dallas on Friday for Dallas Independent School Distrcit’s first "State of the District" luncheon.
"I'm just excited number one, to be here, but then to be able to connect and see the district accomplishments as a whole," said Dwain Simmons, Principal at L.G. Pinkston High School in West Dallas.
"I think it's definitely really good just to see all the programs DISD has and just all the diversity," said Emmanuel Coronado, a sophomore at Conrad High School.
Many came to see what makes the district unique. From its after school robotics club to sensory learning, even personality was on display.
"I love it when they call me Big Papa," said Dr. Michael Hinojosa, removing sunglasses as he took the stage.
The Dallas ISD superintendent came with jokes, but he quickly got down to business.
"We actually have our own school performance framework and ours is more rigorous than the state," he told the packed crowd.
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Dr. Hinojosa said 66 percent of Dallas schools scored a B or higher and the number marked 'improvement required' went down from 43 to 4 in the last four years. Teachers got a raise this year and the $450 million in the reserve, thanks to the Tax Ratification Election, will fund more raises and programs over the next four or five years.
"The voters are tapped out, they've done their part. We had to go to the voters because there wasn't any new money from the state," he said.
Dr. Hinojosa said to keep the momentum going, Texas lawmakers need to tackle school finance reform this session, figuring out a way to distribute more money to economically disadvantaged students.
"I think they're serious. Being a superintendent 24 years, ten in Texas, I've never seen them this united at least out of the box," he said.
He said it's hard to predict the impact it could have on Dallas. He's waiting to see.
"There are some robust serious plans and they're gonna set up a state teacher excellence initiative and if we can qualify for that money, then we don't have to spend some of our money on that so there are some very significant, specific plans, but can they make it through the whole process is really the big question," Dr. Hinojosa said.
Dallas ISD plans to keep this event going each year, but the venue could change. The Omni ballroom was almost at capacity Friday. More than 740 people showed up.
