Socorro ISD gives employees incentives to leave amid budget cuts

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) -- The Socorro Independent School District is giving some of their employees a chance to leave their positions with an incentive. They unanimously passed a motion during a board meeting tonight.

The district will give out $2,500 to the first 100 probationary, non-certified, and term contracted staff assigned to a school site who submit a Notice of Voluntary Separation by 5 p.m on April 7th.

During the meeting the district said that if all 100 spots get filled, they could save up to $7 million dollars in salary and benefits for employees.

The district announced that they would have to lay off 300 employees in February as they attempt to cut their budget by $38 million by next school year. They are eliminating elementary fine arts programs and increasing class sizes with that move, saving around $20 million.

"We've been hearing from a lot of our employees that they want to resign or retire anyway, if it's going to save a job. They've been extremely, extremely generous in support of several instances like this," said Interim Superintendent James Vasquez.

When asked about if they expect all 100 spots to be filled, Vasquez said retirements are a very personal choice and it can take a long time to come to that decision. He said it could take some time for all the spots to be filled.

If the spots are filled up quickly, however, the board will consider raising the amount of spots available to increase the potential savings.