The Ysleta Independent School District is in danger of wiping out its savings without significant changes as part of the 2026-27 budget, the district’s internal auditor and chief financial officer warned the school board Wednesday night.
“If we don’t change our expenditures, then we are going to end up consuming all of our fund balance” at the end of the next school year, CFO Lynly Cambern told the Ysleta school board.
Ysleta ISD is the second major El Paso district in as many days to warn of looming financial catastrophe, following El Paso ISD’s announcement Tuesday that it was facing a $52.7 million deficit this year and a $42 million deficit next year unless major changes are made.
The YISD meeting lacked any details of what the district might be facing, with board members using euphemisms like “tough choices” without specifically addressing layoffs or extensive programmatic cuts. Cambern defined hard choices as “anything that affects students or employees,” but said she wasn’t ready to discuss specific proposals because the budget is still being developed ahead of a June 30 adoption deadline.
School board members Shane Haggerty and Chris Hernandez complained about a lack of transparency, but Cambern repeatedly reminded the board that last year they approved pay raise packages above administrative recommendations despite being warned that doing so would eat into the district’s fund balance.
“I talked about the costs that are increasing, the student decline in enrollment, and what it would mean to us in terms of state funding and federal funding. I talked about the worries about including raises on the salary schedule,” but the board voted to eat into district savings to fund raises above administration recommendations, Cambern said.
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The board took no action on the budget, other than to request that the district operate transparently as it makes decisions over the next 40 days. Ysleta is El Paso County’s third-largest school district, with more than 32,000 students and about 5,500 employees.
Ysleta ISD internal auditor Amy Sanchez briefly discussed audit reports she provided the board about general fund spending and the district’s health insurance plan, but those documents weren’t provided at the meeting.
“The (health plan’s) fund balance has decreased, and the expenditures, the deficit for the health plan will need to be monitored closely, because any deficits in the health plan that go beyond the health plan’s fund balance is a strain on the general fund as well,” Sanchez said.
YISD will finish this school year with about $13 million in its unassigned fund balance. Its budget this year was $408 million, which included $22 million taken from its unassigned fund balance, or savings.
In addition to ongoing operational needs, YISD also faces about $57.6 million in immediate deferred maintenance needs, Cambern said. A number of schools need their air conditioning systems repaired or overhauled, and Ysleta High School’s football field is unplayable, she said.
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