Parents push back on plan to close 6 Dallas ISD schools

Dallas ISD may close up to six schools as it grapples with a budget shortfall and declining enrollment. Parents at one school launched a petition in hopes of getting it off the chopping block. Fox 4's Lori Brown joins us with this story. Lori. In a combined about 1,200 children attend the six schools, the most vocal opposition to the closure are parents whose children attend J.J. Rhodes Learning Center. DISD Superintendent Stephanie Ellis-Aude says the closures of the six schools are necessary as the district works to overcome a $128 million budget shortfall due in part to declining enrollment. But some trustees argue that the district's previous closure of 11 schools in 2012 already disproportionately impacted South Dallas. J.J. Rhodes is about a mile and a half southeast of Fair Park. About 600 people have signed a petition to take the school off the chopping block. Advocates for the school point out that it also serves as a resource center with bilingual and GED classes in addition to cooking, art, music, soccer, and cheerleading programs. A school is not measured solely by its walls or enrollment numbers. It is measured by the lives it touches, the families it supports, and the generations it prepares for the future. Our children are not just enrollment numbers. They are our future. Let's not be the generation that closes the doors on a school that has opened doors for generations before us. I support South Dallas. I support J.J. Rhodes. And I hope this board will understand the magnitude of closing another school in sunny South Dallas. Closing roads alone would save the district $1.2 million and the students would be able to attend H.S. Thompson Elementary School less than a mile away. The district says the school has operated at a deficit since it opened and it would need to more than double the number of students there now to break even. Some trustees question if the new political landscape in Austin might redirect funding from charter schools to public schools, potentially making the closures unnecessary. I am really challenging this boy. To pause the breaks on JJ Rhodes and let's look at this legislative session and then let's come back and revisit this, monitor this, let's measure it, and then let's possibly come back and revisit it in the future and let's see how the political wins work in our favor, which I believe they will work in our favor. I think making this decision is premature. And the results will only make Dallas ISD look more negative and take away from all the good things that we are doing. Dallas ISD leaders say nothing is final and they are still considering state funding as an option. The district will discuss feedback from parents at its next board meeting. The closures will not happen until the next school year. Other schools the district is considering closing include Harley and Arlington Park Early Childhood Centers, Budd and Sarasgosa Elementary Schools, and Bowd Story Middle Schools. Dallas ISD's enrollment is nearly 129,000 students, but that's 31. Hundreds soon short of projections costing the district nearly $25 million in funding. Eden. Lori, thanks so much.