Don HurrFInes Stare Senator * District 16 October 30, 2017 Gloria Tercero Levario President, Board of Trustees Dallas County Schools P.O. Box 22717 Dallas, Tx 75222 Dear Ms. Levario: I write to you today to request your immediate resignation as President of the Board of Trustees for Dallas County Schools. The students, parents, school employees, and taxpayers deserve no less. Public statements by you and other trustees are patently false, continuing a long history of the agency failing to be forthcoming, and perpetuating an utter lack of accountability. Statements by you and other DCS trustees include promises of a “complete overhaul” of DCS, “significant strides to correct the past and to improve the organization,” and “new leadership in our administration from the top down.” Despite your words, public records indicate that you have served on the DCS board since 2013. In fact, of the five total remaining directors, three have served on the board since 2014. || call on those other two board members to resign as well, as their service and yours occurred during a time in which DCS earned a remarkably poor record on student safety, reliability, financial management, and ethics. You either failed to ask the appropriate questions, turned a blind eye, or were somehow complicit in the unethical taxpayer rip-off that exposed students to danger while bureaucrats attempted to enrich themselves Whatever the case, you are responsible for the dangerous, unreliable, and corrupt track record of DCS while you served on the board, which is why students, parents, school leaders, and taxpayers deserve your immediate resignation, along with the resignations of two other trustees whose tenure dates back to 2014, ‘Additionally, the current interim superintendent is not “new leadership,” as you have stated. He was promoted from within after previously serving at DCS. Public reports indicate that his tenure as a DCS employee overlapped with that of Larry Duncan and Rick Sorrells, and that he was a senior employee of DCS during the period of extraordinary controversy, student endangerment, and corruption In fact, through the course of four legistative hearings ~ all of which took place at a time that you were on the board - no DCS board member appeared to answer legislators’ questions: © Interim Hearing: August 3, 2016 © Senate Bill 1122 Hearings (2): © April 11, 2017 (Senate) © May 12, 2017 (House) ‘© HB 2329 Hearing: April 27, 2017 (House) Carrro1 Ornice District Ornice E608 + BO, Box 12068 + AvstN, Teas 7 ouctas AVN, STH 6 # Datta, Tiss 75235At all of these hearings, dating back to 2026, the DCS message was the same as itis today: we are changing, give us a chance, those responsible have left. That's just not true, as evidenced by the May 26, 2017 decision and statement by the Office of the Attorney Gener “Our office conducted a thorough legal review to determine if Dallas County Schools has stable revenues to cover operating expenses while using its maintenance tax to issue additional tax debt. We concluded there is reasonable doubt as to the legality of the proposed tax obligations. Aside from its financial instability, Dallas County Schools could be abolished under a bill passed by the Legislature. Given this instability, we cannot approve Dallas County Schools’ proposed debt restructure.” It is now apparent that DCS staff misled and deceived the Texas Legislature about the financial standing of the organization. That lack of transparency and accountability continues today, only now the situation is direr given Moody's forecast that bankruptcy is a likely outcome for DCS. Finally, your agency's ethics and safety failures continue under your leadership, as evidenced by recent parental and media reports of on-the-job campaigning by school bus drivers to minor children. This kind of lapse in ethics is unacceptable. While the electioneering by government employees is objectionable, the fear mongering to children is an absolute outrage. News stories ~ backed by student videos ~ also show that unsafe bus practices continue. ‘As a watchdog for Texas taxpayers and an advocate for student safety, | request that you resign, and | make that same request of every trustee who has served since 2014. You are culpable for the many, many failures of this public agency, and it's past time that you take responsibility. Sincerely, Don Huffines State Senator, SD 16 Cc: kyle Renard, M.D. CW. Whitaker