Without bagging on other school districts, it looks like symptoms of DISD’s economic travails last fall are starting to pop up at other school districts, most notably last week in Plano, which announced plans to cut $1.5 million in salaries — translate that to mean laying off some teachers — as reported in the Dallas Morning News. Plano ISD’s overall budget deficit is $14 million, quite a bit less than DISD’s $30 million deficit this year, but remember that Plano has about one-third the number of students compared with DISD, making the proportional problems pretty comparable. I’m not making excuses for DISD or Plano; I’m just pointing out that, unfortunately in this case, misery loves company. Grand Prairie, Carrollton-Farmers Branch and Richardson also are looking for ways to trim projected budget shortfalls. So even though DISD was first to the dance, it’s not the only one attending.