Local businessman Charles Pool hopes to secure a seat on the Denison Independent School District Board of Trustees this May during the district’s spring elections. Pool will face off against Todd Gruhn to see who should hold the Ward 2, Place 3 seat that is currently held by school board member David Hawley.
The Herald Democrat recently reached out to all candidates in Denison ISD’s spring elections and asked them a series of questions about their priorities, qualifications and issues facing the district in 2025.
Early voting will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 22-25 and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. April 28-29.
The polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day on May 3.
The answers are published below verbatim with only minimal edits due to style, formatting and if a candidate exceeded the word count.
Q: For anyone who may not know you in the community, who are you, and what motivated you to run for a place on the Denison ISD school board?
A: My name is Charles “Charlie” Pool, and I was born and raised in Denison. I am a proud graduate of Denison High School (1992) and currently manage my family’s business Main Street Lumber. I am active in our community and involved in various local community organizations (Waples Methodist, Rotary, Denison Development Alliance Board).
As an alumnus of DHS, a parent of a recent DHS graduate, and a son of a DISD educator of 30+ years I am very familiar with the challenges facing our school district during a time of high growth and unprecedented budget shortfalls. DISD must remain the district of choice for our students and as importantly the district of choice for our educators and staff.
Q: What unique skill sets or traits do you feel you would bring as a member of the school board?
A: In my life, I have been a
o Consensus Builder – I enjoy working with people to achieve the best outcome possible.
o Decision Maker – not afraid to take an unpopular position based on hard facts
o Team Player – willing to listen and promote the School Board’s goals
o Conservative – fiscally responsible and question all unnecessary spending
Q: As a member of the school board, what priorities do you wish to pursue?
A:
· Short Term –
o Focus on DISD educator/staff/administrator compensation/ benefits to remain competitive in recruiting
o Support current employees with competitive compensation/benefits that exceed state averages
o School safety with all our campuses and continue to support our newly formed DISD police department
· Long Term –
o Continue to define the needs of a growing school population in terms of facilities, educators, and staff
o Leveraging of technology to enhance our teacher’s ability to educate
o Identify important programs that are no longer offered to our students and determine the best way to provide this instruction, Ex. Fine Arts, etc.
Q: The topic of state funding has been a recurring one for many districts in recent years. The state funding allocation has not been updated since 2019 and many districts have turned to deficit budgets as a way to make ends meet during the interim. How would you go about balancing DISD’s budget during the current funding uncertainty?
A: I am a fan of Zero-Based Budgeting to optimize resource allocation and improve efficiency. This will be difficult with the financial structure that funds public school districts. Out of every dollar spent on our schools, 2/3’s are for instruction and facility maintenance , ( 58 cents for instruction, 11 cents for facility maintenance). The remaining 1/3 is broken down into 5 cents campus leadership, 5 cents nutrition, 4 cents instructional support, 4 cents counseling, 3 cents district leadership, 3 cents transportation, 3 cents extracurricular activities, 2 cents IT/Technology, 1 cent Safety, 1 cent Health.
This leaves little room to trim however it is the duty of the board to be good stewards of the public taxpayer and to review all expenses.
Q: Following up on the topic of school budgets, one topic that has been discussed by many districts is increasing teacher compensation. Is this something that should remain a priority while the topic of state funding remains in question? How would you go about funding increases during the current economic climate for the district?
A:
· Not only Teacher compensation but the entire DISD staff should have the opportunity to have their compensation increased. DISD employees are subjected to the same financial battles we all face in our daily lives. Without increasing compensation, we will struggle to hire and keep the people who have dedicated their lives to educating our children.
· I would prioritize compensation increases when finalizing the budget. DISD staff is the most critical component when discussing our District.
Q: What issues do you see facing Denison ISD in 2025 and how do you plan to address them?
A: Our most critical issue in 2025 is budget related. Without the State of Texas increasing the per student allotment, all school districts will continue to struggle. Hard decisions will have to be made regarding class size, number of students, extracurricular activities, technology, building maintenance, compensation. This will have to be addressed once the DISD Board knows what the financial parameters that have been given by our State Legislature at the end of the 2025 Session.
The second most critical issue is growth management. As the number of students entering DISD continues to rise exponentially, the Board must determine if we have the appropriate number of campuses to physically handle the influx. Facilities are not constructed overnight, and thoughtful planning is a must as we continue to be in path of student population growth.
