Dallas ISD officials want to expand high school offerings that give students more options to earn college credit or career certifications in fields that provide livable wages.
District administrators on Tuesday presented to trustees plans to create two more early college high schools and unveiled new career institutes at five campuses.
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Administrators said the institutes, which will begin in the new school year, revamp career and technical education by requiring schools to partner with a local business and focus on jobs in high demand. Students would take courses and get related training so they could earn certification in careers, officials said.
"Get out of your mind the old vocational education. These are jobs of the future," Superintendent Michael Hinojosa said at the school board briefing.
The careers include auto body repair, welding, construction and manufacturing skills.
District officials admitted that typical career or technical education programs haven't been as successful in recent years as they should be in getting students jobs. So far, at least 10 businesses — including Walmart, Service King and TDIndustries — have signed letters of intent to partner with schools, which officials said will lead to more internships and, eventually, jobs.
Deputy Superintendent Israel Cordero said the institutes were designed by analyzing workforce needs that include careers where students can earn livable wages.
The career institutes would focus on automotive areas at Spruce and Adamson high schools; welding at Pinkston; construction at Samuell; and logistics and manufacturing at Wilmer-Hutchins. The schools would partner with businesses as well as the Dallas County Community College District, where students could move on to take related courses.
"You just can't find enough people in these professions," trustee Edwin Flores said. "These are careers that kids can have their whole life."
State and business leaders have long touted the need to focus on so-called middle-skills jobs, those that generally require more than a high school diploma but less than a four-year degree.
In March, the House Select Committee on Economic Competitiveness issued a report stressing the need to address the shortage in middle-skills jobs, where there aren't enough qualified workers to fill the need.
A 2017 report by the Texas Workforce Commission projected significant growth in workforce needs for many of the selected areas for the institute. For example, the construction industry was set to grow by nearly 28 percent from 2014 to 2024, with the greatest demand being for supervisors.
Cordero said staff plans to expand some type of institute offering at all comprehensive high schools.
"We're really on the right track to provide our kids more and more opportunities," school board president Dan Micciche said.
Cordero also highlighted plans to create two new early college high schools, using next year to plan. One would be at Skyline High School, which would partner with Cedar Valley College.
The other would be a stand-alone school operated out of North Lake College, beginning at its south campus and then moving upper-class students to the main campus.
North Lake actually lies outside the official Dallas ISD boundaries. But Cordero assured trustees that state law gives the district authority to operate a school or program outside its boundaries.
He said staff also is exploring whether to open that campus as a charter school under a new law that can give districts more money if they partner with a charter operator, nonprofit or higher-education entity for the charter.
Dallas previously balked at using that law to avoid having the state shut down some of its lowest-performing campuses. But Hinojosa said that was because the Texas Education Agency had yet to establish detailed guidelines on how charter partnerships would work, and the district needed to move ahead with plans for those schools.
In other business, trustees debated the proposed $1.5 billion budget for next school year that includes about $32 million in raises. But the budget — and pay increases — are built upon a higher tax rate of $1.17.
The maximum maintenance and operating tax rate a district can set without voter approval is $1.04.
The higher rate under consideration must first be adopted by a supermajority of trustees and then go before the voters. Hinojosa has been pushing for the tax ratification election. Next school year, Dallas ISD will fall into "recapture," meaning state law requires that it must send millions back to the state under the complex school finance plan known commonly as Robin Hood.
So far, two previous attempts to get a supermajority of the board to call for the tax election have failed.
Trustees are expected to vote on the budget June 21.
