Axios Event: Education, sports are top of mind for local Dallas leaders

DALLAS – As Texas' third-largest city continues to grow, two major priorities are funding for school districts and building out its sports industry, local leaders said at a May 8 Axios event.

Why it matters: Dallas is focused on securing more money from the state for school programs, especially those added in the last few years, and making sure the city is prepared to host World Cup soccer games next summer.

Axios Dallas' Tasha Tsiaperas spoke with Dallas Independent School District superintendent Stephanie Elizalde and Dallas Sports Commission executive director Monica Paul at the May 8 Axios event, sponsored by advocacy group Results for America.

Driving the news: Texas' school districts have faced calls to increase per-student funding amid budget shortfalls.

What they're saying: "I don't think accountability should be a hammer; accountability needs to be a flashlight," Elizalde said. "It should be the opportunity for us to learn."

• "We absolutely should know where our schools are, and we should have an opportunity to share that with the public. And then we should also ensure that when we're holding ourselves accountable, that we also make sure that the funding is there to match the accountability expectations."

Zoom out: Schools are being asked to do a lot of things today beyond teaching, Elizalde said. For example, educators and staff are being asked in some cases to feed, clothe, mentor and give children medical attention.

• "Now we embrace that, we just need funding to make sure that we can provide all of those resources," she said.

What we're watching: Dallas is growing its sports industry, and the effects are good for business. The rest of the country should think of Dallas as a big sports town, Paul said.

• "Sports Business Journal about two years ago just named the Dallas region [the] No. 1 sports business city," Paul said.
• She attributed that designation to the pro teams, universities, conferences and corporate leadership headquarters in the area as well as the sports events the city has hosted.

What's next: Safety is the biggest priority as preparations are well underway for next summer's FIFA World Cup, Paul said.

• Dallas will host nine matches, including the first semifinal in July 2026, in the 104-game tournament, which will take place across 16 cities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

• "Some may not know that we've been actually preparing probably for eight years now, since this bid started back in 2017," she said.
• "We tried to prepare part of the bid, because you know your venues, you kind of know what your transportation system is currently like … but we're working very steadily on the safety-security standpoint. We've got 18 different focus groups there."

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Michele Jolin, CEO and co-founder of Results for America, shared details about "What Works Cities Certification," a program it leads with Bloomberg Philanthropies to measure the effectiveness of local governments' data use.

• Seven Texas cities are certified, including Dallas.
• "It's a way to be able to measure and benchmark that the government is building the kinds of tools they need in order to make results-based decisions," Jolin said. "The second step is then using that to do good things with the money."
• "Our work with Dallas, the city, is newer, but we're super excited about some of the new things with the city budget process, creating a field to describe evidence, and also a couple of the different offices within the city are really taking this as a serious opportunity."