DALLAS — Due to an unforeseen budget shortfall, the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) had to lay off 630 employees, teachers comprised 375 of those positions and 320 retired or resigned voluntarily.

While it was an emotional time for the laid-off employees, some are charging that the layoffs had a racial undertone to it. Some employees are enraged that certified teachers were let go while uncertified, bilingual teachers brought in from foreign countries were allowed to stay and even protected from the layoffs.

Though DISD has a majority Latino student population, the employees that questioned the decision to protect bilingual teachers from the layoffs allege that students enrolled in the bilingual programs don't advance in English as they should. Thus, they feel the bilingual teachers aren't really teaching in two languages.

Also, former DISD employees were angered to hear a rumor that the Superintendent, Michael Hinojosa, was going to replace teachers and staff with people earning pay on an hourly basis.

"If they don't show up, they don't get paid," this teacher said. "If this goes down, what it amounts to is DISD educating kids with day laborers."

Even with the staff trims, the Texas Educational Association isn't convinced that the district has solved its financial problems and will continue to monitor the situation to see if further oversight is needed.

CARROLLTON — When Ron Branson won the mayor's seat of Carrollton, he vowed to create a special committee to help crack down on undocumented immigrants in the town. It was a campaign promise made as part of his platform to rid the city of Carrollton of undocumented immigrants.

However, instead of choosing who will be on the special committee, Mayor Branson is pointing fingers at who derailed his idea. Branson blames Carrollton City Council member Herb Weidinger when he withdrew his support for the committee.

In turn, the Carrollton City Council couldn't agree on the details of the selection of the committee members or its mission. Finally, recommendations were made to let four subcommittee members study illegal immigration in lieu of creating a special citizen's task force on the subject.

The four committee members who will study the issue are: Mayor Branson, Councilmember Weidinger, Mr. Willimas and Terry Simons. The first order of business will be an immigration symposium planned at the end of the year with a law professor and representatives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Mayor Branson said that officials from other cities would be invited to the symposium slated for near the end of the year.