Lynn Walsh

A story written for Texas Watchdog:

Houston ISD pays teachers $3.7 million not to teach
Friday, Feb 04, 2011, 02:07PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The district is just beginning the conversation of what to do with the 89 teachers next year. In a presentation, HISD said, “we want to mitigate the district’s financial obligation while recognizing the staffing flexibilities of individual schools and the disruption that widespread ‘bumping’ could cause.”

HISD Pays $3.7M to Fire Teachers: MyFoxHOUSTON.com

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Now available online: TrentTV webinar on getting military information, podcast on FollowTheMoney.org
Tuesday, Jan 25, 2011, 04:37PM CST
By Jennifer Peebles

And if you haven’t already, please “like” our pages on Facebook for both TrentTV and Transparency Talk Radio to keep up with all the latest news about show times and topics — and feel free to use those links to send us your feedback, comments, questions and topic ideas.

An investigation by Lynn Walsh featured on My Fox Houston:

HISD Student Spending Varies Dramatically at Different Campuses

Updated: Friday, 19 Nov 2010, 7:02 PM CST
Published : Friday, 19 Nov 2010, 7:02 PM CST
GREG GROOGAN-Reporter

HOUSTON – Newly released numbers show that when it comes to funding for their education, all Houston Independent School District students are not exactly equal.

Data analyzed by the investigative group Texas Watchdog reveal big differences from campus to campus in per pupil spending.

At West University Elementary, located in one of the areas most prosperous neighborhoods, HISD spends about $4,500 per pupil, but at McDade Elementary on the northeast side, the District spends a lot more, close to $7,100 per student.

At high-performing Bellaire High School, HISD spends about $4,700 per student, but across town at Kashmere High School in one of the city’s most economically-challenged neighborhoods, HISD spends close to $12,000 per student.

Texas Watchdog investigator Lynne Walsh says while it may appear some campuses are getting short-changed, there are many legitimate reasons that per student spending differs, often dramatically, from school to school.

“When you look at the database, there are close to 40 different sources from which HISD provides funds. Some of it is state money. Some of it’s federal money. Some of it is money from HISD such as small school subsidies and magnet funding. Look to see how your school compares to a school down the street,” said Walsh.

The database provides per pupil spending for all HISD campuses, including revenue for programs like special education.

Parents can find out how much is being spent on their child and the funding sources by checking the database at:

http://www.texaswatchdog.org/HISD-per-student-funding-data-search-page

http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2010/11/hisd-schools-per-pupil-funding/1290099737.story

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

Rich school, poor school: How much Houston ISD spends to educate each child varies greatly between schools

Thursday, Nov 18, 2010, 01:40PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The sounds of fast-moving students, laughter and loud conversations greet you as you enter Ryan Middle School on a Wednesday afternoon at 3 p.m. — but the students are not headed home. Their day in class, learning, will continue for at least another hour.

The longer class days are just some of the changes that came this year to the school in the Third Ward as Houston’s public school system launched a $29 million program to revamp failing schools. Also added at Ryan: a longer school year, new school leadership, new academic programs and additional tutoring.

The school system is slated to spend more than $10,000, on average, on each of Ryan’s 380 students this year, according to district records. The total expense for the school this year: $3.9 million.

Just three miles away, in the Montrose neighborhood, each child at Lanier Middle is slated to have $4,470 spent on them this year. And while Ryan is struggling, Lanier is rated as “recognized” by the state, the second-highest designation the Texas Education Agency gives to public schools.

The amount of money spent to educate children in the Houston Independent School District is severely inconsistent from school to school, a Texas Watchdog review of HISD data has found.

The gap between spending at Ryan and Lanier middle schools is only one of numerous discrepancies, and few patterns can be found in how the nation’s seventh-largest school system decides to spend money educating children.

(Texas Watchdog has made all of HISD’s school funding data available for you to see for yourself — click this link to visit our search page to see all the funding sources for any HISD school.)

Some schools ranked “exemplary” by the state spend enough on each child each year to buy the kid a brand new car — such as T.H. Rogers Middle, west of Memorial Park, where each child is slated to have $18,027 spent on them this year.

Other exemplary schools could only buy each kid a used car. A really used car. That’s where Pin Oak Middle in Bellaire falls, with just $4,800 being spent per child. Pin Oak and T.H. Rogers are just five miles’ distance from each other.

