CONSERVATIVE COALITION OF HARRIS COUNTY:
Henry Dibrell agreed to participate in an interview with the Conservative Coalition of Harris County when he ran for the school board in the Spring of 2014. Prior to the interview, he filled in a questionnaire that noted that his replies would be posted on the CCHC web site: http://www.conservativecoalitionhc.org
I must apologize for the questions, as I am a member of that group, but I did not have anything at all to do with formulating the questions. The questions are not very well stated, but even so, Mr. Dibrell's answers are inarticulate and ungrammatical, and he cannot spell. He obviously doesn't give very intelligent answers, in my opinion, and yet there he is--sitting on the Katy ISD school board telling all of us how we should educate our children!
QUESTIONS FOR CANDIDATES FOR SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE
This questionnaire has two parts; a short answer section to go in to the Voter's Guide and a long answer section that will be posted onto the Conservative Coalition of Harris County website for public viewing.
Candidate Name: Henry Dibrell
Position That Candidate is Running For: Katy ISD Board of Trustees Position 5
Short Answer Question Form: Please indicate your position with the following abbreviations (SF-Strongly Favor, F-Favor, U-Undecided, O-Oppose, SO-Strongly Oppose, NR-No Response or Yes/No)
Note that Mr. Dibrell did not follow the directions here, thus letting us know how wacky his thoughts are! He also couldn't understand that the questions were designed to find out about his thoughts on the District in which he was running for office!
[ALL ANSWERS REPRODUCED AS WRITTEN.]
QUESTION
Do you believe that the district superintendent's salary and benefits are excessive?
ANSWER
"This Depends on the District. The larger the district the larger the Salary. The more successful the district the larger the salary. We should reward people for a job well done.
QUESTION
Should your ISD administrative overhead be reduced so that more than 70% of all expenditures are spent in the classroom?
ANSWER
"In Katy more than 70% of our $ are focused in the classroom we have one of the lowest Administration cost in the State of Texas."
QUESTION
Do you believe that school board trustees should have term limits?
ANSWER
"Again this depends on the district. I larger urban or urban districts Yes. I small rural district it can be difficult to get people who are willing to serve."
QUESTION
Should school districts educate with less expenditures than they are doing today?
ANSWER
"Again this is a decision that needs to be made district by district. I support local government."
QUESTION
Do you believe that school services should be transferred to the private sector in order to save money for the district?
Answer: "O"
QUESTION
Should people who home school their children have access to district facilities and resources?
ANSWER
"Yes they should be able to use district facilities, not sure what you mean by resources."
QUESTION
Should school board and bond elections be moved to November and held with the regular elections?
ANSWER
"Again this is a local decision. Legally we have to tie our elections to another local government agencies."
QUESTION
Should CSCOPE materials (or their derivatives) be continued to be used in your school district?
ANSWER
"We don't use CSCOPE in Katy never did never will, but again this is a local decision I support local control."
QUESTION
Should the USA have a national education standard (i.e., the Common Core)?
ANSWER
"No, the Federal government should not be in involved in education that is a state and local government role. I support the abolishment of the Department of Education."
QUESTION
Do you believe that spending bond money on sports' complexes is good stewardship of education resources?
ANSWER
"Support"
Long Answer Question Form. Please give your answer to each of the following questions and please include your rationale with each answer. Please be concise and clear in your answers.
[ALL ANSWERS REPRODUCED AS THEY WERE WRITTEN.]
1. Why have you entered this election?
Answer: "Because as Katy grows we need strong leadership that can help manage that growth and insure we continue to deliver the high level of academic excellence we currently deliver."
2. What are the two main issues facing the district? What is your solution to these problems?
Answer: "Growth and Student Opportunity, We need to manage our growth we can't over build and we need to work with the business community to help keep or tax rate down. We also need to provide more opportunities for young people every child is not going to collage but every child needs to be life ready."
3. What can be done to improve the ISD's bond ratings? Does the ISD new [sic] more funding due to growth or change in demographics?
Answer: "Do not understand the question. We have a triple A rating."
4. What good things are happening in the district and should be enhanced or continued?
Answer: "Our ROTC program, our level of academic excellence, our career education, and our academic rigor."
5. What things in the district should be changed?
Answer: "We need to continue to improve on our communications."
6. Will you vote to reduce the overall expense budget of the district? By what %? Why or why not?
Answer: "We have more than a balance budget in Katy, we currently are saving over ten million dollars a year."
7. What things can your district superintendent do to improve the ISD?
Answer: "Continue to work on community engagement, and communication."
8. Is your superintendent's compensation in line with job performance? Why or why not?
Answer: "Yes, we have the 8th largest district in the state and one of the most successful."
9. What changes or improvements can be made with the state legislature (and your ISD) to improve funding allocation for your students?
Answer: "At the state level we need to fix the funding formal, the state needs to set minimum standards for every child and pay for that, the local ISD's can set a higher standard that the community supports and they can tax themselves to reach those standard."
10. Can any common service /positions/etc. be shared between school districts to save ISD funds within Harris County?
Answer: "I think the biggest with be purchasing."
11. What can be done to save money and/or eliminate waste within the school district? Can any services/positions/etc. are you committed to transfer from the district to the private sector to save ISD funds?
Answer: "We are tasked with education and we should stay within that role. Not sure about other districts but we don't have a lot we could transfer to the private sector."
12. Is student performance adequate within your district? What can be done to improve overall student performance?
Answer: "Our student performance is outstanding but we can improve and will always work to improve."
13. Is teacher performance adequate within your district? Are teacher's salaries adequate given current state budget condition? What can be done to improve overall teacher performance?
Answer: "Our teachers do a good job, I would like to look at some type of merit pay to improve overall teach pay."
14. Is the current funding allocation within district spending categories (between administration, facilities, teachers, etc.) adequate? Why or Why not? If not, what areas of spending can be changed and how do you propose to correct it?
Answer: "yes they are adequate"
15. Do you support smaller government involvement at the local level? If so, how would you extend that to the school district?
Answer: "I don't support smaller government. We as districts need to focus on what we task with by the state constitution."
16. What type of teacher evaluation system and administrator evaluation system do you support?
Answer: Merit based
17. Should the school district expand or cut funding to extracurricular activities? Why or why not?
Answer: "No extracurricular active help support educational goals"
18. Do you support reduction of school district ESL funding? Why or why not?
Answer: "Not sure, again district by district decision."
19. What role should the federal government play in local schools? Should the district move toward common core standards to gain more federal monies?
Answer: "No role what so ever/no"
20. If the district needs to make cutbacks to balance the budget, what two areas would you cut first?
Answer: "again this is a district by district decision, not a one size fit all."
21. What is your strategy to handle the growing student population in the district?
Answer: "We have to them in the Katy System so they can learn at high levels"
OBVIOUSLY, MR. DIBRELL WAS NOT THE CHOICE OF THE CCHC.