EPISD trustee Susie Byrd says district is not in $7 million deficit

After El Paso Independent School District board president Trent Hatch announced Thursday EPISD will consider closing down schools to keep the budget in balance — a board trustee spoke out on the way it was handled and said there could be some misinformation that was said.

“It’s time to really take it to a deeper level to get into the weeds and look for ways that we can really put our district in a better position,” Hatch said.

Friday Hatch stood by his announcement on Thursday that the district is expecting to lose $30 million in the next five years, making for a decision that could close down schools.

“Last week I was aware that the district was considering closures so I really insisted that they make it public,” Susie Byrd, EPISD trustee for District 3.

Byrd says the announcement was mishandled.

“This process at the 11th hour of our budget discussions with very little public notification is absolutely disrespectful and not how you close schools,” Byrd said.

Byrd said the news shouldn’t have came a day before the end of the school year.

“Nothing that was revealed yesterday is different than what we’ve talked about in our budget discussions for many many months now. If they wanted to put this on the table we should have done this in January,” Byrd said.

Byrd also feels there was misinformation passed along during Thursday’s announcement when Hatch said the district was in a $7 million deficit.

“We were told that we have a $3 million budget deficit. It’s essentially what’s been on the table for the last seven months of budget discussions. Yesterday the board president indicated there was a $7 million budget deficit. That is not accurate or factual and not what we should be using to inform the public about the decision,” Byrd said.

So where could the extra $4 million in deficit have come from?

“The only way that could have happened is that in the last week the administration added $4 million in new expenses in the face of a deficit to the budget, that’s absolutely irresponsible,” Byrd said.

Byrd tells ABC-7 there are other areas where cuts can be made like travel expenses and excessive contracts.

Byrd also says if schools need to be closed it’s understandable, but put the idea on the table — get public engagement and be responsible in getting kids the best education they can.