Southern Dallas trustees Lew Blackburn, Joyce Foreman and Bernadette Nutall voted Friday against every single schoolchild in their districts.

They voted against the possibility of millions of dollars going directly into programming for students swamped by poverty.

They voted against a strategy to bring about racial equity for kids of color.

They voted against a plan in which a majority of tax revenue coming from North Dallas would be dedicated to the city's southern schools.

Nutall, Blackburn and Foreman were so opposed to an investment designed to improve academic outcomes for students that they refused to even allow their constituents a chance to make this choice for themselves.

The trio's sorry victory Friday left the DISD board of trustees without the supermajority needed to put a small tax increase on the November ballot. (Audrey Pinkerton, an opponent of any tax increase, was out of town.)

Closing the achievement gaps in a city that is home to one of the highest child poverty rates in the country requires serious investment. Yet for the second year in a row, several trustees hijacked attempts to do just that.

A "no" vote despite DISD sitting with the third-lowest tax rate out of 56 North Texas districts. A "no" vote in contrast to the 600 other school boards in the state — most by unanimous votes — that have allowed similar elections.

The proposals before the Dallas trustees last week specified exactly which schools would receive help. And they included long-sought resources to ensure that a racial equity lens be put in place through which the district would make decisions.

We add our voice to the many Dallas residents who, after their pleas for a "yes" vote to either a 13-cent increase or — as a compromise — a 6-cent hike fell on deaf ears, ask these questions:

Nutall, Foreman and Blackburn, now what is your plan? What are your specific ideas to improve equity and close the achievement gap? Why are you so afraid to give your constituents a voice?

Most galling is that what little argument the trio made for killing this deal — a vague lack of trust in DISD and its administration — was accompanied by no facts and, truth be told, resembled the same lousy bromides of Austin legislators intent on starving local districts.

Wonder how this message sounds to Dallas schoolchildren? "The middle of the road for me wasn't 6 cents. It was zero," Foreman said.

Students' best hope is that Superintendent Michael Hinojosa will bring back the proposal for a tax ratification election in 2018 — after DISD board elections in May. Among the seats in play will be the one Nutall currently holds.

In recent days, we've watched as Dallas residents have enthusiastically rallied against monuments to racial inequity. Now's the time to also channel that energy into creating the kind of school district our kids deserve.

Dallas needs courageous, can-do leaders — not hostile gatekeepers who don't want to hear constituents' voices.

We can only hope voters are beginning to see the same.

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