Politics & Government

School Board Picks Hinojosa

A single finalist for superintendent and the use of excess SPLOST funds for the general 2012 budget are the big topics tonight.

The Cobb County Board of Education announced its at Thursday's regular monthly meeting, as well as tackling the tricky issue of whether to use $22.2 million in surplus SPLOST II money to prevent a millage rate increase for the fiscal 2012 budget, which begins July 1. 

8:27 p.m. The school board is adjourned. We'll have much more on the superintendent decision.

8:18 p.m. The declaration of the excess SPLOST funds passes 4-3, with Crowder-Eagle, Banks, Morgan and Sweeney in favor and Bartlett, Stultz and Angelucci against. So the $22.2 million will be available to pay down the millage and keep it at 18.9 mills.

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8:17 p.m. Angelucci: "I'm fairly certain that when I voted (in 2003), I did not vote for this."

8:17 p.m. Crowder-Eagle: The funds are available because the district has done a great job of being frugal and spending wisely.

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8:16 p.m. Scott Sweeney says the problem with spending the excess on other capital needs is that the board is limited to those projects listed in the referendum passing SPLOST II in 2003.

8:16 p.m. Alison Bartlett says she worries that the board is setting a precedent for an unsustainable budget.

8:16 p.m. Kathleen Angelucci says she still has concerns because there are not actual costs to judge until the projects are closed.

8:15 p.m. Board Attorney Clem Doyle says he supports the legality of this move.

8:14 p.m. Tim Stultz explains the reason for the $22.2 million declaration to offset the millage increase.

8:13 p.m. Lynnda Crowder-Eagle makes the motion for it, and Scott Sweeney seconds it.

8:13 p.m. The discussion of excess SPLOST funds has begun, led by SPLOST chief Doug Shepard.

We're taking a live-blogging break until the SPLOST discussion comes up, but we'll have coverage later of all the recognitions.

Lynnda Crowder-Eagle makes it official with her motion: It's Michael Hinojosa, the sole finalist for the superintendent's job. 

The motion passes 7-0 after each board member takes a few moments to praise the Dallas superintendent, with the exception of David Banks, who says nothing.

Chairwoman Alison Bartlett: He has the experience to lead our schools. He’s an innovative leader with a record of success.

David Morgan: "I think he will be a great leader for our school district," especially in areas with a large disparity in academic achievement.

Crowder-Eagle: I was impressed right away that he recognized the leadership and excellence already in Cobb. "He’s the right leader to take us to the next level."

Kathleen Angelucci: "I was very encouraged by the wonderful background he has. Going to be a true assest to Cobb County."

Tim Stultz: He has excellent experience across several school districts.

Scott Sweeney: "I'm excited to have him on board."

More About Hinojosa

Hinojosa, who has led the Dallas Independent School District in Texas for six years, signed an extension that runs through mid-2015 after finishing second in Las Vegas’ superintendent search in the fall.

“My heart is in Dallas,” Hinojosa told reporters Sept. 29, according to WFAA-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth. “My name is off the market, absolutely it's off the market—so don't call me.”

In Dallas, Hinojosa leads an urban school system with nearly 156,000, more than 10,200 teachers and an annual budget of $1.2 billion, according to the school district’s website. By contrast, the Cobb County School District has fewer than 107,000 students and just under 6,000 teachers, supported by a general-fund budget of $841 million.

Hinojosa also faces a pay cut if he takes the Cobb job. The Dallas Morning News, which broke the news that he was Cobb’s lone finalist today, says he earns $328,000 a year in Dallas, compared with Cobb Superintendent Fred Sanderson’s base salary of $208,000. Sanderson is retiring at the end of June.

The Cobb salary is not likely to rise much, Cobb Board of Education Chairwoman Alison Bartlett told the Morning News, reiterating previous statements about the pay for the job.

Cobb’s comparatively low salary has been an issue in the superintendent search, which drew only 17 applicants. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, citing unnamed sources, had reported that one of those candidates, Rockdale County Superintendent Samuel King, was the school board’s lone pick for a finalist, then said he couldn’t come to terms on salary and withdrew his name.

A Rockdale County schools representative confirmed that King had dropped out of the Cobb search.

The announced this afternoon that the board would announce its pick tonight. The Dallas newspaper reported that the choice was Hinojosa, and the AJC reported that unnamed sources confirmed the news.

Hinojosa attended Dallas public schools as a child and started his 30-plus-year career in education there as a teacher, according to his official bio online. He has served as a school system superintendent in Texas since 1994 and became the head of the Dallas school system, 14th-largest in the nation, in May 2005.

But just eight months ago he was one of two finalists for the top job in Nevada’s Clark County School District, which includes Las Vegas and is one of the five largest school districts in the nation. During the final stages of that search, the Dallas School Board voted 5-4 to offer Hinojosa a three-year extension without a raise, the CBS affiliate in Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The Las Vegas Sun reported that Hinojosa was charming and folksy in his final interview for the Las Vegas job but failed to provide direct answers to questions.

After Clark County selected Colorado Education Commissioner Dwight Jones instead, Hinojosa signed the extension and declared his allegiance to his hometown school district.

"I'm excited, and I will make sure we get that executed and get that paperwork done," he told WFAA-TV. "I'm ready to move forward."

Moving forward this spring has meant multiple efforts at creating a balanced budget while trying to guess how much funding the Texas Legislature would cut. The latest version, 4.0, released last week, would cut the budget by $150 million and require laying off 274 teachers.

Here’s Hinojosa talking about that budget.

And for what it’s worth, here’s the school calendar Dallas will use in 2011-12. The school year starts Aug. 21 and ends May 31 for students.


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