Mayor Mike Rawlings: Dallas ISD is why Toyota picked Plano over Dallas

[TexasTowelie]

Toyota considered moving its national headquarters to Dallas but decided on Plano because it wanted a better public school system, Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Tuesday.

Rawlings said Dallas’ pitch to Toyota matched that of Plano, but it lost to the suburb because of Dallas ISD.

“We don’t get Toyota in Dallas because of the school system. We’ve talked to them. They want to be in Plano,” Rawlings said during a live broadcast of Think on KERA-FM (90.1) .

Rawlings said it’s difficult to sell a company on moving to Dallas when it has so many low-performing schools that produce few graduates. He said that was a factor in 7-Eleven’s decision last month to move its headquarters from Dallas to Irving. “The 7-Eleven CEO said, ‘I need to be where our families are sending their kids to school, and they are not sending them to DISD.’”

Toyota declined to comment about other cities the company considered. Through a spokesman, Toyota said it looked at several criteria, including cost of living, access to an airport and educational opportunities. It considered both K-12 schools and higher education, the spokesman said.

More at http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20140429-mayor-mike-rawlings-dallas-isd-is-why-toyota-picked-plano-over-dallas.ece .

[TreasonousBastard]

1. He admits this?

[TexasTowelie]

2. Yes he does.

It is all in the effort to make DISD into a home rule school district.

Additional articles of interest:
http://keranews.org/post/dallas-home-rule-school-opponents-fear-theyll-lose-representation-and-rights
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20140429-fighting-for-change-in-disd-home-rule-or-not.ece

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Got it. Not surprised it's part of...

a larger political battle.

And over schools... over 300 years of running schools in this country we're still arguing over them?

Asia, Europe, South America-- all actually educating their kids while we argue over it.

[dem in texas]

4. Rawlings is in Bed with John Arnold, the Hedge Fund Guy, who wants to bust up retirement funds

It all about closing down the Dallas Public School system and going to all charter schools so the hedge funds can make zillions of dollars. John Arnold, who professes to care about Dallas schools, doesn't even live in Dallas, he lives in Houston. I live in Oak Cliff and there are charter schools everywhere. At Polk at Illinois, there are side by side charter schools. They create horrible traffic messes, don't ever go out Westmoreland when the Brown Academy is getting out, the cars are back up a mile. And what about Prime Time Prep, Deion Sander's charter school, it is a joke.

The worst part about what Rawlings is doing is the sneaky way he brought the home rule movement into Dallas. Yes, Dallas schools and the school board could stand some work, but not in the way that the mayor is proposing.

He just used the excuse of poor schools being the reason that Toyota went to Plano instead of Dallas, his real reason is to advance the home rule agenda for the Dallas school system.