This past Saturday, the voters of Canutillo ISD narrowly supported a $386.2 million school bond, even though the Board of Trustees is so incompetent that they cannot balance their budget.
The school bond consists of two propositions.
Proposition A authorizes $378,955,000 in spending for building and improving schools. It passed with 1,042 in favor and 1,010 opposed, a difference of only 32 votes (0.031%).
Proposition B authorizes the issuance of $7,285,000 in refunding bonds for refinancing a number of non-voter-approved tax notes. It passed with 1,026 in favor and 1,013 opposed, a difference of only 13 votes (0.013%).
The total voter turnout for the Uniform Election was a miserable 4.75%.
The Canutillo Board of Trustees and their allies in the upper administration are gloating and because they have convinced themselves that their electoral victory will save their District from oblivion.
Claudia Lorena Silva of El Paso Matters published a chart, drawing upon Texas Education Agency data, showing a significant decline in student enrollment over the last six years, with 1,233 Canutillo ISD children attending schools in other districts in 2018-2019, nearly doubling to 2,314 in 2023-2024.
Meanwhile, US News & World Report documents that only 27% of elementary school students and 24% of middle school students in Canutillo ISD test at or above the proficient level for math, while 36% and 34%, respectively, test at or above the proficient level for reading.
No wonder thousands of parents have abandoned Canutillo ISD for EPISD and other districts!
Would you send your children to be educated there if you had a better alternative?
The overpaid administrators will blame these statistics on the recent drop in State funding, which is certainly a problem, and on the deteriorating condition of some of the school buildings.
But are these the reasons why student outcomes are so poor?
Do Armando Rodriguez and the other Board members truly believe that building new facilities and upgrading others will stop the outflow of students from Canutillo ISD?
EPISD got a $668 million bond in 2016, and by several accounts they are going for another $600 million very soon, so EPISD is also constructing buildings and upgrading others.
We believe that the $386.2 Canutillo ISD Bond, which does not include one penny for teacher salaries or benefits, will do absolutely nothing to improve student outcomes or curtail the financial decline of the District.
But what it will do is increase the property tax for thousands of Canutillo families while growing the total debt owed by El Paso County residents from $10,304,259,673 to $10,690,499,673.
Enjoy your evening.
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