Scoot26

Don't underestimate our administration or the parents of this district. Everyone is at their wits end with robin hood and if it means more construction projects, then we will see it done. The problem within most districts is that they put their fate into the hands of the state legislature. Yes, we'll have to accept robin hood, but trust me, no one in this district will let this school crumble by the actions of the state. The good thing is that our schools don't have much of a rate of growth because of the restrictive size of the area. And why should we "strive" for 20 kids per teacher? Why can we not strive for 12-14 per teacher? HP is not trying to be everything to everyone. I understand that each school has it's own personality, it's own record, etc., but without a doubt, we offer one of the best well-rounded programs possible in the state. That is the biggest draw to our district. The problem today is that student programs are having to depend more on donations to survive. Our students should never have to ask for donations to keep their programs. The people in this district want this endowment, and we will get our school back to where we want it, regardless of what the state legislature hands us or residents of Dallas want. If HPISD didn't have such a successful program, nobody would even be having this debate.

And you forget that the residents in Park City also pay taxes to the city of Dallas. Their property taxes go to the HPISD while the property taxes of the Dallas resident's go to the DISD. And most of those services aren't free.

As a Highland Park resident and tax payer, let me address some of your notions. One of the main goals of establishing this endowment is so that HPISD can reduce their class sizes, and reestablish programs that had to be cut because of funding that was stolen from us through robin hood. This fund will pay for new teachers so class sizes will drop, it will pay for our teachers to have the best resources available, it will pay to make sure our teachers are well qualified and educated in their respected fields, it will pay for new extracurricular programs so that our students can enjoy a broad range of activities. However, you want to see this school stuffed to capacity. Our schools already have class sizes well above the state average, and I can promise you, the parents and residents of HP are not happy about it. You should come to a board meeting sometime or to a parent event, and talk to the administrators and parents. You will find that the residents of HP overwhelmingly want to see our class sizes drop to the low to mid teens. This isn't going to happen when we are having to pay over $75 million a year of our hard earned money to other schools in the state. The residents, myself included, are sick of it. Therefore, I will gladly give to this endowment to see that the future of this community and its schools continue to thrive. Haha! Are you serious? Do you really think HP residents will want to send their children to a DISD school? The residents here might be wealthy, but we aren't retarded. If that was the case, our schools will always be crowded. It is not HP's problem that the DISD might have substandard schools in its system. It is not HP's problem that their classes are overcrowded. It is not HP's problem that 82% of students in DISD are economically disadvantaged. It is not HP's problem that DISD's test scores are lacking. DISD needs to get their own schools in order and the residents in the DISD district should not be allowed to use the HP system because their own schools are lacking. If a family wishes to send their student to HP, then they are free to move into the district. If they can't afford it, well then, welcome to reality. If they have complaints about their school, then they are free to turn to their own school leaders and the state legislature. It is our parents, students, teachers, and community leaders who have made Highland Park high school into what it is today. We don't put our success in the hands of the state legislature nor do we owe our success to Dallas or the residents in the DISD. DISD and the state of Texas owes a lot more to HPISD than we owe to them. The truth of the matter is that without our money, DISD and other districts in Texas would be really hurting. So please don't chastise us for trying to protect and keep in place a bedrock of our community.