School Discusses Potential Budget Cuts

There was no word from Austin legislators on exactly how much will be cut from state education.

But one El Paso school is figuring out possible scenarios and getting feed back from parents, students and administrators.

The main topics of discussion at Coronado High School Monday night were change and adaptation.

Many questions are still unanswered because the amount that will be cut from education is still just an estimation of $5 billion statewide. That translates to up to $61 million in cuts in the El Paso Independent School District.

One parent said she thinks district trustees should keep the closures of Schuster and Zavala elementary schools in mind.

“The success is in the parents and the teachers and the students. It’s not the building. If they have to be bused 1.2 miles to a new building to save money, it’s that or arts and athletics. We have to cut something, we’re out of money,” said parent Jamie Fisher.

If the schools were closed, it would save the district a little more than $2 million.

About 150 people attended Monday’s meeting. EPISD superintendent Lorenzo Garcia and district school board trustee David Dodge addressed questions.

Coronado High School’s principal presented possible scenarios on how budget cuts would affect the school specifically.

With a 5 percent cut, Coronado would most likely be able to keep all of its employees, but would not fill vacancies. The student to teacher ratio would be one to 22, on average.

The schedule would stay traditional, not block. The day would be extended to 4 p.m. to accomodate eight periods a day and teachers would teach six out of eight classes.

For a 15 percent cut, Coronado would have to cut 10 to 14 of its teachers.

The one to 22 teacher to student ratio would stay the same.

The schedule would also stay traditional, go to eight periods a day, but teachers would teach seven out of eight classes.

Many parents said eight classes a day are too much, but some students disagreed.

“I think it’s a good opportunity. We’ll be able to take more classes. I’m getting to take an extra sociology class and maybe a psychology class,” said Killian Smith, a Coronado junior.

“Adding another class, making the day longer, I just don’t know if it’s going to be effective for teaching. It might be more cost effective, but I don’t know that it’s going to be effective from the education point of view,” said Fisher.

Regardless of budget cuts, next year, Coronado students will have eight classes per day.

School officials said lunch will be cut by two minutes and students will have about three minutes between classes.