Dr. Bobby Burns becomes C-FB ISD’s newest superintendent

Dr. Bobby Burns officially removed the “acting” from his title last week and is now the new superintendent of Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD.

“I’m very honored to have this opportunity,” he said. “I certainly will do my very best to help maintain the high quality education this school district provides.”

The board voted to name Burns as the lone finalist in June and officially voted to hire him July 1.

“Dr. Bobby Burns has been on a nine-month interview. We have been impressed with his calm, firm leadership. We believe that he is a man of integrity and high moral character,” said Lynn Chaffin, board president, last month.

He will earn a base salary of $225,000 under his three-year contract. Burns became acting superintendent last October after Superintendent Dr. Annette Griffin requested a voluntary long-term leave. It was later discovered that Griffin was arrested for DWI and she was allowed to resign in December.

Burns has a bachelor's and master’s degree from East Texas State University, now known as Texas A&M at Commerce as well as a doctorate in educational administration from the University of North Texas. He began his career in the Garland Independent School District as a high school English teacher and athletics coach. After two years in Garland ISD, he taught and coached in the Richardson ISD for five years.

Burns came to the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD in 1988 as a high school English teacher and athletics coach. During his 20 years in C-FB ISD, he has served as assistant principal at R. L. Turner High School, principal at DeWitt Perry Middle School and assistant superintendent for administration and personnel. Burns said he thinks his combination of managerial, personnel and classroom experience in the district helped him stand out over other candidates.

“It’s valuable to have someone that knows the district and the community inside and out,” he said.

Burns said he will work with the heavily with the school board to help deal with stressful situations. He said communicating and collaborating, along with a good team, is key.

“I think stress is self-inflicted. You either let stress get to you or you don’t,” he said.

Burns will get the chance to test that theory during the beginning his tenure as superintendent. C-FB ISD could be facing a $10 million deficit for 2009-10, should the school board decide not to have a tax rollback election and require voters to approve a tax increase.

“The forecasted deficit, that’s got to be our number one challenge,” Burns said. “We’ve got budget issues, but we don’t want to sacrifice quality.”

During the most recent Board of Trustees meeting, board members heard a budget presentation from the administration with three plausible scenarios for the district. Under model one, the tax rate would remain at $1.04 and the district would have a $10.6 million deficit. With model two, the tax rate would increase to $1.06, leaving a $7 million deficit. Model three balances the budget, but would require a tax rate increase to $1.13. Models two and three would require voter approval.

“We’re stable,” Assistant Superintendent for Support Services Mark Hyatt told the board. “We’re not anywhere bankrupt, even taking into consideration a $10 million deficit.”

Burns said the budget woes won’t change the district’s goals, but it will change how the district budgets based on limited resources.

“As we study the budget, we study where our strengths and weakness are to use funding wisely,” he said.

Burns said his understanding of personnel will be a great benefit as 83 percent of the budget is payroll. Teacher salaries have been a challenge in the budget process, with the state recently mandating uniform pay increases. The district has to find a way to come up with about $3 million and is unsure of when or if federal funding will kick in.

Burns noted the importance of attracting and keeping good teachers in the district.

“We have to maintain a competitive salary structure when we’re making our budget,” he said.

Burns said that a defined list of district goals has not yet been determined, but he is working with the board.

“Things will emerge that we need to focus on,” he said. “We need to be very data driven. The things we recommend need to have the numbers to support it.”

Student success is both a priority and a challenge for Burns.

“Another challenge we will also want to tackle and embrace is high achievement among all students,” he said. “We will continue to focus all our energy on that. The data will show we’ve done a good job and I want to continue that.”

Burns said five years from now he would like C-FB ISD to be an exemplary school district, defining “exemplary” as an “outstanding, premier school district with high student achievement for all students, but also maintaining a strong, sound fiscal budget.”

“What I believe in is success,” he said.

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