Things are not looking good at EPISD when considering enrollment numbers.
Last year in EPISD getting smaller faster we wrote about the district losing about 1,400 students between the 2017 and 2018 school years.
The district evidently tracks these numbers in two hour increments.
Here is the latest report:
As of August 27, 2018 the district showed enrollment of 57,103 students.
As of August 20, 2019 the district was showing 54,813.
We should expect the 2019 number to rise a bit but as of August 20 they are down 2,290 students.
I don’t know how much the state plans to pay the district for each student this year. In past years it has been over $5,000 per student.
If they end up with a loss of 2,000 students and the state pays $5,000 each they will have a $10 million drop in revenue.
We deserve better
Brutus
elpasospeak 
Why don’t they learn? No matter how much we spend.
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Well now if that is not an excuse for EPISD to raise taxes………….$5,000 to “Educate” each student? “Juan, John, Suzie” graduate and still can’t READ, WRITE or do simple MATH. Why ?
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I’m sure there will be a budget crisis this year just like there always is in districts with declining enrollment. But to me another big problem for stakeholders is that Cabrera is fickle and uses two sets of numbers to justify his actions depending on what he needs.
When he wants to justify his costly CEO style behaviors like traveling the country first class, JC exaggerates the enrollment numbers and says he is in charge of a ‘large corporation’ with 60,000 students and a billion dollar budget. (He wants so badly to be the super of a big district like Dallas or Houston but will probably get involved with the private side of education once he moves on). He indulges himself by exaggerating the numbers on the high end to make it seem more like he runs a large multi-national corporation than a school district. For this version of JC we shouldn’t question his travel, LLCs, or operational expenses like consultants, adding layer upon layer to the central office bureaucracy, or a new administrative building located downtown closer to his business CEO buddies even though there is so much property in EPISD that he is selling it off as un-needed land. He wants to be downtown because it is a more fitting backdrop to his fantasy than an unused elementary school. This version of JC is certainly NOT ‘all about the kids’ but is all about justifying his extravagant role-playing as a CEO.
But when fiscal realities threaten his delusion he needs to use the other set of numbers which highlight the loss of students which he will deny any hand in causing. These are the ‘budget crisis’ numbers that bring to light the declining enrollment that has been pretty steady for over a decade and shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. JC will moan about losing 1500 students a year and having limited opportunities to expand the ‘land locked urban district’ with new homes in developing subdivisions. During these times he emphasizes the current ‘crisis’ as if they just uncovered the enrollment trends and are acting to save the day. In this mode he is all about ‘doing what is right for students’. But make no mistake, he hates, hates, hates having to personally discuss this reality. He conveniently avoids community meetings and will leave the board hanging to explain to angry mobs for themselves why schools are closing and students are jumping to charters like rats hopping off a sinking ship. He works hard, but he works hard to keep his ego and delusions sheltered from reality.
With a staff of public relations people JC will never, ever, admit to any wrong doing, mistakes, or his own hypocrisy in using two versions of EPISD finances to suite his immediate needs.
BTW – are we counting pre-kinders as a half student or a whole student with these numbers?
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Are you kidding? Cabrera doesn’t want to be super in Dallas or Houston. He has it too good here. There, he would have to really work for little additional money if any.
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Dallas ISD and Houston ISD don’t want Cabrera. El Paso will probably be his first and last job as the superintendent of a public school district. He was hired by Dee Margo, Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, and the ret of the Board of Manager without any experience for his current job. Need I say more about his entry and tenure into public education leadership.
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Him wanting Dallas or Houston, you gotta be kidding. He makes more money than either of them plus he gets 35 vacation days he can get paid for if not used and also 20 sick days plus the sick days from the State. His base pay and benefits are well over half a million dollars. Dallas and Houston Supers look at El Paso with jealousy.
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Surprised free computers and internet didn’t fix this situation. We know the kids aren’t using the web to learn. Deputy Dawg messed up this one. Pathetic.
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Why do people worry about a 2,000 drop in enrollment? Why would not receive $5,000 each for these students matter at all? The students do not have to be educated so it will not cost anything for them to not be in attendance.
Of course, the people running the district like a business would all go belly up in the real business world!
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Getting smaller…YES, that’s just EPISD’s “Dual Language” classes! These classes have like 8-14 students in the class, all the while my kid’s class is at 30+ . I asked about if a another class was going to be formed, and the answer was NO! That’s just BS!
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El Paso is a SANCTUARY City. That is why Illegals come FIRST. 100,000, or MORE living here and they don’t pay school TAXES. They don’t pay taxes on anything. And yet THEY come FIRST in the school, education system. That is why “Education” stats for students are so bad in Juan Cabrera’s empire. That is why U.S., American students HERE, graduate from High School and “Johnny, Suzie” still can’t READ, WRITE or do MATH.
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The ones actually living here do pay school taxes either through rent or property taxes. The problem is folks who live in Juarez and borrow a relative or friend’s address to send their Juarez resident kid to school. They aren’t paying school taxes. They are aided by utility companies who will add names to the bill. The other “scheme” is a bunch of families renting the same apartment but at least they are paying some fraction of property tax in that process. But illegals who actually live here are paying taxes and are entitled to send their kids to school because legal status isn’t a requirement in any school district. But even our stupid you don’t have to live in the district you pay property tax in rules don’t allow for folks who don’t live in El Paso city or county to attend our schools. Border regions in California and Arizona fix this by enforcing the law but offering a tuition option for kids from Mexico who want to attend. Parents who try to sneak around the tuition option are liable for huge fines. The kids getting sent over her generally have parents who could afford to pay tuition if that was an option.
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Most Illegals who have kids
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What grade is your child in?
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But Anonymous, don’t you realize that the EPISD Dual Language program is going to be the Nationwide leader in this venue. We will be on the education maps.
They will run it a few years without the teachers needed to really try and make it work (it can’t) but it is being tried under the Public Education umbrella so it is helping to destroy Public Education. , which remember is the goal of Education Reform and the US Commissioner of Education.
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That is Secretary of Education not the commissioner of Education
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All this “crisis” will be used to justify another huge bond election.
This time, it’ll be for a cool $Billion, I’ll bet.
And the continuing drama of the shameless waste of hundreds of millions of tax dollars will continue. The money is there. They pour it out freely to every schemer from southern California (and other places) that thinks of a new and unique way to further indoctrinate our children in their political narrative while involving some kind of electronic device or program!
Parents are finally starting to get wise, and they are bailing out. My husband and I have met SO many parents that have done this or are in the process.
So, our student numbers dwindle and their test scores remain in the tank with zero real improvement despite the millions and millions and MILLIONS of dollars thrown into the system.
We MUST do something to stop this!
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