The funding levels are also all over the map for schools that aren’t doing so well. Students at Ryan Middle were already having more than $10,000 a year spent on them last year, before HISD began pumping millions of extra dollars into the school as part of its turnaround program dubbed Apollo 20. Meanwhile, struggling Westside High School — ranked only “academically acceptable” by the state — spends just $4,714 per student, HISD data shows.

“The discrepancies in school funding have bothered me, and I have been arguing with the district about them for a while,” said Jay Aiyer, a Pin Oak parent. “There is no rhyme or reason to how HISD funds schools, and I have been pushing for this review for a while.”

Pin Oak, ranked “exemplary” by the state this year, will receive $5.19 million in funding this year, or slightly more than $4,800 per student.

Aiyer has been e-mailing district officials about the funding discrepancies related to magnet programs and overall school funding in HISD and finally received a response in April around the same time the school system began talks about reviewing its roughly 100 magnet programs.

He’s not the only one asking questions.

“It is mind boggling,” said Debbie Taylor, a parent at Parker Elementary, another HISD school in Bellaire that was rated as exemplary this year and which falls in the middle of the elementary school pack, funding-wise. “I can’t really grasp why this is happening, and the amount of money that some school receive when they are not even some of the best schools in the state.”

T.H. Rogers and Ryan middles have the third- and fourth-highest per-child expenses of all the middle schools in HISD, the data showed. (Two other middle schools, Harper Alternative and the HCC Life Skills program, have still higher per-child spending rates than T.H. Rogers and Ryan, though they are both alternative or non-traditional programs that would likely offer more expensive, specialized services to their students, driving up the per-child expense.)

Meanwhile, the middle school spending the least, New Aspirations in Sharpstown, will spend just $2,706 per student.

Pin Oak is limited in the programs it can offer, such as in foreign languages, because of the lack of funds, Aiyer said. “I think there is a minimum level or threshold of money every school should receive,” he said. “I also think that certain kids need certain amounts of money, but sometimes that money is not being used properly.”

LOTS OF POTS

Some of the confusion stems from the numerous pots of money from which HISD’s 300-plus schools get cash each year.

The school district approves a dollar amount each year — as part of its annual budget — that acts as a sort of minimum level that will be spent on each child. (For an elementary school this year, it’s $3,485, for middle schools, $3,510, and high schools, $3,474.) Each school then receives that amount from the school system for each child enrolled.

That’s the main pot of cash that funds each school.

But then there are 37 others, too.

Some schools, including Ryan, get extra money for having magnet programs. Some get extra money for being small. Some get bilingual supplements. Some get career and technology funds. Then there’s the campus project fund. Summer school money. Some get additional money from a transportation and maintenance fund. The list goes on.

More than 100 schools in HISD receive magnet funding that ranges from more than $473,000 a year per school to just a little more than $5,000.

Magnet school funding — totalling $16.9 million this year — varies drastically from campus to campus, HISD data shows. HISD Superintendent Terry Grier has brought in a non-profit education group, Magnet Schools of America, to review HISD’s magnet programs. It is expected to make final recommendations to the board of trustees next month.

Another example is the small school subsidy, given to campuses across the district that meet certain thresholds for having low enrollment. This year HISD is expecting to give more than $10 million to small schools, varying from $301,000 at Williams Middle, on the north side of town, to just around $2,000 for Kelso Elementary on the south side, which the state has rated academically unacceptable.

Each school can get money from some or all of the pots in a given year. Ryan Middle, for instance, will receive in $268,000 in small school subsidies, nearly $50,000 in magnet funding for the 12-student gifted education magnet program, stimulus money and federal and state funding this year, on top of general fund revenue from HISD.

HOW RYAN MIDDLE USES ITS FUNDING

What does a $10,000 middle school education look like?

At Ryan, it is not about having the most high-tech equipment or innovative building in the district. It is about hiring people who can make a difference and motivate students who may not receive the motivation and encouragement they need from home, according to members of the HISD staff who work or volunteer with students at Ryan.

With new staff members from some of the most elite charter schools in the country, like KIPP, Ryan is developing programs and classes that create an atmosphere of trust and respect in the classroom. On top of new staff, all of the classes, except gifted-ed and the magnet program, are gender-specific, including lunch.

“These students come from families in which they may never see respect in the household,” said Wendi Turner, who helps oversee some of the volunteer programs at Ryan. “We are trying to create and instill trust and respect first so it then transforms into academic success in the classroom.” Hear more about what Turner and the Ryan staff are doing in the clip below.

