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Dallas School Home-Rule Commission Holds First Meeting

The 15-member Dallas school home-rule commission met for the first time Monday. Its job is to rewrite the Dallas school district’s rules that could change how it operates.

Former Dallas trustee Edwin Flores favors home-rule, and he’s hoping to finish the charter in a month so it gets on the November ballot.

“Our first meeting is all structural and this is the law and what you can do, and getting sworn in, so one meeting’s already gone by where there’s going to be no actual discussion of what the options are," Flores said. "I’m more than willing to have three meetings next week.”

Former trustee Jerome Garza, also on the commission, was appointed by the school board president, Eric Cowan, who isn't a home-rule supporter. Garza feels no rush to write a charter.

“When this commission came together by legislature, they allowed it one year to come up with something," Garza said. "I think when the founders put that together and they were thinking of one year, there was a reason for that.”

The home-rule commission chose Bob Weiss to chair the group. It also decided to name to two vice chairs and a secretary. Most of the meeting focused on instructions from attorneys on how to conduct legal, open sessions. 

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.