Fox 4 Dallas Fort Worth
@fox4news·988K subscribers·33.1K videos
Highland Park ISD receives $10 million donation
Posted
May 22, 2018
Views
508
Likes
4
Comments
2
Engagement
May 22, 2018
508
4
2
1.18%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
See what was published immediately before and after this episode.
2:29Now PlayingA former two-term Texas governor continues to have a lasting impact in North Texas.
The legacy of Bill Clements lives on by supporting local teachers with a major contribution. Clements graduated from Highland Park High School in 1934. Now 84 years later, teachers are finding out just how much they shaped his future.
Named the "most popular boy" by classmates, Clements had yet to set his sights on the state capital when he was a Highland Park senior. But he was quite familiar with the impact of teachers.
Clements' niece, Pauline Neuhoff, announced on Tuesday that the Clements Foundation is gifting $10 million to meet the needs of the district's teachers. It’s the school district’s largest gift to date.
“It just felt right. We wanted to make a big statement,” Neuhoff said. “We really support these teachers. We are here for you. This community appreciates you. And we felt like $10 million really said that in a strong way.”
In 1993, state lawmakers passed legislation requiring property tax-rich districts like Highland Park to pay the state to help equalize school funding. It's set to pay over $100 million back to the state next year.
“We end up sending the vast majority of our tax revenue to the state to be redistributed,” said Highland Park ISD Superintendent Dr. Tom Trigg. “Unfortunately, last year we were not able to offer ongoing raises to our teachers. We had a one-time payment to them, but we weren't able to sustain our current revenue source for an ongoing raise.”
First-grade teacher Mallory Hernandez recognizes how fortunate they are to have resources many districts simply don't have. But when it comes to paying teachers’ salaries, she says it's this type of generosity that makes them feel truly appreciated.
“All teachers work extremely hard,” she said. “And to be valued and to raise morale and get us excited to do our job, it's just incredible.”
District officials will hold a meeting in June to figure out how to allocate the donation.
FOX 4 News is a FOX-owned station serving Dallas-Fort Worth and all of North Texas.
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.
