Thanks to new data we acquired through an open records request, we can now report that the number of full-time EPISD employees decreased from 8,402 in 2014 to 7,229 this year, a drop of 14.0%.
This is a correction from our previous report on EPISD in which we mistakenly stated that the number of employees was increasing. This was based on EPISD’s own webpage, which falsely indicates there are 9,000 total employees.
In the same nine-year period, student enrollment declined 23.5%, from 61,290 in 2014 to approximately 47,500 today, and the number of school campuses decreased from 92 to 76.
Yet under Juan Cabrera, the controversial Superintendent (FY 2014-2021) whose salary peaked at $380,919, the EPISD budget grew from $470 million to $641 million, a 36% increase, even as the number of employees and students dropped like an lead ball.
Under the current Superintendent, Diana Sayavedra, the budget has been reduced sharply to $543 million this year, as the number of teachers and students continues to plummet.
Adjusted for inflation, the EPISD budget is smaller now than it was in 2014, even though total EPISD debt and unfunded liabilities now exceed $1.4 billion.
As our local population continues to stagnate and charter schools spring up like mushrooms and siphon away more and more students, EPISD will continue to shrink and decline.
And the wasteful $668 million EPISD bond that was passed by the voters in 2016 for construction and repair will do nothing to reverse the downward trend.
Of course, our EPISD tax has not declined at all since 2014.