As a Dallas ISD trustee, I often ask myself, “Why do we do things this way?” This question has often manifested in the area of local government collaboration, or the lack thereof.
From the inception of the American federalism system, dissecting the authorities of governments has been debated and tested. This dialectical process ultimately produced federal, state and local governments along with corollary agencies tasked with serving the public.
While our founders and their intellectual descendants have debated the most appropriate equilibrium between the responsibilities of governments, the products of these iterative deliberations have often hindered the process of serving people.
Governments at all levels have become bureaucratic, insular structures following the not-my-scope-not-my-problem ethos and creating silos that make life harder for everyone. This spirit perpetuates a growing mistrust between people and their institutions so much so that movements like superregulators seeking to privatize what governments do is emerging. It’s not hard to understand why.
During my recent mayoral campaign, I heard numerous grievances about how local governments operate and how they could improve. Whether it was expediting the sluggish building permitting process, planning municipal bonds better so that work isn’t replicated, and much more, the public is clamoring for efficiency and alignment. That’s why I am encouraged that one approach of solving systemic challenges through government collaboration is taking root.
In 2015, Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Adam Medrano and I sought to remedy a human capital puzzle through an innovative alliance. The challenge was clear: A perpetual officer shortage was hindering the Dallas Police Department’s ability to perform perfunctory tasks, leading to innumerable issues. Why the shortage? Pay scales, living unaffordability, and the perception of policing have often been cited as leading causes. As a result, non-residents serve us, and recruitment and retention levels are low.
Additionally, Dallas ISD constantly seeks pathways to prosperity for our students by connecting their knowledge and skills to employers’ needs. We’ve known for decades about a mismatch between jobs and skills, but the approach to addressing it is often lackluster, ancillary, fraught with “turf infringement” politics, and as a result, devoid of institutional synchronization.
The questions Medrano and I asked each other included: How are we working together as institutions, what challenges and opportunities do we share, and what organizational barriers prevent their resolution? This catalyzed a cutting-edge approach to recruiting and retaining Dallas law enforcement, rehabilitating police-community relations, and breaking down bureaucratic blockades.
Our premise was simple: What if non-traditional partners cooperated to take students in high school from our own communities and intentionally train them to fill these positions? While some scoffed at the straightforwardness of the concept, many others saw the value and performed the work.
Whether it was invention through naivete or simply a solution whose time arrived, government partners came together to establish a long-term fix to the conundrum. Four years later, the seeds we planted are beginning to grow.
Today, the Dallas ISD, City of Dallas and Dallas County Community College District support a grow-your-own police and fire academy at Carter High School serving 96 students and growing. Thanks to a recently announced commitment from city and district leadership, next year this program will expand to Bryan Adams High School and ideally, each quadrant of Dallas will host one. Through this partnership, Dallas ISD students will graduate from the program with an associate degree from DCCCD and relevant training needed to begin the Dallas Police Department academy, ultimately leading to employment with a stable, middle-class wage thanks to the city’s recent starting pay increase.
For many, this means breaking the poverty cycle. Additionally, Dallas will have our own peace officers serving our community, providing a new take on community policing rooted in a lens of empathy and social bonds to the very communities that raised the officers.
This concept is no panacea. Rather, it is a long-term approach to addressing issues each of us feels daily while restoring the public’s confidence in government in multiple ways. It further shows that de-siloing government can and should be done. Finally, it challenges others in positions of decision-making to identify new areas for reforming bureaucracy. Kudos to those who recognize the substantial return on investment and seek to expand it.
What else can be done? That’s up to those willing to step outside of their assigned government boxes and try new things. After all, the American federalism experiment is just that — an innovative project not yet finished or perfected and always open for new ideas.
Miguel Solis is a Dallas ISD trustee. He wrote this column for The Dallas Morning News.