Gov. Greg Abbott made a campaign stop in El Paso on Wednesday to announce a proposed initiative that would limit administrative spending in Texas public schools, which area education leaders said would have little to no effect on most school districts in the region.
The proposal would require school districts to spend at least 70% “in the classroom, not on administrative expense, staff or bureaucracy,” Abbott said after a roundtable discussion at a supporter’s Northeast home. He did not specify what type of expenses would be included in those requirements.
El Paso education leaders said districts in the region already meet these requirements – while some also blamed the governor’s voucher push for taking funding away from public schools.
“The reality is that the vast majority, if not all, school districts already spend more than 70% on instruction. This belief that school districts are spending a bulk of their budget on administration is not only incorrect; it really builds up this notion that we are not investing in our students.” said Gustavo Reveles, El Paso’s representative on the State Board of Education.
Last school year, the El Paso and Ysleta school districts spent just about 11% of their budgets on instruction and school leadership and general administration, according to the Texas Education Agency. The Socorro Independent School District spent about 10%.
Abbott said the legislation would also require low-performing schools to undergo an audit by the state comptroller and would repeal administrative requirements that create an additional cost burden for districts without specifying which ones.
“There are laws, rules and reporting requirements and other mandates that impose unnecessary costs, consume staff time, all without improving student outcomes. Those must be eliminated,” Abbott said.
Abbott, a Republican, is seeking a fourth term in the Nov. 3 general election. He faces Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa, who didn’t return requests for comment Wednesday.
The governor said that the initiative comes after the El Paso and Austin school districts began experiencing financial challenges while enrollment declined.
The El Paso Independent School District declared a financial exigency in June after an internal audit revealed that years of poor budgeting practices had reached a tipping point, forcing the district to lay off several dozen employees to avoid a multimillion-dollar deficit.
EPISD Superintendent Brian Lusk said the district was already in the process of slashing administrative costs before the audit was released, cutting about 220 central office positions between December and May.
“We had to look at many positions at the executive director level and director level that we had, at times, duplication and had to make adjustments,” Lusk said. “We did that holistically during that time. It wasn’t popular, but it was the right thing to do to put our district in a position to get right-sized to where we needed to be.”
During his visit, the second time Abbott has stopped in El Paso this month, the governor lauded the recent $8.5 billion public education funding package approved last year during the most recent legislative session that increased the per-student allotment by $55 to $6,215 and funded pay raises for teachers.
Though district leaders have said the increase was not enough to keep up with inflation and unfunded mandates, Abbott said the state plans to focus on improving efficiency rather than boosting funding.
“What we’ve got to do is focus on that spending, make sure it’s going to benefit our students, their education, and their teachers, not on administrative bloat, which is what I’m focused on cutting today,” Abbott said.
Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre, who is among the state’s highest paid school administrators, said Abbott is blaming school districts for their financial woes, while many across the state are in similar situations.
“He came on and decided to blame the district for being in the position that they found themselves in, and somehow it was because the administrators get paid too much, and administrators mismanage the money. None of it has to do with the fact that they have intentionally starved the traditional public school system in favor of charter schools and vouchers,” De La Torre said.
Abbott said the state has not considered offering financial assistance to districts such as YISD that have experienced rapid declining enrollment.
YISD leaders have said they may be forced to lay off employees if enrollment declines continue to outpace retirements.
Abbott said it’s the district’s responsibility to manage declining enrollment.
“Whatever the school district is has been losing school population, which there are many across the state; it’s their responsibility to make sure they take into account a decline in next year’s budget,” Abbott said.
During his Aug. 5 campaign stop in El Paso, the governor touted housing, insurance and tax proposals – drawing criticism from Hinojosa who said the efforts should have been suggested or implemented years ago. Abbott was first elected governor in 2014.
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