Dallas ISD hosts successful Internship Expo to connect students with career opportunities. Photo courtesy of Dallas ISD HUB.
Dallas ISD families and friends,
I want to start by saying thank you. Because of your support for Dallas ISD Bond Propositions A through D, Dallas ISD is poised to become the first large urban school district to eliminate deferred maintenance districtwide, which will ensure every student is learning in schools that are safe, modern, and built for success.
Your vote helps remove portable classrooms, strengthens safety and security across campuses, saves taxpayers millions in interest costs, and fully renovates our swimming pools across Dallas.
Most importantly, your vote is an investment in children, in neighborhoods, and in the future of our city. Generations of Dallas students will benefit from the opportunities your support has made possible.
Dallas ISD District 7 monthly update:Â
Adaptive swim: Our five district pools are busy places. In addition to our high school swim teams, Dallas ISD swimming pools are used by students in functional living skills programs to learn water safety and receive aquatic instruction. Additionally, across the district second grade students are learning lifesaving water safety skills.
Career connections: More than 460 students participated in this year’s Internship Expo, connecting with district teams and exploring real-world career pathways. Students are building skills, gaining experience, and exploring post-graduation pathways.
April board meetings debrief: I’ve chosen to highlight a few key items from our last meeting below:
College, career, and military readiness:Â We continue to see progress in our goals, with more students meeting college readiness benchmarks, earning industry certifications, and completing financial aid applications. More students are also graduating with clear pathways into the workforce, with growth in Level I and II certificates and more options for what comes next.
Budget update: The board received an update on the current year’s budget and an early look at planning for 2026–2027. The proposed budget doubles down on investing in people by raising starting teacher pay to $68,000, increasing the minimum wage to $17.50, and tying meaningful salary growth to performance and hard-to-staff campuses.
Ben Mackey
As always, please reach out to me if you have thoughts, ideas, questions, concerns, or simply want to say hello. Just reach out to me at BenMackey@dallasisd.orgÂ
Best,
Ben Mackey
