EPISD Central Office Building

December 29, 2015

The Times reported the other day that the El Paso Independent School District is exploring options other than to build a new central office in northeast El Paso.

The previous board of managers agreed to pay an architectural firm over 1.4 million dollars to design a new building.  The construction costs that they were willing to talk about were about $40,000,000.

The old central office is on land that is rented from the city.  The article indicated that some of the school board trustees believe that they can extend the lease with the city.

It is good to see that the school board is slowing the project down and considering options instead of creating an artificial crisis like the city has been doing.

In the end we may learn that they do need a new building and that the northeast is the best one.  We can only hope that they will make a good decision for the right reasons.

Brutus

2 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

College Readiness

November 29, 2015

The document below was part of a presentation made at the EPISD board of trustees meeting the other day:

EPISD-SAT-2014

It certainly does not look good.

Before any of our loyal commenters point this out, let me say that I know nothing about how to interpret these results.  Having more students taking the test could certainly explain the decrease in scores.

What got my attention is the last paragraph.  “16% of those who took the SAT in the class of 2015 met the College Readiness benchmark”.

EPISD is teaching the kids what the state requires.  Our kids score about as well on the state tests as those in other large cities so it would appear that EPISD is doing what the state expects.  Could it be that the state is getting in the way?

Maybe as citizens we should find ways to help educate these kids.

Maybe some of our readers can enlighten us.

We deserve better

Brutus

 

10 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

Find a way to get someone else to pay

November 14, 2015

The voters in Texas just approved a $10,000 increase in the homestead exemption.

Homeowners will see their property taxes go down until the school districts can react and raise their tax rates.  They will either need to cut spending or raise their rates.  Much of what the districts spend money on is mandated by feral and state rules.

The long term effect of the increase in the homestead exemption will be to shift more of the tax burden away from homeowners to people who rent their living quarters.  Apartments and rental houses do not qualify for the homestead exemption.

We already exempt homeowners over the age of 64 from increases in their school taxes.  Now the young people in our community who don’t have the resources or are just not ready to buy a house will end up paying more of the costs to operate our schools.

Senior citizens tend to vote more regularly than younger ones do.  With their school district taxes frozen they are in a situation where voting for a tax increase costs them nothing.

We deserve better

Brutus

9 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, Federal Government, State Government | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

The city could help here

November 13, 2015

Deputy Dawg made a good point the other day when commenting about the declining student enrollment at the El Paso Independent School District.

The problem is that families are moving out of older neighborhoods into new ones leaving some schools underutilized.

Why?

New developments get new roads, parks and other amenities.  These are paid for by the developers with money the new homeowners pay for their houses.

Older neighborhoods see disintegrating streets and neglected parks.

Deputy Dawg made the point that our city government does little to make these older neighborhoods attractive, thus influencing people to move.

Our continued sprawl increases the costs of providing city services.  We now see that it also costs us money as we build new schools.  City council should pay more attention to the part of our city that already exists.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | City government, El Paso Independent School District | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

EPISD review needed

November 7, 2015

The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) is losing students at an accelerated rate.  According to an article in the Times 2,491 fewer students have enrolled this year than last.

With the state contributing about $6,600 per student, EPISD is facing a revenue drop of about $16 million dollars.

It’s time for some serious cost management.

Realizing that our readers are apt to laugh at this suggestion, we will put it forward anyway.

The district needs an independent review of their operations.  No, please don’t hire some outside consulting company.  Instead find some competent, non political residents to analyze what can be done better and to make recommendations to the board.

Don’t stack the group with the same group of clowns that have been “leading” El Paso deeper into debt.  Find some experienced people that are willing to spend some serious time finding out what is going on and making suggestions about how to do it better.

There are some very good people working at the central office.  As with most organizations there are some others that need to go.

Yes, I understand that we need trained educators to be part of the process.  That does not mean that many business principles cannot be successfully applied.

We deserve better

Brutus

4 Comments | El Paso Independent School District, El Paso Times | Permalink
Posted by Brutus

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