EPISD balances budget, avoids school closures for now

On Thursday night, the El Paso School District approved a $498 million budget while sparing several campuses from closing for now.

Board president Trent Hatch said school closures will come up at a later time, but students and parents may not have to worry about it for the upcoming school year.

Just this month, the EPISD board announced that 10 schools would need to be closed in order to reduce costs and help the district overcome a $7 million dollar deficit which is due to declining enrollment.

Trustees were set to discuss closing Beall, Schuster, and Moye elementary schools between now and mid-August and Hawkins, Rusk, Alta Vista and Rivera elementary schools at the end of next school year.

The move was postponed after the district found ways to balance the budget.

In order to approve the budget, officials pulled $5.9 million from the district’s rainy day fund. To make up for the rest of the $7 million deficit, officials found about $1.8 million by cutting costs.

Hatch compared the move to someone taking money from their savings account and into their checking account.

“That’s not ideal because we want to make sure our savings account is healthy and sound for the long-term stability of the district,” Hatch said.

He said the “one-time” withdrawal from the rainy day account will go toward capital expenditures and other costs associated with the district.

The $1.8 million in cut costs included not rehiring positions that have been vacated by teachers and increasing the teacher-to-student ratio. Now teachers will have two preparation class periods, instead of one.

Hatch said consolidating campuses will eventually happen.

“There is no intention or plan to take children out of school and leave them on the corner,” he said.

School officials will re-district and set new boundaries through EPISD and students will be relocated.

“It’s very difficult now to balance the budget at EPISD,” he said.

Moving forward, Hatch said the district will look at cost-saving measures like getting rid of programs that don’t bring value to the district, re-analyzing services and transportation.

EPISD is the largest land owner is the city, so the district plans to partner with area entities to sell its surplus property.

Hatch did not say when the consolidation of schools will come up again.

Administration will continue drafting plans for the possible transitioning of students and staff upon approval of school closures by the board, and plan to hold more community meetings, according to district officials.