One program Ryan is using to do this is the “Butterfly” group — a weekly meeting of female students, staff and community volunteers who openly discuss how young people can keep anger under control and respect one another and themselves.

“I never had this growing up,” said Epiphany Sahar, a volunteer and artist. “I was never told I could succeed, and if you are never told that how are you supposed to want to?”

Sahar grew up in the neighborhood surrounding Ryan and flies back and forth from New York City to Houston weekly to help with the Butterfly group. Watch all of her comments in the clip below.

At the same time, parents at successful schools that don’t get $10,000 a year per student said success takes more than just money.

“I think the culture of the school breeds a certain academic excellence,” Aiyer said of Pin Oak. “They force academic involvement, whether it is a student that is struggling or a Vanguard (gifted) student. There is an expectation of academic rigor that is there.”

It’s the staff and the community’s dedication and approach to discipline that help create academic excellence, Taylor said.

Her child’s school is expected to receive $3.9 million in school funding this year for more than 800 students. With a little more than $5,200 per student, Parker is right in the middle of the amount of funding an average elementary school in HISD will receive this year.

The diversity of the school — its enrollment is roughly a third white, a third black and a third Latino — is a plus, she said. Also, the school has good teachers, and PTA involvement at the school is huge.

“It is a hands-on PTA and there is a lot of manpower involved,” Taylor said. “The money raised and what they achieve with it is worthwhile.”

Martha Jenkinson, a PTA leader at Bellaire High School, knows first-hand what money raised through parent organizations can do.

Deemed a “recognized” school by the state, 3,000-student Bellaire is expected to receive more than $14.4 million in funding this year, or $4,769 a student — spending less per child than many other high schools in the district.

To augment that, each year the PTA at Bellaire awards equipment grants to teachers.

“The grants are for equipment they think might be an advantage to their students. Sometimes it is a camera, additional microscopes — things a teacher might need that they cannot afford to purchase through the school budget,” Jenkinson said.

The PTA at Bellaire gives out about $25,000 in teacher grants every year, Jenkinson said.

“The business officer at the school sits with us and looks at what the school can fun and what it cannot,” Jenkinson said. “If the school cannot cover the cost, the PTA will try to.”

Bellaire is not the only school that funds programs or equipments with the help of parents.

At Parker, Taylor pays a $150 magnet fee each year to cover additional costs associated with the school’s music magnet and says the money spent “is worthwhile.”

Do you have an opinion about school funding in HISD? Texas Watchdog wants to hear from you. Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or 713-228-2850. Follow her on Twitter, twihttp://twitter.com/lwalsh.

A story featured on 39 News Houston:

An investigation for Texas Watchdog:

HISD spends $18 million in stimulus cash to pay salaries of 200+ workers it doesn’t need

Thursday, Oct 21, 2010, 07:22AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Houston’s public schools are spending $18 million in federal stimulus money to pay the salaries of more than 200 employees the district admits it doesn’t need.

That’s because the Houston Independent School District is getting more federal money than ever for special education, even though it has nearly one-quarter fewer special ed students than five years ago.
Much of the extra special ed money HISD is getting from the federal stimulus program — starting last school year and running through next year — is paying workers such as teachers’ aides and occupational therapists for special ed students.

But while the number of special ed students plummeted in the past few years, mirroring a national trend, HISD didn’t cut employees’ jobs, leaving roughly as many people working in that department today as there were in 2005, when the district had nearly 5,000 more special ed students.
Fever charts

“Perhaps that was something that was not looked at over the last several years, and we are trying to straighten that out,” said Sowmya Kumar, HISD’s new assistant superintendent for special education. She spent more than a dozen years as a regional administrator for HISD’s special ed programs before being promoted this summer.

“We have a fresh new team here and some fresh new eyes,” she told Texas Watchdog. “When you take a fresh new look at things, you start to ask questions about data.”

The 200-plus workers will be laid off at the end of this school year, she said. A district-wide special education audit, intended to identify the overstaffing, is underway and is expected to be completed by December.

“We need an overhaul in our special ed department, and we need to be a lot more receptive to what parents need,” HISD trustee Manuel Rodriguez said.

Federal law prevents the school district from spending the extra $18 million on anything outside special education — a sadly ironic situation for school employees, as HISD earlier this year laid off employees in other departments. And a program to try to fix the system’s most troubled schools, called Apollo 20, is still short by $6 million, forcing HISD officials to ask for donations from private foundations.

