One of the ugliest and most persistent cliches about Dallas ISD is that it’s a shady construction and real estate business that happens to revolve around schools.
The troubling events surrounding the acquisition of land to build Dade Middle School in South Dallas do nothing to dispel the sense that the game is rigged to line the pockets of certain insiders at the expense of the taxpayer and plain decency.
An internal audit — spurred by a December investigation in The Dallas Morning News — showed that a favored real estate brokerage firm, The Collins Co., received nearly 10 percent in commission and fees on land acquired to build Dade.
That is far above the industry norm of 6 percent or less for such deals.
How did The Collins Co. get such a sweet deal? The district’s auditor concludes that the company had an inside path with former DISD trustee Ron Price, who was on the board at the time.
“The evidence shows Collins was a longtime recipient of favorable treatment,” the report states.
But surely the firm went the extra mile for the taxpayer to earn its unusually high commission and fees?
It did not.
“The Collins Company provided a minimal level of service,” the report states.
If the auditor’s report is accurate — and its findings are exhaustive — then we have a worrisome situation.
It points to a system where individual trustees could manipulate the bid process to ensure that favored firms got paid. It shows, once again, why government bids need careful checks and balances against the power of elected officials.
Whatever checks and balances were in place at DISD apparently failed when it came to buying land for Dade.
It’s good that, if and when another bond program is approved, the district’s current administration plans to review the use of real estate brokers and the process used to approve them.
That’s a necessary step to restore confidence in the wake of this damning 42-page investigative report. The district issued a request for bids in May 2008. The Collins Co. did not respond. Of the companies that did, four were selected. But none were the right company for the job, it seems.
So in July 2008, the DISD board requested that the deal be put out for bid again. Price advocated for that, saying there weren’t enough Hispanic and black vendors.
In fact, six of the nine original applicants were African-American firms or used African-American-owned subcontracting firms.
Price didn’t respond to district investigators. He did tell reporter Matthew Haag that anyone who suggests he weighted the scales for Collins is a “damn liar.” If that’s so, he should tell us how.
Meanwhile, the district’s administration and its current trustees must focus on rebuilding lost confidence, yet again.
