EPISD Declining Enrollment

school. and we’re not just going to sit back and accept that. we’re going to change the trend.” alarming numbers out of the el paso school district tonight. with enrollment dropping by more than one-thousand students every year… that means a loss of about 6 million dollars in funding every year. but e-p-i-s-d says it has a new plan in place to stop the bleeding. abc-7’s andrew j. polk spent the day looking into that plan … he’s live in our newsroom tonight. andrew? estela, with open enrollment and competition between districts for students now a reality in our region… el paso’s largest district is looking to reverse that trend. “we need to improve our communication strategy and community awareness.” e-p-i-s-d board president dori fenbock says the district is looking for solutions to its decling student population.. it’s considering a wide variety of options to share the word about its educational offerings – particularly outside the district itself. “the programs that we offer i episd, whether it’s laptops in classrooms early universal – early pre-k, the early college high schools, dual-language across the district. these are programs that resonate in our community, and are important to our families and our parents. and when they’re looking at choices where they want to send their students, they will choose episd because of it.” on tuesday’s agenda is consideration of a $250 thousand dollar contract to hire the marketing and promotions firm brand-era. the company has worked on similar campaigns with school districts elsewhere in texas, particularly the dallas-fort worth area. but e-p-i-s-d isn’t the only district looking at how it’s percieved outside the district. “we’l be purchasing some billboards, we’ll have a 15- second spot that’ll be playing at local theaters. we’ll be putting signs at some of our school buses and school buildings and such.” daniel escobar with th socorro independent school district says they’ll be advertising in a variety of ways starting in a few weeks… developed in house. s-i-s-d isn’t open enrollment, but they still have to consider other districts could attract its students. “the more community support we have, the more buy-in we have, the more successful our kids are going to be.” as for the next largest district in our region, ysleta i- s-d… its spokeswoman patricia ayala told me they are quote “planning simila external promotions produced in- house.” e-p-i-s-d’s board meeting to discuss the step will be at 5 pm tomorrow at the district headquarters on boeing drive. estela? andrew, live in our newsroom tonight. thank you. no one likes long lines at the