Students, parents and community members filled the Socorro Independent School District (SISD) Service Center on the evening of Feb. 19, pleading for the school board to not eliminate fine arts in schools to deal with a budget deficit. Speakers went up to the podium one by one defending the fine arts programs and warning of potential implications if they move forward with their plan to lay off their employees.
After five hours, the school board voted 3-2 to move forward with recommendations from Interim Superintendent James Vasquez to eliminate elementary fine arts programs, increase class sizes and layoff an estimated 300 employees, according to El Paso Matters.
Trustees, Michael Najera, Cynthia Najera and Alice Gardea, voted in favor of the plan, according to El Paso Matters, while Marivel Macias and Paul Macias voted against.
This decision will increase elementary school class sizes from 22 to 24 students, while middle schools will expect an increase of 24 to 26 students per class.
District officials estimate that this decision would generate approximately $30 million in savings for the district while also leaving $8 million to address budget undersupply and aid in strengthening their financial reserves, according to KTSM.
SISD is starting to ask voters to consider an idea of a “penny swap” deal later this year to move property tax rate money aside to use in general operations to repay debt. If this is approved, the swap will not affect the tax rate but will generate an additional $28 million in revenue for the district, according to El Paso Matters.
During a press conference, state appointed conservator Andrew Kim stated that he’d investigate the current enrollment and performance to decide what positions to cut. He stated that approximately 3,000 students are graduating from the school district but only 2,500 students enroll at the kindergarten level. However, the district blames low birth rates, excessive absences and inadequate state funding for said reductions, according to KFOX.
Starting March 7, the district will decide who to lay off and notify employees by April 1.
Frank Martinez, a retired teacher who taught for several years in the El Paso Independent School District (EPISD), expressed his delight in watching the audience stand up for education.
“I love what all the participants are doing and what they are saying is true,” Martinez said. “It’s going on all over the country and it’s representative of all the problems that are going on. There are too many people in the business trying to run instead of having people who know what’s going on that are involved in education.”
Martinez’s wife, Linda Martinez, who worked as a dispatcher for the maintenance department under EPISD, believes teachers are not just numbers of a population on school campus.
“They are always there to help students, and I feel that they should be there for students and shouldn’t be removed. They are not just numbers and like one of the students said, ‘If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be succeeding’,” Martinez said.
Vasquez explained in a press conference that layoffs were necessary to make a stronger effort to fix the shortfall in the district’s budget and prevent a state takeover.
“We made the decision that was in the best interest of the district as a whole to save us from a financial exigency,” Vasquez said.
Holding a poster outside of the conference displayed his discontent with the decision of the district, local artist Ivan Calderon believes that teachers not only provide education for students but also pave the way to artistic careers.
“As a local artist, all my primary instructors in art were very beneficial to my career. Most people don’t realize it, but the art industry is much bigger than Hollywood productions and the music industry combined, there’s so much value to what people are just crediting right now inside the school board,” Calderon said.
With SISD making a firm decision on proceeding with budget cuts, increased class sizes and hundreds of layoffs, the SISD community holds fear and disappointment with what could happen as an outcome of the vote.
The community not only worries about the future of education in the district, but also how students cannot proceed with their artistic endeavors and aspirations and will lose the individuals who helped them pursue their dreams and ignite their passion for the arts.
Daniela Ordaz is a contributor for The Prospector and may be reached at [email protected].
