Dustin Marshall won the special election for the Dallas school board by 42 votes. Marshall is a private school parent; he defeated Mita Havlick, who is a parent of children in the Dallas public schools and an active volunteer.
Marshall’s election returns control of the board to the corporate reform faction that previously hired Broadie Mike Miles, who left after three years. Miles’ disastrous reform policies pushed out hundreds of experienced teachers and demoralized the teaching staff. He set unrealistic goals, based on his test score targets.
Every vote counts.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
No link.
LikeLike
Thank you Dr. Ravitch for your coverage of the election. A battle lost, but the war is very much ongoing. This election is worth a closer look for those interested. Havlick is a parent of 2 DISD children. Marshall sends his kids to a very upscale private school.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20160216-talkdisd-an-open-ended-ongoing-discussion-of-all-things-dallas-isd-related.ece?_ga=1.181353441.779893224.1466368473
http://educationblog.dallasnews.com/2016/06/with-early-voting-results-in-marshall-leads-havlick-for-dallas-isd-seat.html/?_ga=1.15210224.779893224.1466368473
Comment from activist Bill Betzen says it all. “The campaign finance reports filed to date by each District 2 candidate & online at http://www.dallasisd.org/Page/2163 help to give a more precise image of what has happened.
Dustin Marshal has raised over $212,000, a large amount of which came in large $1,000 and larger donations from PAC’s and relatively few donors relative to the money raised with many thousands of dollars from coming from outside District 2, and even outside Dallas and outside Texas. It is recommended these reports be studied. This is certainly not illegal, just not local control.
Marshal has spent over $178,894 to date according to these reports. Therefore, each of the 2,928 votes he received in today’s election cost him 61 dollars if you look at his entire investment to date.
Meanwhile Mita Havlick has raised only $42,535 from a relatively larger number of donors each giving smaller amounts and with a much greater percentage of her money coming from inside District 2. *(Determining the exact percentages of the money from inside and outside District 2 for each candidate would be revealing.) She has spent $38,344. Therefore, each of the 2,886 votes she received cost her about thirteen dollars or less than 1/4th the $61 each vote cost Mr. Marshal.
Do we want greater efficiency within Dallas ISD?
It is presumed there will be a recount as this exceptionally close election (42 votes) is well within the state guidelines (293 votes in this election) to allow a recount.”
http://www.dallasobserver.com/news/saturdays-district-2-runoff-is-a-roll-of-the-dice-on-school-reform-8390494
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160414-editorial-we-recommend-dustin-marshall-for-disd-school-board-trustee-district-2.ece
http://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2016/may/dallas-isd-school-board-election
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/20160612-editorial-suzanne-smith-endorsement-shows-why-marshall-is-right-for-disd-board.ece
LikeLike
It was a hard fought election with establishment politicians and big money fighting against the parents. He flooded mailboxes with misinformation and negative smears of Mrs. Havlick. She entered the race at the end of the filing period after being heavily recruited by parents. She was outspent by nearly 5 to 1. What was interesting was the final analysis of the votes showed that Mita Havlick won over 60% of the votes from the poor and middle class parents and grandparents who send their kids to public schools (East Dallas and parts of West Dallas) while Mr. Marshall won 70% of the vote of the parents who choose not to send their children to public schools (North Dallas). She lost by 42 votes. It is a 10 month term. We shall see how he comports himself on the school board, but if he doesn’t represent his middle class public school loving constituency, then he should expect a challenge again.
LikeLike