Kumar isn’t the only HISD official saying that some workers should have gone years ago. HISD’s top financial officer, Melinda Garrett, gave school system trustees a presentation in June, saying stimulus funds would pay for positions in special ed “which should have been reduced based on prior years’ declining enrollment.”

While HISD administrators say the 200 workers aren’t needed, to people in the special education community, having additional staff on hand these past couple of years has been helpful.

“Some people may say it is a waste of money, but these 200 teachers are a drop in the bucket,” said Jimmy Kilpatrick, a member of a Houston-based group that provides national advocacy and research on special education issues.

“You need quality teachers, especially with special-needs children, and it presents an opportunity for less of a workload for the teachers … The problem is, sometimes an autistic child needs three adults around them at once, and that requires a high level of expertise.”

Said Rodriguez: “These past two years have been relatively quiet. I have not been getting the calls from parents who think their child is not getting the proper special education services they need. It could be that the parents have moved on, but I hope it is that the situation has been alleviated.”

More than $11 billion of federal stimulus money went to the states for special ed programs. Calls to the federal Education Department, which distributed the funds, were not returned.

However, DeEtta Culbertson from the Texas Education Agency — which was in charge of funneling the federal education stimulus money to the individual school systems — said the amount of money HISD received was based on a formula set by the feds, not by the state.

(See the HISD presentation on federal funds. June 2010,)

“In looking at the funding that HISD received, it is pretty much based on a formula that was laid out by the stimulus,” Culbertson, a spokeswoman for TEA, said. “We had to just provide the money as it was dictated to us.”

The Houston district’s drop in special ed enrollment, now at about 16,500 students, didn’t factor into it either, Kumar said.

“It is based on the population and poverty of the district,” she said. “Every district across the state received stimulus money; it was a big pot of money that was awarded to the state.”

Nearly four out of every five of HISD’s 202,000 students are considered economically disadvantaged, which the school system defines as qualifying for free or reduced-price lunch.

HISD has not been able to create new jobs using the stimulus funds, but as Kumar is quick to point out, creating jobs was not the only goal of the stimulus.

“We were able to save jobs with the money,” Kumar said. “The two goals of the stimulus were to create or save jobs.”

Fewer students in HISD and across the country are being enrolled in special ed programs today, in part because of better screening procedures. At the same time, more federal cash is flowing in to the district’s special ed programs than ever before, Garrett said.

The school system is also using some of the stimulus money to buy big-ticket technology items, like a new computer system to manage special ed student data and white boards.

“We’re buying things that, after we are done buying them, they will continue to create dividends for the district,” Kumar said.

The new computer system will manage student evaluations and assessments made by psychologists, Kumar said. It will be updated and tracked through a student’s entire career in HISD and will help the school system submit necessary data to state and federal education authorities.

In addition to the $42.7 million in stimulus funds, which must all be spent by December 2011, HISD is getting unusually big checks from the main federal program that helps school systems pay for special ed, known as IDEA. This year, the handouts from IDEA are currently running about $1.5 million more than last year.

But the district suggests that the extra federal money will, in the end, save HISD taxpayers money.

In addition to the federal and state money HISD gets, the district regularly uses some local money — largely from property taxes — to cover special ed expenses. Under the law, a school district cannot cut its local funding for special ed unless it loses special ed students or gets a boost in its IDEA funding — both of which have happened.

Aside from the 200 workers being laid off at the end of the school year, there are also 40 positions in special ed currently being funded by stimulus money that Kumar says will be needed next school year — when their costs will be borne by the district and its taxpayers.

Contact Lynn Walsh, Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter @LWalsh.

Videos produced for RTDNA Edward Murrow Awards multimedia coverage:

Brian Williams:

Ann Curry:

Keith Olbermann:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter:

John Roberts, 2010 presenter:

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

School board to take final vote on ban on HISD employees taking gifts from vendors
Thursday, Oct 14, 2010, 02:05PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

All Houston Independent School District employees may soon have to sign conflict-of-interest forms prohibiting them from accepting gifts from current or prospective district vendors — a requirement currently imposed only on HISD’s high-level administrators.
Gift pic

The ethics proposal bans employees from accepting “any gift, favor, service, entertainment or anything of more than token value.” If approved by trustees Thursday, all employees would sign the statements twice a year.

The proposal is one of two measures aimed at accountability that HISD trustees will take up this week. The new rules come in the wake of allegations that district employees got cash and other freebies from potential vendors in a scandal that cost the district $105 million in federal technology funding, plus another $850,000 in federal fines.

