Civic explainer: What is a school SBDM committee?

The exterior of Billy Earl Dade Middle School in South Dallas. Photo courtesy of Dallas ISD Flickr.

The most powerful way to impact decisions on public school campuses is a site-based decision-making, or SBDM, committee, which directly advises the campus principal. Both Texas law and local Dallas ISD policy require an SBDM at every school with rules to ensure both staff and community representation on the committee.

As with all laws and policies, however, implementation and accountability are key. Though SBDMs are the strongest lever for parents and community members to have a say in their neighborhood schoolchildren’s education, Dallas Free Press found that few schools in West Dallas and South Dallas make the meeting schedules accessible, and none list their committee members or minutes publicly.

What does an SBDM committee do?

SBDM committees meet with their school’s principal, typically once a month, to address any important campus-related business. These committees can impact everything from dress code to construction.

“The Site-Based Decision-Making Committee has the responsibility for being the primary collaborative planning and site-based decision-making body that ensures strong academic achievement and positive social development of all students. Most importantly, it must be involved in advising the principal in goal setting, school improvement planning, and implementation and evaluation of the overall reform effort. SBDM committees vary from school to school in accordance with local needs, interests, and other unique factors.” – Dallas Independent School District Local Policy BQB, last updated in 2008

Donald Parish Jr, the SBDM chair at Billy Earl Dade Middle School, has been involved with the committee for the past 10 years. Parish is a South Dallas resident, Dallas ISD parent, pastor of neighborhood church True Lee Missionary Baptist and founder of the nonprofit A Steady Hand. He says Dade’s SBDM committee stays active with parents and students, and feels the groups can be a helpful moderator in community conversations.

“I’m very hands-on, so I’m at the school as much as I can be,” Parish says. “SBDMs can get involved in the relationship between parents and administrators, and the SBDM can strengthen the [school community].”

View Dallas ISD’s full SBDM policy here.

How is an SBDM different from a PTA or PTO?

Parent teacher associations, or PTAs (sometimes structured as parent teacher student associations, PTSAs, or parent teacher organizations, PTOs) are optional and generally less formal bodies that focus on supporting a school through fundraising efforts, and support student organizations and athletic teams.

These parent-teacher groups do not advise academic decisions on campus nor do they establish and hold principals accountable to campus goals. Also, as their names suggest, these associations are limited in membership to parents, teachers and students. 

SBDM committees, however, are open to any member of the community. Parish says this open membership is beneficial because every community member can offer a different perspective on how to improve the school.

For example, at a South Dallas crime meeting in 2022, when the Dallas Police Department’s Southeast Patrol Division asked for solutions to endemic neighborhood crime issues, Parish suggested that they join SBDM committees at South Dallas schools to better understand community issues and needs.

“I think the more conversation that the community leaders, parents, religious leaders — you name it — can have about the betterment of the child’s educational experience, then the better that child’s educational experience is going to be,” Parish says.

Who must be part of an SBDM committee?

Dallas ISD policy requires SBDM committees to be 50% staff and 50% parents and community members. Each committee can determine the number of members in its bylaws, but policy requires a minimum of eight members. At least two-thirds of SBDM committee members must be elected; the other third may be appointed by the principal.

At elementary schools, staff elect teachers from different grade levels, and at secondary schools, staff elect representatives from major departments. A third of staff committee members may be appointed by the principal to “guarantee representation of support staff” as well as to “balance the SBDM Committee in regard to ethnicity, gender, instructional interests and other perspectives.”

The other half of the SBDM committee must be parents and community residents or business representatives. At the high school level, SBDM committees may include elected or appointed students. At least one committee member must be a community member who is not a campus parent or student.

Like staff, parents and community members elect at least two-thirds of their representatives, and the principal may appoint another third to “achieve balanced representation in ethnicity, gender, and other demographic factors and perspectives.”

Does my Dallas ISD school have a SBDM committee?

SBDM committees were established by state law in 1992, mandating that all Texas school districts practice site-based decision making implementation. Dallas ISD’s district-level policy requires all schools to establish an SBDM committee.

“The basic premise of site-based decision making is that the most effective decisions are made by those who will actually implement the decisions. The belief is that people involved at the campus level have a greater opportunity to identify problems, develop problem resolution and change strategy than people located off-campus. Site-based decision making concepts also recognize that people at the campus level are more likely to internalize change and to support its implementation if they are involved in the decision making than if they are not.

