by Tim Holt
Part 3 of 5: Follow the Money
In Part 2, “The Borderland Factor,” I examined the unique challenges facing El Paso schools, where many
children grow up speaking Spanish and enter classrooms while still developing English proficiency. I
questioned whether standardized testing and school comparisons adequately account for language
differences, family educational backgrounds, and the realities of living along the U.S.–Mexico border. Are
we measuring how well schools teach, or how well students understand the language in which they’re
being tested?
El Paso is one of Texas’s largest cities, yet its median household income remains substantially below that
of the state as a whole. Its poverty rate is also higher than the national average. These aren’t trivial
differences. They represent thousands of families struggling with low wages, expensive housing,
childcare, transportation, healthcare, and the ordinary costs of raising children. Those problems don’t
magically disappear when a child walks through the schoolhouse door.
A teacher, a school, can provide excellent instruction but cannot give a student’s father a raise. A
principal can establish high expectations, but she cannot guarantee that a student’s single mother will
have a predictable work schedule. A superintendent can purchase the best educational materials
available, but that doesn’t pay the family’s electric bill.
Yet when students struggle academically, we tend to look first at the schools. Which brings me back to
CREEED’s board.
These are people who own businesses, employ workers, develop property, invest money, fund political
campaigns, and influence the local economy. They have considerable experience in precisely the areas
that affect family economic security. And unlike teachers and principals, many of them are in positions to
influence wages, benefits, employment opportunities, and working conditions right here in El Chuco.
Richard Castro, for example, operates dozens of McDonald’s restaurants employing thousands of people
across the region, including communities in southern New Mexico. He’s also a former elementary school
teacher and a longtime supporter of educational scholarships. That’s commendable. Woody Hunt has
similarly played a prominent role in El Paso’s business and philanthropic communities. Hunt is the
controlling shareholder of Hunt Companies, whose business interests range from residential development
and affordable housing to military housing, infrastructure, and professional sports. He knows about
affordable housing. It is his business.
Wouldn’t it be interesting to examine how the wages, benefits, and working conditions offered by major
employers, including businesses associated with Castro and Hunt, affect the educational opportunities of
their employees’ children? Given Hunt’s considerable experience in housing development, what
measurable impact have his companies had on housing affordability for working families in El Paso?
Now, I’m not suggesting either one pays inadequate wages. But if we’re going to measure the
performance of teachers and schools, why shouldn’t we also examine the economic conditions that
employers in town help create? According to Indeed.com, McDonald’s in the El Paso area averages $11.84 per hour for its “team members.” According to the MIT Living Wage Calculator for El Paso, a single parent with two kids would need to make $38.25 an hour to cover basic living expenses. That is THREE TIMES what a typical Mickey-D’s team member is making. See where I am going? McDonald’s and other companies like Walmart have toyed with something called “dynamic pricing,” where prices are based on multiple factors and can change to maximize profits by increasing prices during high-demand times. It is also called “surge pricing.” (That’s why the price of gas can change by 50 cents in the time it took for you to run to the Dollar General for a roll of toilet paper.) Will those same businesses also have “surge wages” to match the surge prices? Will their employees’ wages increase with demand? I suspect not.
Are businesses providing wages that allow employees to support their families, or are they paying just
enough to keep the positions filled? Are workers receiving meaningful benefits, or are some employers
scheduling employees just below the hours required to qualify for them? Are parents getting predictable
work schedules, or are they expected to rearrange their family lives around the needs of the business?
How many working parents in El Paso earn enough to support their families without taking second jobs?
How many have affordable healthcare? How many can attend a parent-teacher conference without losing
wages? How many have access to reliable childcare? And how might improving those conditions affect
student achievement?
To be fair, CREEED hasn’t ignored the connection between education and the economy. At its recent
summit, the organization announced Ascend, a three-year initiative involving Anthony, Canutillo, Socorro,
and Ysleta school districts and El Paso Community College. The program is designed to help students
move from high school into postsecondary education, earn valuable credentials, and enter careers that
are in demand.
That’s a worthwhile objective. Helping young people obtain the education and training needed for better-
paying jobs is an important part of improving El Paso’s economy.
But there’s a distinction worth considering. Preparing today’s students for better jobs tomorrow doesn’t
necessarily improve the economic circumstances of the families raising those students today. A child
whose parents are struggling to pay the rent doesn’t suddenly have a more stable home because a new
workforce development program might help that child find a good job ten years from now. We need both
approaches. We need to prepare students for economic opportunity, and we need to examine the
economic circumstances affecting their ability to succeed in school right now.
What happens to all those students we’re working so hard to make college-ready? We encourage them to
attend universities, earn degrees, and pursue successful careers. Wonderful. But how many of them
actually return to El Paso after graduation?
This isn’t some imaginary problem. In an April 2026 opinion piece published in El Paso Matters, Jerry
Prochazka points to IRS migration data showing El Paso residents leaving for San Antonio, Dallas,
Houston, and the Permian Basin. He also cites the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, which identified the
loss of skilled workers as one of El Paso’s significant economic challenges. Apparently, we’re doing a
good job of preparing people for careers in other Texas cities. How are ya gonna keep ’em down on the
farm, Gramps?
Getting little Becky off to UT Austin, where she graduates and lands a great job in Dallas, is certainly a
success for Becky. But what does El Paso get out of the deal? Other than the occasional visit home when
Becky takes Mom and Dad to Anson 11 for a nice dinner, Dallas gets the benefit of her education, her
talents, and her earning power. El Paso gets a dinner reservation.
Maybe CREEED should be measuring not just how many students graduate from college, but how many
have the opportunity to build successful careers right here in El Paso. After all, if we’re going to call
something Regional Economic Expansion, shouldn’t we be asking whose region is actually expanding?
These seem like reasonable questions for an organization whose name includes the words “Regional
Economic Expansion.” Yet while CREEED provides plenty of statistics about how our schools are
performing, it’s much harder to find comparable information on its website about how the local economy is
performing for the working families whose children attend those schools.
Measuring reading scores is considerably easier than measuring whether Mom and Dad can afford to pay
the rent or this month’s electric bill. And perhaps that’s the question we should be asking. If El Paso’s
business leaders believe better schools will create a stronger economy, shouldn’t they also be asking whether a stronger economy would create better schools? Because if we’re serious about holding people
accountable for educational outcomes, maybe we need to start looking beyond the classroom.
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