The other ethics-related proposal on Thursday’s agenda would prohibit employees who work closely with vendor contracts from communicating with bidders after the district requests a vendor’s services.

This “code of silence” would ban any communication “regarding a request for proposal (RFP), bid or other competitive solicitation” between any company or individual seeking work from the district and certain HISD staffers, including any:

“… Board member, the superintendent of schools, and any senior staff member, principal, department head, director, manager, or other district representative who has influence in the evaluation or selection process.”

The proposal will allow others to see the school system is being transparent, HISD Chief Financial Officer Melinda Garrett said. “We (HISD) are not going off in some back room and signing contracts,” she said.

But HISD Superintendent Terry Grier, who has been at the helm of the nation’s seventh-largest school district for about a year now, has called the district’s contracting process into question.

“I have seen a procurement department made up of independent folks rate bids from a variety of different companies across the district to do a lot of different work,” Grier said in May. “And then I’ve seen staff — just for whatever reason — pull names off of a list and put other names back on a list, (with) no rhyme or reason except, quite frankly, influence where influence has no business coming from.” View his entire comment in the video below.

Grier said the goal of the two policies is to inform vendors trying to do business with HISD that the Houston district operates differently than some other school systems.

“In school districts across the country, vendors will come into a district and offer sport jerseys to district employees in exchange for computer contracts. Don’t think it doesn’t happen because it does,” Grier said. “HISD will not allow for this type of behavior, so we are banning all gifts.”

The proposed new conflict-of-interest policy allows for “items of token value” to be given as gifts. According to the proposal that includes “coffee mugs, key chains, caps, and the like.”

The policy does not consider plaques or other commemorative items as gifts, but it bans any meals from a single person or vendor worth more than $100 single calendar year. Any meals given in the $50-$100 range in one calendar year can be accepted, but must be disclosed on the biannual statements.

In 2008, HISD employees and the district were at the center of a federal investigation following allegations of employees accepting gifts, meals and entertainment from vendors associated with a federal technology program, E-Rate. Three HISD technology employees at the time allegedly accepted meals, birthday parties and cash from E-Rate vendors that were doing business with HISD at the time.

Those three former HISD employees all signed conflict-of-interest statements with HISD stating they did not receive any gifts or meals worth $100 — even though public records said they did accept meals and gifts worth more than that amount. The three former employees also did not report receiving any meals worth $50-$100.

The individuals subject to the “code of silence” would be notified when the quiet period is to begin for each contract process. The period of no communication would continue until HISD trustees have approved the bid or awarded the contract.

According to HISD, if a vendor broke the rules by contacting a board member or employee during the quiet period, that company would be banned from doing business with the school system for at least two years.

Thursday is the second time HISD trustees will take a vote on these proposals. The HISD trustees approved both of them unanimously last month. The policy change requires two votes by the trustees before it can be put into effect.

The trustees will meet after a public meeting on the district’s financial accountability rating that begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Hattie Mae White Building on West 18th Street.

Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter: @LWalsh.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

Revamp of HISD magnet school programs draws parents’ complaints over timing
Wednesday, Oct 13, 2010, 06:18AM CST
By Lynn Walsh

Parents and community members can sound off through Oct. 30 as the Houston Independent School District tries to revamp its 113-school magnet program.

More than 40,000 students are enrolled this year in HISD magnet programs that cost about $21 million annually.

The magnet programs range from a school-within-a-school model to stand-alone magnet schools where the entire educational experience is based on a theme or subject matter, like the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice in northwest Houston. Some of the programs receive additional local funding from HISD; others do not.

With more than 100 programs and little consistency in how much funding, if any, programs receive, HISD has hired the private nonprofit Magnet Schools of America to conduct the magnet review, which could cost up to $275,000.

In an e-mail to Texas Watchdog, HISD Chief of Staff Michele Pola said, “The contract with our consultants calls for updates every two weeks. Input from all community forums, the website, etc.. will be included in the updates from the consultants.”

A total of 12 parent and community meetings have been scheduled, including an additional Saturday meeting that will be held 9 a.m. Oct. 30 at the Hattie Mae White Building in Houston.

Parents are also concerned with the timing of the possible changes to the magnet program, which could happen while students are still applying to magnet programs that could, in theory, be axed.

Jan. 8 is the deadline for parents to choose which school they want their child to attend for the 2010-11 school year. About four months later, on March 25, parents are to receive notification of where their child has been selected to attend; they have until April 8 to make a final decision on where to enroll.

“It is what it is,” HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said when asked about the timing of the audit.

