Sudden leadership changes and a multi-million-dollar budget deficit at the El Paso and Ysleta independent school districts, respectively, have spurred talks of a state takeover — one of the highest and rarest forms of intervention from the Texas Education Agency — with varying levels of merit.
A TEA spokesperson told El Paso Matters that there are currently no intervention proceedings for either YISD or EPISD, but noted that the agency, which oversees public schools in the state, has received complaints concerning the El Paso district. The complaints are being reviewed to determine if any action is necessary.
Still, education experts told El Paso Matters the districts are unlikely to face a takeover in the near future, which is usually only limited to some of the most extreme cases of mismanagement or academic failure.
The TEA has taken over 10 of the state’s roughly 1,200 school districts since 2000. This includes EPISD in 2012, after an investigation found that poor governance by the administration and school board had allowed a widespread cheating scheme. The district regained local control in 2015.
This history of state intervention has made some residents wary of any missteps from El Paso school districts, said David DeMathews, associate professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy at the University of Texas at Austin. He was on faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso from 2013 to 2018.
“I think El Pasoans are particularly sensitive to any sort of poor behavior or misconduct in their school district after all they’ve been through,” DeMatthews said. “I think some of these political disputes, the superintendent resigning, it’s in a community that has long been frustrated with its public schools. It makes sense that people are asking a lot of questions about the state getting involved.”
District officials, former elected representatives and community members have in the last few weeks have raised questions and concerns about state intervention as area districts struggle with declining enrollment and budget deficits.
YISD Chief Financial Officer Lynly Cambern warned during a June 25 board meeting that the district risks being taken over by the Texas Education Agency if it depletes its savings or if it fails the state’s financial accountability standards two years in a row. Her warnings came before the board approved a $420.2 million budget with a $22.2 million deficit.
Cambern said the district is likely to get a failing grade in the 2026-27 school year after its reserves are expected to continue decreasing from its current $33 million unless it can generate more revenue or cut its expenses before then.
Trustee Kathryn Lucero blamed the district’s budget deficit on state lawmakers for not providing more public school funding during the last legislative session. She said she doesn’t think the district will risk depleting its savings in the near future.
“We are not anywhere near there, it will take years,” Lucero told El Paso Matters. “The state really is at fault for putting school districts across the state in this type of predicament. It’s not just here, it’s everywhere, and it came at a time after COVID.”
Ysleta Board President Carlos Bustillos and Trustee Chris Hernandez said there is genuine risk of state intervention but remain cautiously optimistic as long as the district follows a financial stability plan that includes management reductions, campus budget cuts, reductions in discretionary spending and the redirection of eligible expenses to Title I funds.
“There’s no question in my mind that YISD is pushing the limits of what it can afford without crossing into a situation that could prompt a TEA takeover,” Hernandez said. “I don’t understand how anyone could not be concerned about the possibility of a TEA takeover within the next three years.”
“With a veteran board, a strong and experienced administrative team and the leadership of Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre, I am confident that we will successfully navigate this challenge,” Bustillos said.
EPISD Trustee Daniel Call claimed — without providing evidence — that the district faces a state takeover after the board decided to reverse its decision to close Lamar Elementary School and Superintendent Diana Syavedra suddenly resigned following a change in the board’s makeup.
Lamar was initially one of eight schools set to close in the coming years as part of a plan spearheaded by Sayavedra to address declining enrollment known as Destination District Redesign.
A letter sent to Sen. César Blanco on June 5, signed by Texas Commissioner of Education Mike Morath, said EPISD “has not met the legal threshold for conservatorship.”
Call did not respond to El Paso Matters’ request for comment on the letter sent to Blanco, but said in early June that the board’s decision to keep Lamar open while the district has a budget deficit could warrant intervention from the TEA.
“When you knowingly make a bad decision, financially, when we’re already in deficit, and make the deficit worse to fulfill a campaign promise, that gets TEA’s attention,” Call told El Paso Matters.
Since then, the EPISD bard adopted a $541.2 million budget with a $6 million deficit, which was significantly smaller than the $32 million deficit that was projected before making budget cuts and closing schools.
EPISD board President Leah Hanany said the claim that the district may face a takeover is unfounded.
“It’s not uncommon for political actors or interest groups to spread fear or misinformation, especially if they are unhappy with the direction of change following the outcome of an election,” Hanany told El Paso Matters.
“But, it’s important for the community to know the truth, and the truth is that our district is under local control, and we remain focused on delivering strong student outcomes, responsible governance and meaningful family engagement,” she said.
DeMatthews said it is unclear if YISD could be under threat of a takeover due to its finances, but noted that many districts across the state are facing similar issues, citing stagnant state funding, the end of COVID-19 funding, declining enrollment and long-term costs associated with bond projects.
“If hundreds of districts continue to confront financial challenges, it will be unlikely the state could intervene in so many cases and instead might pick or choose which districts they will take over and which they will ignore or give additional time,” DeMatthews said.
Although public schools received a funding boost approved by lawmakers under House Bill 2, many public school advocates felt the $55 increase in the per student allotment is not enough to keep up with inflation.
The last time the allotment was raised was in 2019.
What happens when a school district is taken over by the TEA?
When the TEA takes over a school district, the commissioner of education can appoint a board of managers to temporarily replace the locally elected school board.
During this time, the school board will have its powers suspended, though its members are still considered elected officials.
The appointed board of managers has the same powers and duties as the school board, allowing them to make important decisions for the district, including hiring or firing a superintendent, setting a budget and tax rate, closing schools and approving layoffs.
