Tom Leppert's Grade Expectations

When Tom Leppert was elected mayor of Dallas in June 2007, one of his platforms was improving DISD. No one doubted his commitment to education, but journalists asked him the question they should have asked him: What does being mayor of Dallas have to do with running the schools? He correctly pointed out that, according to the charter, absolutely nothing. But he also correctly pointed out that the mayor should shine a light on education, offer support, and suggest ways to improve. Public School Dad agreed with all of this.

So today the Dallas Morning News runs a front-pager above the fold called "Leppert Looks at Taking Over DISD." The mayor has spoken to powerful (and popular) state senator Royce West about possible legislation that could make such a change happen, though my sense it that the more likely scenario for takeover would come from the TEA, which would probably appoint a career educator as conservator instead of the mayor. Still, here's the simple play for Leppert: He cares about the schools. He has proven himself to be an effective and popular mayor. And DISD has proven itself to be--how do you say?--"not effective" and "not popular." For a mayor with larger political aspirations, running this proposal up the flag pole makes perfect sense. And given that city manager Mary Suhm seemed surprised to hear this news confirms that. Let's face it--any pressure that the school board and the superintendent feel about their performance is a positive. After all, these are the fine folks who brought you this.

Two small additional points. One, the News didn't do a great job of explaining the mechanics of such a takeover process, either via the Lege or TEA. The sidebar on other major cities that have had their districts taken over the mayor's office--Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington D.C.--is helpful, but no mention of Texas cities would leave the reader with the assumption that this has never happened in our state. That should have been in the story.

Second, you gotta love this bit from trustee Leigh Ann Ellis:

"If this is true, I think it's an underhanded kind of slimy tactic. The mayor needs to just stay in his kingdom down there." Ellis said improvements are being made in the district, but it can't be fixed overnight.

By "overnight," I guess she's measuring that in geologic time. Finally, what are the odds that the DMN editorial page will weigh in on this positively tomorrow? I'd bet a six-pack (of Dr Pepper).