Changes to the HISD magnet program could come at any time and could affect the amount of funding a magnet program receives, Grier said.

With a lot of uncertainty and possibilities, Grier said the HISD trustees have the final decision. “Our staff is not going to make rash decisions. No final decisions have been made,” Grier said. Watch his entire comments in the clip below.

HISD made the Saturday meeting addition after a parent advocacy group, Parent Visionaries, made up of parent representatives and PTO leaders from across the district, asked for Saturday meetings.

Grier said the additional meeting will allow parents and teachers with conflicting schedules to make the meetings. “We were trying to be as responsive as possible,” he said.

The remaining parent and community magnet meetings are as follows:

* 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 13 at Chavez High School (school board member: Manuel Rodriguez)
* 10 a.m. Friday, Oct. 15 at Hattie Mae White (meeting open to everyone)
* 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 26 at Madison High School (school board member: Larry Marshall)
* 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 27 at Key Middle School (school board member: Carol Galloway)
* 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28 at Bellaire High School (school board member: Mike Lunceford)
* 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 30 at Hattie Mae White (meeting open to everyone)

Do you think HISD is allowing sufficient time for parent and community feedback? Should there be more meetings? We want to hear from you! Contact Lynn Walsh at Lynn@TexasWatchdog.org, 713-228-2850 or on Twitter: @LWalsh.

A story produced for Texas Watchdog:

HISD construction program isn’t in the red after all, trustees told
Friday, Oct 08, 2010, 02:30PM CST
By Lynn Walsh

The Houston Independent School District’s $1 billion construction program is running $4 million under budget, despite initial concerns that it was tens of millions of dollars in the red, a consultant said.
Crane

The program, which will build 23 new schools and renovate 134 others, has a bit of financial wiggle room, but not much, consultant Joe Hill told school district trustees Thursday. He said he wouldn’t consider the program as having money to spare.

“I would say the budget is healthy,” the Greensboro, N.C.-based consultant said. “The bond program is on-budget. There can always be unforeseen costs that come up, and even with specific funds for those costs, it is common practice to want to be under budget.”

A July report by the nonprofit Council of the Great City Schools said the $1 billion construction program suffered from communication problems, lacked planning and was missing budget reports.

According to the report, financial reports to the HISD bond oversight committee were contradictory: A June quarterly report showed that the program had a balance of $25.6 million, but another report dated June 22 showed the same building program was $37 million in the red. In August, HISD Superintendent Terry Grier said publicly that the program was $39 million over budget.

Grier apologized for his comment Thursday and said the issues pointed out in the July review by the nonprofit council explained his mistake.

The $1 billion program is largely being financed by $800 million in bonds approved by voters. It also includes three school expansion projects.

According to Hill, $61 million of the building program’s $73 million reserve fund has already been added to specific project budgets. Meanwhile, half of the $69 million set aside for undesignated costs has been allocated to specific projects by the HISD trustees, and all of the program’s $44 million contingency fund has been accounted for as well. View Hill’s complete comments in the clip below.

Issa Dadoush, who joined the district as general manager of construction and facilities in April, detailed areas his department has been working on improving since the July report. Some of the objectives are 100 percent complete, such as reorganizing the department and restarting preventative maintenance at the schools, while others are only just getting started — including regularly evaluating contractors and consultants, and creating a set of policies and procedures for the unit. (You can view all of the objectives and the percent each is complete in this report.)

Last month, Dadoush told Texas Watchdog each construction project would have individual “worksheets” detailing the budget of each project and its current status. Thursday, Dadoush said it is going to take a little longer to get all of the “worksheets” completed.

“By the end of fall we plan on having the worksheets online,” Dadoush said. “The goal is to have all of the worksheets connected to a master sheet and then to the 5-year construction plan. We want the information to be easily and readily available.”

The information will be posted on a brand new website the department hopes to have completed within the next month, Dadoush said, as part of Grier’s plan to take Dadoush’s department paper-less.

Thursday’s review and presentation are the result of the review completed by the Washington D.C.-based national non-profit that works to promote urban education.

A more detailed presentation can be viewed online here. It includes the review completed by the Council for the Great City Schools, a re-structured organization chart of the department, an expense comparison between last year and this year, a department performance review, examples of department changes already implemented, budgets for specific projects/school improvements, a funding summary for capital projects and a detailed undesignated fund summary.

Contact Lynn Walsh at lynn@texaswatchdog.org or on Twitter at @lwalsh or @texaswatchdog.