CISD holds budget talks
Thursday evening the Canutillo Independent School district discussed the 2017-2018 preliminary proposed budget.
The district has faced a stagnant student population and deficit budget in years past.
District officials recently came under scrutiny after proposing to build a multi-purpose agriculture and science facility.
The project is expected to come at a cost of $1 million.
For 2017-2018 the districts budget will be $54 million.
A little more than $45 million will go to salaries — stipends and healthcare. Nearly $9 million will go to campuses including utilities and school programs.
Employees will also be seeing a 2 percent salary increase in the coming year.
Also, the controversial $1 million multi-purpose agriculture and science facility is still slated to be constructed.
Board president Laure Searls told ABC-7 she is excited about the progress the district has made.
“You reap what you sow and we have sowed really good seeds in this district and we’ve had to make some one-time expenses that drew down our fund balance but they were for the good of our students, for the good of our teachers, and for the good of our community,” Searls said.
Canutillo is one of the fastest growing areas in El Paso, but the significant development in the northwest section of the county could backfire on the district.
A new hospital, retail area and thousands of homes alone are being built by Hunt companies in the Cimarron Development.
That means the district can hit Chapter 41, where it’s considered a “property wealthy” district and under Texas Education Funding Law must hand local tax dollars over to the state.
If this happens, the district could be required to give up a big chunk of its tax revenue for redistribution to property poor districts but Searls said the district has not gotten to that point.
The Canutillo district is looking to add more quality programs and improve the curriculum to attract more people to it’s schools officials with the district said.
Officials told ABC-7 the budget is balanced and property taxes will not be raised.
The budget is expected to be approved Jun. 27.