The objective of site-based decision making is to improve student performance and to enhance accountability. Each campus should have the freedom to set its own educational objectives, consistent with the school district’s goals.”

Texas Education Agency Financial Accountability Resource Guide, January 2010

If it’s not clear how to participate with a school’s SBDM, Parish recommends scheduling a meeting directly with the principal and being persistent.

“Be prepared to sit there and wait a while, because kids get sick or there’s an angry parent, or whatever,” Parish says. “It helps the principals see that you’re willing to [wait] … it’ll get you in to have the conversation.”

Dallas ISD said community members can access information about the meetings by contacting their school’s SBDM chair.

But, as of the time of publication, only Madison High School listed their SBDM meeting dates and times, and none of the schools in the Pinkston, Lincoln, or Madison vertical team lists committee chairs, members or minutes on their websites. 

Dallas ISD’s Office of Family & Community Engagement does keep record of all schools’ SBDM chairpeople and their contact information, which Dallas Free Press requested from the district communications team on May 23. Nearly two weeks later on June 4, district officials emailed to say obtaining this information would require an open records request. We filed requests on June 5 asking for SBDM members, chairs, agendas, minutes and reports.

Below is a complete list of known contact information for schools with active SBDM committees in the Dallas ISD trustee districts that include West Dallas and South Dallas. 

Dallas ISD District 5 (West Dallas, Trustee Maxie Johnson)

Harrell Budd Elementary School 

• Contact: Anita Barnes, abarnes@dallasisd.org, (972) 502-8400

J.N. Ervin Elementary School

• Contact: Rashonda Carter, Parent Liaison, racarter@dallasisd.org, (972) 749-3700

Royce West Leadership Academy

• Contact: Terina Taylor, tertaylor@dallasisd.org, (972) 925-1600

Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy

• Contact: Mr. Tello, antello@dallasisd.org, (972) 749-2108

F.D. Roosevelt High School

• Visit the SBDM webpage

South Oak Cliff High School

• Contact: Derrick Battie, dbattie@dallasisd.org, (214) 932-7055

Dallas ISD District 8: (West Dallas, Trustee Joe Carreon)

David G. Burnet Elementary School:

• Contact: Cindy Gonzalez, Parent Liaison, crivas@dallasisd.org, (972) 794-3013

Julian T. Saldivar Elementary School:

• Contact: Leslie Molina, lmolina@dallasisd.org, (979) 794-2094

Lorenzo De Zavala Elementary School:

• Contact: Daisy Saavedra, parent instructor, dsaavedra@dallasisd.org 

Eladio R. Martinez Learning Center:

• Contact: Josefina Murillo, principal, jmurillo@dallasisd.org 

Jesús Moroles Expressive Arts Vanguard:

• Contact: Lili Valdez, office manager, lilgarcia@dallasisd.org 

Solar Preparatory School for Boys at John F. Kennedy Learning Center

• Chair: Aschanti Williams, aschwilliams1@gmail.com 
• Vice-Chair: Brad Smith, jbsmith9500@yahoo.com 
• Secretary: Elizabeth Blackburn, elizabethcblackburn@gmail.com 

Dallas ISD District 9 (South Dallas, Trustee Ed Turner)

Oran M. Roberts Elementary School:

• Contact: School Front Office, (972) 749-8700

Paul L. Dunbar Learning Center:

• Contact: School Front Office, (972) 794-6600

Charles Rice Learning Center:

• Contact: Renee Wofford, office manager, rwofford@dallasisd.org 

Frank Guzick Elementary School

• Contact: Dr. Adreana Davis, principal, aandrus@dallasisd.org, (972) 502-3900

Eduardo Mata Montessori School

• Visit the SBDM webpage

Urban Park STEAM Academy

• Contact: Daniela De Santiago, ddesantiago@dallasisd.org, (972) 794-1106

E.B. Comstock Middle School

• Visit the SBDM webpage

Billy Earl Dade Middle School:

• Chair: Donald Parish Jr, donald@beasteadyhand.org 

James Madison High School:

• Contact: Marian Willard, principal, mwillard@dallasisd.org 

If you have updated or additional information for SBDMs in these districts, please contact Michaela Rush at michaela@dallasfreepress.com to be added to this article.