The Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees named James Vasquez, who serves as acting superintendent, as the sole finalist to be the district’s next superintendent Tuesday.
The board voted unanimously to name Vasquez as the lone finalist for the job, before moving on to discuss whether it would approve a budget with expenses that don’t exceed its revenue for the first time since 2015.
“If you told me when I first started teaching in this district back in 1995 that, 30 years later, I would be the superintendent, I never would have believed you,” Vasquez said. “I’m just truly humbled and honored by the confidence placed in me by the board to lead the district, especially during these challenging times.”
After a 21-day period, the board will meet again to approve a contract and officially hire Vasquez as the superintendent, Daniel Escobar, the district’s chief communications officer, told El Paso Matters.
Also Tuesday, the board was considering a $454.2 million general fund budget with a $492,700 surplus, which the district will use to cover the cost of operating the SISD Aquatics Center, and a new compensation plan that would give SISD employees a raise for the first time since 2022.
The board also will decide whether the district will close its employee clinic and approve an agreement with University Medical Center of El Paso to continue the services.
Under the compensation plan, presented to the board earlier this month, teachers with three to four years of experience will get a $2,500 raise and those with five or more years will get a $5,000 raise, which is required and funded under a House Bill 2, a public school funding bill recently approved by the Texas Legislature.
Teachers with two or fewer years of experience would get a step increase and non-classroom teachers, nurses and librarians will also get a 1.5% raise, though they are not required under HB 2.
The board also will discuss offering $5,000 stipends to newly hired school psychologists and $2,500 stipends to teachers with more than 25 students in their class. The district is also looking into increasing the stipend for special education teachers in the behavior intervention unit from $2,000 to $3,000.
The proposed budget is 5% lower than the current school year’s $479.6 million budget, which was approved June 2024.
Vasquez was appointed interim superintendent in April 2024, after former Superintendent Nate Carman, who was set to leave the district for a new job, was placed on paid leave after an audit found he awarded contracts to a company he had previously done business with before joining the district in 2022. Carman denied wrongdoing.
In May 2024, the SISD school board voted to hire the Texas Association of School Boards to conduct the search for a new permanent superintendent.
Though Vasquez admitted he initially didn’t want the job, he said he changed his mind after he saw notable improvements in the district.
“We’re moving in the right direction, and we’ve made significant progress, but the work is not done yet, and I just wanted the opportunity to finish the job. Most importantly, I just I love the district, and I love the people in this district,” Vasquez said.
Vasquez will have to help navigate the district through a pivotal moment in its history, as it deals with declining enrollment and attempts to rebuild its reserves following years of continuous growth and overspending.
Vasquez will continue to work with two Texas Education Agency conservators, who were appointed in April 2024 to manage SISD after a state investigation found a trustee failed to disclose a potential conflict of interest with a vendor, and that the district improperly graduated students and paid out unauthorized stipends.
He will also see the outcomes of a plan that called for up to 300 employees to be laid off in an effort to reduce the district’s budget by $38 million. After the district made staffing formula changes and moved employees who were set to be laid off to vacant positions, less than 50 employees lost their jobs.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
The post James Vasquez named sole finalist for Socorro ISD superintendent appeared first on El Paso Matters.
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