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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1991)
f jnesday, September 4, 1991 3 The Battalion Page 3 jibacks force Dallas ISD to fire teachers Judents rally against layoffs jjALLAS (AP) — The spirited gt of teacher layoffs by thou- |sof Dallas high school stil ls Tuesday was the largest onstration of discontent with school finance reform state smment enacted last spring, nder pressure from the Texas ;eme Court and a 23-year-old suit to equalize school financ- lawmakers shifted property iinds from wealthy school dis- sto poor ones. Ihe action will take $47 mil- in state aid away from the las Independent School Dis- |this year, forcing the firing of jafits 8,500 teachers, officials ;It's not DISD. It's the whole is fault,” Laura Campos, a lent at Skyline High School, during the protest at the Dal- istrict's downtown headquar- [Jut, while hundreds of other ids are also coping with preductions in state aid, Dal- pears to be the first to lay off iiers on a wide scale, uperintendent Marvin Ed- Issaid the new state law left district with a choice for its million budget: layoffs or a jjump in the property taxes already planned, lie protest resulted from "something that is far more com plex than the public is willing to admit,” Edwards said. State Sen. Eddie Bernice John son, a Dallas Democrat who is a member of the Senate Education Committee, said she is not sur prised by the problems. "I foresaw the cuts and talked about it on the Senate floor,” Ms. Johnson said. "I said at that time that while we might think we are educating certain students, we are leaving other students without a roof over their heads.” School finance reform, which shifts money through new tax dis tricts created primarily on county lines, has helped many districts though. Edgewood Independent School District, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit that resulted in the new law, has seen improvements. "It's getting money our way, but it's not getting things up to par,” said Daniel Casillas, spokesman for the district in San Antonio's southwest side. "We've had renovations in several of our buildings, like air conditioning in some or our buildings that didn't have it.” Ben Gutierrez, Edgewood's personnel director, said no addi tional teachers have been hired. "We're thinking of running an ad in Dallas," he said. The San Elizario Independent School District, which includes the "colonias” outside El Paso, is re ceiving a 10 percent boost to its $6 million annual budget. "We have not opened any glo rious new programs or facilities,” said spokeswoman Fran Hatch. "We need class space." But the nearby El Paso Inde pendent School district trimmed its approximately $290 million budget to compensate for about $5.7 million in lost state aid. "It was a lot of money to cut, but we made it in areas where people can live with it,” said Gene Burkett, assistant superintendent for finance. "We pretty much kept the instructional supply budgets intact." Teacher layoffs are a last re sort, even after a tax increase, Bur kett said. The affluent Alamo Heights School District in San Antonio is facing a tax increase to make up for a $1 million gap in its $19 mil lion budget due to lost state aid. "I think the state has not put enough money into education,” said Superintendent Charles Slater. "Their solution is an over reliance on the property tax. That's what got us into the prob lem in the first place.” jchool district permits tate agency takeover JUSTIN (AP) - The Texas ation Agency on Tuesday as- ed control of Kendleton Inde- lent School District in Fort i County, the first time the icy has used authority granted wmakers for such a takeover, iducation Commissioner Li- t|"Skip” Meno appointed a agement team to administer listrict, which has a deficit of fthan $180,000 from the 1990- scal year. Hie group will try to resolve school district's financial diffi- :es, and to eventually return net control to local trustees, ven^leton trustees asked io W make their school district ate-bperated one after they dnot meet an Aug. If*dead- to get funds to pay off the tit, according to the Education ncy. Tm confident that this group idividuals will be able to re- eKendleton's financial diffi- ies," Meno said in a statement ouncing the new management 'T'm also pleased that dleton trustees themselves re sted this action by the agency, look forward to working with ooard toward a goal of allow- ihem to resume administration ledistrict as soon as possible.” IEA spokesman Joey Lozano Ithat the school district has alow property tax collection and that a lower-than-expect- student count caused the Dol district to get less state ’ey than it anticipated. The school district also histori cally has had low scores on the state education skills test, and it has been overseen by a state-ap pointed master since 1986, Lozano said. The school district has been rated "academically unaccredit ed” for a year. A recent state law' allows the education commissioner in such cases to appoint a board of man agers and superintendent to over see district operations. Kendleton's new management team includes a three-member board and a new superintendent. Patsy Menefee, a TEA staff member, will serve as superinten dent. She is in a division of TEA that trains local school administra tors in the state's school accredita tion process. Carroll "Butch” Thomas, su perintendent of the North Forest Independent School District in Houston, heads the management team as chairman of the board of managers. He helped North Forest regain full accreditation status after that district encountered problems sev eral years ago. Other members of the board of managers are Dora Olivo, a lawyer, former early childhood education teacher and member of the Fort Bend Family Health Cen ter; and pharmacist Albert Hop kins, a member of the Region IV Education Service Center Adviso ry Board and a member of the State Board of Pharmacists. Magazine names Rice nation's best college buy NEW YORK (AP) - Rice Uni versity in Houston, which offers 3,900 students an Ivy League-cal iber education at half the price, was named the nation's best col lege buy Tuesday by Money Mag- The magazine's second annual survey, appearing in a $3.95 "Money Guide" that will go on sale at newsstands on Sept. 9, ana lyzed 1,011 colleges and universi ties and identified 100 best values based on quality of students, facul ty and facilities and tuition. Also making the Top 10 was the Uni versity of Texas at Austin. The top-100 list contained 56 private schools, including some of the nation's priciest campuses: Yale, Stanford and the University of Chicago, where tuition exceeds $16,000 but which nonetheless were judged excellent values. Others, such as Trenton State College in Trenton, N.J., and Texas A&M University in College Sta tion, were rated bargains with tu itions of less than $5,000 even for out-of-state students. Among Texas schools, the Uni versity of Texas at Austin ranked 10th, followed by Texas A&M in 14th place and Trinity University 21st. Baylor ranked 37th, Incarnate Word College 58th, University of Dallas 90th and Southwestern Uni versity 91. Minister admits to sex scandal 1EW ORLEANS (AP) — A former member of Fin Gorman's church said Tuesday that the fun- sntalist preacher accused her of being a lesbian, fher sex with a man would "cure” her and co il her into sex. He said part of my problem was the fact that I ilnot had a man in my life, that I had never had Jjwith a man, and that if I ever had sex with a man not want to be a lesbian," Gail McDaniel of Report testified. McDaniel testified under threat of contempt in ‘nan's $90 million defamation suit against fellow jangelist Jimmy Swaggart, another minister ex- id from the Assemblies of God after a sex scan- to ruin Marvin Gorman Ministries after running him out of First Assembly of God in New Orleans with exaggerated tales of sex. He testified that he only had incomplete sex with one woman, Lynda Savage, and a session of heavy petting with Lynnette Goux, whose youngest sister McDaniel was accused of seducing. joorman claims that Swaggart and others set out However, he also confessed to overly emphatic embraces with two other women, according to a statement from a psychologist who counsels preach ers for the Assemblies of God. Dr. Richard Dobbins said he confronted Gorman in 1986 with a list of six women's names, and Gor man acknowledged unministerial behavior with two of them, in addition to Savage and Goux. We’re On The Move • • lie Battalion, has moved its Advertising: Office from the Emdish Annex to Rm. 015 in the basement of the Reed McDonald Building:. Phone numbers and hours will remain the same. Display ads: 845-2696 Classified ads: 845-0569 Hours: Monday - Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Come See Us At Our New Location! 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