As Socorro Independent School District employees got their first check of the year, many noticed less take-home pay after the district’s new health insurance plan went into effect in January.
“When I looked at my paycheck, I literally started crying,” an SISD teacher, who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation, told El Paso Matters. “It was shocking because this is just maintaining the same level of medical care that I’ve always had.”
She estimates her take-home pay was reduced by about $400 a month after her monthly premiums went up under the new plan.
The hit to her family budget meant the long-time educator had to cancel her son’s martial arts classes and is now looking at other ways to cut back.
“Do I need to look at the money that I’m pulling out of my paycheck for teacher retirement?” she asked. “I’m having to make some really hard decisions that I’ve never had to make.”
This comes after the SISD school board voted in June 2024 to reduce the district’s employee health fund contribution by $20 a month in an effort to cut costs and address its financial woes. Later that month, the board adopted a $479.6 million budget with a $22 million deficit for the 2024-25 school year.
In August 2024, the district adopted a new health insurance structure that raised premiums for certain employees, ranging from $6 to nearly $600 a month depending on the type of plan they were enrolled in, according to a presentation given to the board over the summer.
In the weeks leading up to SISD’s open enrollment period in October, the district held an awareness campaign that included email and text notifications, workshops and interactive Q&A meetings to inform employees of the changes.
SISD health plan changes
“We knew when we adopted the deficit budget for this school year we had to make drastic changes just because of the lack of funding from the state and declining enrollment. We really needed to take our employee’s needs into account, but also be fiscally responsible,” SISD Interim Chief Human Resources Officer Celina Stiles told El Paso Matters.
SISD officials estimated that the change will save the district over $101,000 in 2025, but SISD Chief Communication Officer Daniel Escobar said they haven’t calculated the actual savings.
More than 2,900 of SISD’s roughly 5,400 employees were enrolled in a health plan in 2024 with premium increases at the start of January. Just over 69% of these employees had their spouses or children included in their plans, according to the presentation given to the board.
SISD staff said the district currently has nearly 5,100 employees enrolled in its health plan.
“Health insurance costs are just skyrocketing everywhere and finally got to a point where Socorro has to start charging a little bit more to our employees. But I’ve got several teachers who are really concerned that they can’t afford their health insurance anymore. They’re not sure what they’re going to do,” Socorro American Federation of Teachers President Veronica Hernandez said.
Some SISD employees El Paso Matters spoke to said they will be able to bear the cost increases, but worry about how some of their coworkers will manage.
“I feel really bad for all of my colleagues who have families because I hear how high the insurance rates have gone up just for a spouse alone is hundreds and hundreds of dollars, and if they have kids, it’s even more,” an SISD middle school teacher said.
Some employees said they are considering signing up for after-school tutoring or summer school to make extra money. Others said they might look into getting a part-time job or taking on gig work.
“I might be able to do something on the weekends. There’s Uber and things like that. We just have to really look at our budget and see what we can do,” one SISD employee said.
While many SISD employees saw their health care premiums increase, more than 2,400 were enrolled in plans in 2024 that now cost the same or less.
Rising cost of health care
Even if SISD did not reduce its health care contribution, Stiles said premiums would have likely increased because of rising health care costs, inflation and stagnant state education funding that hasn’t been increased since 2019.
“It’s not SISD, that’s a nationwide thing,” Stiles said. “Then as a district, we have declining enrollment, so we have less revenue coming in. There’s no secret, our district adopted a budget in deficit for this school year.”
Though the El Paso and Ysleta school districts were able to keep their employee insurance plan premiums at the same rate as last year’s, they made changes to their budget to cover rising health care costs.
The EPISD school board voted in May to move $4.2 million from its annual operating budget to its health fund.
YISD Communications Director Tracy Garcia-Ramirez “restructured its health plan in 2020 to maintain a sustainable health fund.”
The YISD school board also voted in June to move nearly $8.6 million in maintenance funds and instructional funds that were supplemented by federal COVID-19 relief dollars to cover a range of expenses. This includes $2.2 million toward the district’s health fund.
Stiles said SISD’s health fund has been operating under a deficit since at least 2016, meaning the district has been spending more on health care than it is getting from its employees’ premiums and its own contributions.
In 2023, SISD had over $49.3 million in its health fund but spent $58.1 million in claims and administrative fees, leaving the fund with an $8.8 million deficit, according to a presentation given to the board in June.
School districts such as SISD will normally tap into their reserves to cover their health fund deficit.
In December, the district revealed its reserves had plummeted from $50.4 million in 2024 to $28.4 million in 2025, falling below state standards.
Relief uncertain
With the 89th Texas Legislature underway, Hernandez said lawmakers may be able to offer SISD employees some relief in the future by increasing public education funding or earmarking state funds for teacher raises, but is worried they may be tied to a controversial educational savings account program — also know as vouchers — that would give families up to $11,500 to enroll their child in private school.
Critics of the program say it will siphon state funding from public schools while giving incentives to wealthier families who already have children enrolled in private schools.
“Assuming they do pass, it’s worrisome at what cost because it might be a quick fix right now, or relief, but down the road, is it going to hurt worse?” Hernandez said.
Stiles said it is unclear if the district will be able to increase its health plan contribution even if lawmakers increase public education funding.
“If health care costs continue to go up, that’s out of our control,” Stiles said. “Those are contributing factors to decisions that are being made, so we will continue to evaluate.”
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