Why would the TEA take over a district?
The TEA has cited various reasons for taking over school districts in the past, including financial mismanagement, governance failures and poor academic performance, which is primarily based on the State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness test results.
DeMatthews said one of the primary reasons the commissioner of education has appointed a board of managers is if a campus receives an unacceptable academic rating for five consecutive years in a row, which is required under a 2015 law.
Sometimes, multiple factors lead to a TEA takeover, like in the case of Houston ISD, which was placed under the control of a board of managers in 2023 after Wheatley High School received failing grades from 2010 to 2019 and an investigation found elected trustees had violated the Open Meetings Act.
“There were obviously concerns about the academic ratings of Wheatley High School, but also there were some financial and mismanagement issues tied into school board misconduct that were all part of the Houston ISD case. So, it could be for any one reason, or it can be for a multitude of these reasons,” DeMatthews said.
Still, he noted that some educators were critical of the Houston ISD takeover since the district had made progress, “while many charter organizations have had serious financial, ethical and academic issues that have gone unaddressed or ignored for extended periods of time.”
“If you believe, like many do, that TEA takeovers are not simply based on accountability measures but on other political motives, you may be more inclined to think a takeover is likely to happen regardless of circumstances. From my perspective, accountability policies – financial or academic – are inherently political as is our system of school finance and the expansion of charters. So, takeovers are not simply based on key facts but on other factors that are not necessarily predictable,” DeMatthews added.
The TEA has also initiated takeover when a district under a conservatorship did not make improvements in a certain period of time.
How long is the takeover process?
In past cases of state intervention, it sometimes took months to years from the time an issue was brought to the TEA to the time a conservator or board of managers was appointed.
The TEA took control over the South San Antonio Independent School District in February after nearly two decades of board and administrative dysfunction, according to the agency. The takeover came after a year-long evaluation period in which the school board failed to make corrections.
It took about nine years of failed academic performance in one of its schools and a nearly year-long investigation for a board of managers to be appointed at Houston ISD.
It took the TEA almost four years to release the findings of an investigation into allegations that the Socorro Independent School District in 2019 had graduated students who did not have the credits required by state law.
The report was released in April 2024, about a month after the board voted to have the TEA appoint one or more conservators to oversee the district. Two TEA conservators are still overseeing SISD over a year later.
DeMatthews said the TEA will inform a district of the commissioner’s intent to assign a board of managers and will give the district a chance to appeal the decision.
“You don’t just go to bed one night and the school district is running itself, and then you wake up the next morning and the state just takes over. There is a degree of discussion between the state and the school district,” DeMatthews said. “Sometimes the state will agree if the board and the district puts forward a clear plan of action to address the problems, and the state only has some additional stipulations that they want to see.”
What’s the difference between a conservatorship and a TEA takeover?
The commissioner of education can appoint conservators to oversee low-performing school districts and help them improve.
Conservators can give directions to school principals, the superintendent and the school board, and can overturn some of the board’s decisions, according to the Texas Education Code.
But, conservators cannot order or cancel an election, change the number of members on a board, modify the method of selecting the board, set a district’s tax rate or adopt a budget that provides for spending a different amount, exclusive of required debt service, from that previously adopted by the board.
“It’s a much lighter touch from the state,” DeMatthews said. “It’s a kind of step in between taking over a school district where this individual is appointed by the state to monitor governance with academic or financial issues that are either happening at a district level or a board level.”
The commissioner can appoint a conservator if a district’s accreditation status is downgraded to “accredited-probation,” meaning it has received a failing academic or financial rating for three consecutive years or failed both academic and financial ratings for two years in a row, according to the letter sent to Blanco.
A district can have its accreditation revoked if it reaches four consecutive years of failed academic or financial ratings, or three consecutive years of both.
The commissioner can also appoint a conservator as a result of a special investigation or “when a need arises to prevent substantial or imminent harm to the welfare of the district’s students or to the public interest,” according to the letter.
What can trigger a special investigation from the TEA?
The Texas Education Code outlines 17 reasons the TEA can initiate a special investigation into a school district:
- An excessive number of students who are eligible to take state standardized tests are absent.
- An excessive number of standardized test exemptions.
- In response to complaints related to civil rights violations or other requirements imposed on the state by federal law or court order.
- Failed compliance reviews of the district’s financial accounting practices and state and federal program requirements.
- An “extraordinary” number of students being placed in disciplinary alternative education programs.
- Allegations involving a conflict between school board members or the district administration, if it appears to involve a violation of their roles or duties.
- An excessive number of special education students take alternative assessment instruments.
- In response to allegations or an analysis indicating a possible violation of assessment instrument security procedures.
- A significant pattern of decreased academic performance as a result of the promotion in the preceding two school years of students who did not perform satisfactorily
- An excessive number of students eligible to enroll in Algebra II or other advanced courses fail to complete them.
- A comptroller finds potential for significant improvement in resource allocation.
- A disproportionate number of students of a particular demographic group are graduating with a “particular endorsement,” which consists of a series of classes grouped by interest or skill.
- An excessive number of students are graduating with a “particular endorsement.”
- In response to complaints alleging inaccurate data reporting required by law.
- At least 10% of students from a school graduate without meeting end-of-course testing requirements based on the decision of individual graduation committees.
- A school district fails to give the TEA evidence or an investigation report related to a teacher being investigated by the State Board for Educator Certification.
- As the commissioner of education “otherwise determines necessary.”
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