The Dallas Independent School District announced plans Monday to increase bond funding for renovations at South Oak Cliff High School to $25 million. Trustee Lew Blackburn said it's going to take much more than that to breathe life back into the 64-year-old facility.
"It's an expensive Band-Aid," Blackburn said.
Blackburn, whose district includes South Oak Cliff High School, wants to spend $40 million to completely renovate the school. He said the amount is based on the district's own facilities report, which outlines the needs at each school in Dallas ISD.
"If you look at the major projects only in district, there's a way to make this happen with $40 million coming to South Oak Cliff High School," he said.
Blackburn wants to take some of the $92.7 million the district plans to spend to build a new L.G. Pinkston High School and give it to South Oak Cliff High School. He said there is enough money for both projects to be completed. He'll make his case to his fellow Dallas ISD trustees on Thursday.
The district's 2015 bond package originally allocated $13 million to fix the school's decaying roof, ceiling tiles, HVAC system and other needs. After students walked out in protest of the school's condition in December and gave an earful to trustees last month, the district announced it would put in an additional $12 million.
Blackburn said the $25 million figure is based on a flawed comparison between repairs needed at South Oak Cliff and similar upgrades made at Wilmer-Hutchins High School.
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"If you look at South Oak Cliff High School, it's a larger building than Wilmer-Hutchins High School," he said. "We're talking about adding a competition-sized gym that we did not have to add at Wilmer-Hutchins, so the apples-to-apples comparison is just not there."
South Oak Cliff senior David Johnson, who led the December protest, said "thanks, but that's not enough." After meeting with district officials on Tuesday, Johnson said the students are not done fighting for the school they believe they deserve.
"Before we came to the (January) meeting we were not getting $25 million, we were only getting $13 million. So, if we just keep expressing ourselves…I feel like we'll get what we deserve," Johnson said.
"We'll see what happens. Hopefully we'll get what we deserve, if not, then we'll just have to continue with further actions," he added.
