EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The Ysleta Independent School District (YISD) could see $9 million in increased state funding if it is able to maintain its current attendance rate of 94.4 percent, according to the district’s Superintendent Xavier De la Torre.
As school districts across the Borderland approach the end of the school year, YISD is calling on parents to help ensure students show up to class.
“Typically the last nine weeks of the school year are dedicated to taking the state mandated exams, STAAR exam, end-of-course exam. And then shortly after the exams, there tends to be a tendency to believe that maybe the last two, three weeks of the school year aren’t as important as the rest of the school year,” said De la Torre.
De la Torre said that there is a common misconception that state funding for school districts in Texas are based on enrollment, and explained that it is actually based on average daily student attendance.
Therefore, maintaining high student attendance throughout the year becomes a task of paramount importance, especially for Ysleta ISD which currently faces both common and distinct challenges, according to De la Torre.
“The reason the enrollment continues to dwindle, or drop is because we are geographically landlocked. We have Fort Bliss to the north, there is no room for development. We have Juarez, Mexico, to the south, we don’t develop in Mexico. We’ve got the El Paso Independent School District to our west, and then we’ve got the fast-growing Socorro Independent School District to the East,” said De la Torre.
He explained that because YISD is unable to expand its borders on any side, the district has continued to see a drop in enrollment every year since 1987, despite attracting 5,000 students from outside the district.
“Even if your enrollment goes down, if you can increase your attendance, it can mitigate some of the revenue lost from having lost enrollment because you’ve improved the attendance. And so for any number of reasons, it’s important that during these last nine weeks that we come up with incentives,” said De la Torre.
Furthermore, YISD, like many other school districts in El Paso, are facing financial challenges after the Texas Legislature failed to increase funding for public school districts last year, according to De la Torre.
While the district is not having to consider layoffs, eliminating programs, or changing health and welfare plans for employees, De la Torre said the district has had to be meticulous in how they spend their funds, hightenting the importance of retaining high student attendance.
“The idea is to try to get the teacher and the student in the classroom for as many of those 180 days as possible. If we can do that, we can reach children. We can accelerate their academic achievement and growth,” De la Torre said.
Ultimately, De la Torre said that the efforts demand a partnership between the district, teachers, parents and the students themselves to get them to school.
De la Torre said YISD is currently working on providing incentives for its students to show up to class. They’re also reaching out to families and students who may be facing challenges to get to school.
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