Canutillo ISD board president says grade manipulation needs to be looked at statewide

A new law written by State Rep. Marissa Marquez and sponsored by Sen. Jose Rodriguez is forcing only El Paso County school board trustees to publicly disclose their finances starting next year.

This is a part of their effort to clean up the grade manipulation in El Paso school district, but the Canutillo Independent School District board said the law is just insulting.

Board president Armando Rodriguez said the problem with grade manipulation in El Paso is happening statewide.

He said nothing is being done to address the fact that it takes Mexican students four years to master the English language, but federal and state high-stakes testing requires them to be tested after only a year.

Rodriguez said to single out El Paso trustees by making them the only trustees in the state forced to file financial disclosure paperwork is a slap in the face, especially when he and his board has self reported to the Texas Education Agency and asked Commissioner Michael Williams for advice in weeding out these issues.

After months of waiting, they still haven’t received a response.