In the May 3 election, progressive candidates swept all four races for the EPISD Board of Trustees. Voter turnout was a miserable 2.94% and in every case the outcomes were determined by a very small number of ballots. This is bad news for the financial health of the district.
We are informed that the projected budget deficit for FY 2025-26 is a whopping $30.6 million, including $5 million in unanticipated healthcare costs to be carried over from the current fiscal year.
That is the figure if EPISD stays the course by refusing to reopen any of the eight schools it voted to close on November 19, due to their dwindling student enrollment and the physical degradation of the properties.
One of these is Lamar Elementary, which is to be discussed today under item 9B on the current Board agenda. Leah Hanany, now President of the Board, and several of her progressive colleagues seem intent on reopening the school though it would add more than $3 million to the budget deficit. They don’t seem to understand that 100% of Lamar’s teachers, who are the life blood of the school, are being reassigned to other EPISD campuses and therefore will not lose their jobs.
Now that the Board of Trustees has swerved sharply to the left, there will be little appetite for making the necessary decisions to close the $30.6 million deficit (which would be around $46 million if Hanany, Loveridge, and Cuellar had succeeded in preventing the eight school closures).
Instead, they are going to reopen Lamar and widen the budget gap to at least $33.6 million, and at a time when enrollment is expected to decline by 4,800 more students by 2029 and the State’s new voucher program is about to slam the district like a sledgehammer.
The Board can only close this gap by raiding the reserve fund, which will stand at $105 million at the close of this fiscal year, enough to fund operations for 70 days. In doing so, the fund would drop far below the 60-day threshold recommended by the State, putting EPISD in imminent danger of a TEA takeover and a bond-rating downgrade from Fitch, Moody’s, or S&P.
The Board will probably also increase the property tax to the voter-approval rate (the highest rate not requiring voter approval), which will hit taxpayers hard.
We sincerely hope the new members of the Board will set aside political ideology and listen to their colleagues Daniel Call and Valerie Beals, who are fiscally conservative and focused on keeping EPISD solvent while improving student outcomes.
What is at stake is nothing less than the future of our children.
MEETING VIDEO: The Board of Trustees meeting starts at 5:00pm and can be followed on Youtube.