(C) El Paso Matters.org
This story was originally published by El Paso Matters.org and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Canutillo ISD seeks $387 million bond in May election for new schools, improvements [1]
['Claudia Lorena Silva', 'More Claudia Lorena Silva', 'El Paso Matters']
Date: 2024-02-21
The Canutillo Independent School District is preparing to ask voters to approve a $387 million bond during the May 4 election, which district leaders say is needed to save the district from financial crisis amid a $6 million deficit.
If the bond is approved, the district plans to replace Deanna Davenport Elementary and Alderete Middle Schools with new campuses in the Enchanted Hills subdivision near the Franklin Mountains. The bond would also be used to replace Canutillo Middle School with a new Upper Valley campus, build a permanent facility for the Northwest Early College High School, pay off $7 million in debt used to provide students with laptops during the pandemic, and other general improvements.
The Canutillo ISD school board voted 6-1 during its Feb. 13 meeting to approve a resolution calling for the election after a public hearing. Trustee Breanne Barnes voted against the resolution.
The district is also considering closing Davenport Elementary during the 2024-25 school year and moving its students to Bill Childress Elementary School in Vinton, Texas. Canutillo ISD Communications Director Gustavo Reveles said consolidating the two schools would save the district $1.5 million a year. He said the school board plans to make a final decision on Davenport during its Feb. 27 board meeting.
The bond initiative comes in response to a $6 million deficit, caused in part by the district giving employees a pay raise without first securing additional funding from the state Legislature and low revenue due to declining enrollment. According to the district, nearly 1,800 students who live within Canutillo ISD’s boundaries do not attend its schools, costing the district around $17 million a year in state funding. Texas funds schools on a per-student formula, so fewer students results in less state support.
District leaders said they hope building new modernized schools and upgrading its current campuses will attract new students to the district.
Canutillo ISD’s Canutillo Middle School Steam Academy. (Corrie Boudreaux/El Paso Matters)
“This bond will allow us to be accessible to our parents and students to serve their needs better,” Canutillo Middle School Principal Christopher Judge said during the meeting. “The relocation of the school can contribute to the development of the surrounding community; with greater visibility and modern amenities, it will attract new families in the area.”
If approved, the bond would raise the district’s tax rate by 2 cents. This would raise school taxes on the average $288,000 Canutillo home by $3.17 a month, according to the school district. That would be an increase of about $38 a year, though qualifying senior citizens would not see an increase.
Some residents at the meeting raised concerns about increasing the tax rate and the district’s ability to manage its finances – a sentiment that was echoed by trustee Barnes.
“I believe that there’s still a lot of division and mistrust within our community in regard to the district and our finances, and I think that it wouldn’t be a fiscally responsible action for us to take on such a large debt,” Barnes said during the meeting. “I could have gotten behind possibly a lower amount that would have taken care of our current buildings and facilities.”
Reveles pointed to the district’s high credit rating and its A score in the Financial Integrity Rating System of Texas in response to some of these concerns.
“While we are facing a budget deficit this year, it’s worth noting that we have a history of adopting balanced budgets and that our current fiscal situation is the result of inaction by the state legislature. Such inaction is impacting not just Canutillo, but school districts throughout the region and the state,” Reveles told El Paso Matters
Still, getting voters to approve the plan may be an uphill battle for a district with a history of failed bond elections for similar projects.
In 2021, Canutillo ISD asked voters to approve a $187.5 million bond to build a new campus at the Northwest Early College High School. Just under 65% of voters opposed the measure. In 2022, more than 60% of voters rejected a $264.1 million bond to relocate Alderete Middle School, reconstruct Canutillo Middle School and make other general improvements.
Now, district leaders hope ongoing efforts to work with Canutillo residents will get the bond passed.
“With (the community’s) help, the district will embark on an informational campaign that will aim to arm the voters with the facts they need to make an informed decision and cast a vote that best suits their families and their needs,” Reveles said.
Reveles said the district is working on developing a timeline for the projects if the bond is approved.
Mixed responses to bond election
While some residents said they support the bond hoping it will improve the district’s aging facilities, others raised concerns that closing schools in older, lower-income neighborhoods like Davenport Elementary would create equity issues for nearby families.
Deanna Davenport Elementary School. (Claudia L Silva/ El Paso Matters)
“The community would face significant isolation because they are already separated in the neighborhood,” Davenport Elementary teacher Nancy Quiz said during the Feb. 13 meeting. “If Deanna Davenport were to close its doors, many families would encounter barriers to full participation in our events and our programs because of transportation limitations.”
Parents from the school El Paso Matters spoke to had mixed feelings about the move.
“It would affect me because I don’t drive,” Maype Alvarado said in Spanish as she picked up her daughter from school. “I don’t know how I would get her or if she could take the bus.”
Alvarado said the ongoing construction on Interstate 10 and resulting traffic congestion could also make it difficult for students to get to school on time if it’s not completed before the school opens.
Reveles said that the district expects to implement new bus routes to make sure students can get to and from school.
“The district is sensitive to these concerns and plans to work with families to provide bus service. It’s worth noting that all of our elementary schools, which include low-income communities, are impacted by distance and currently rely on school bus service,” Reveles said.
Parent Chris Gallegos said he would not mind if Davenport Elementary was moved, as long as the school remained on the east side of Interstate 10 and was modernized.
“We have to be catching up with what’s going on in bigger cities,” Gallegos said.
Improving security and constructing a brick-and-mortar campus for the Northwest Early College High School was another top concern for many community members in favor of the bond.
Students at the school currently attend classes in deteriorating portable buildings and must go outside to get from one class to another. Some have described leaky roofs, moldy walls and an instance where someone fell through the floor of one of the portables.
Though many Northwest students agreed the school needed improvements, some were apathetic to the bond because they would have graduated by the time any projects would be completed.
Northwest Early College High School (Claudia L Silva/El Paso Matters)
“You kind of get used to it when you’ve dealt with it for like three or four years,” Northwest Early College High School student Grayson Fanto said. “I feel like the biggest concern would just be security.”
With no hallways, students have to walk to classes through rain, snow and dust storms and have few places to go in the case of an emergency.
“On some lockdowns, most students that we have at our school have told me that they have felt unsafe as on some occasions some of our students have had to run to the desert to hide and ultimately question whether they are safe there or anywhere near there,” Northwest Early College High School student Yamilette Contreras said during the Feb. 13 meeting.
What projects will the bond fund?
Close down Davenport Elementary School and Alderete Middle School and replace them with schools in the Enchanted Hills Neighborhood.
Close down Canutillo Middle School and build a a new campus in the Upper Valley.
Build a permanent Northwest Early College High School campus
Districtwide safety and security upgrade, general repairs, new roofs
Update cooling and heating systems
Career and Technology Education upgrades
Repay $7.2 million in COVID funds used to provide students with laptops during the pandemic.
What will be on the ballot?
Proposition A: The issuance of $379 million for the construction of new school, upgrades to the HVAC systems at existing schools, district-wide roof replacements, safety and security improvements and other repairs
Proposition B: The issuance of $7.2 million to repay maintenance tax notes the district issued in 2020 to give students laptops during the pandemic. This would relieve the general budget deficit by about $1 million each year.
Early voting for the May 4 election runs from April 24 to May 2. The last day to register to vote in that election is April 6.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2024/02/21/canutillo-isd-bond-election-may-2024/
Published and (C) by El Paso Matters.org
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0 International.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/elpasomatters/
