Two of the largest teacher unions in the region are embroiled in a bitter public feud over the El Paso Independent School District’s May 3 school board election.
The El Paso Teachers Association and the El Paso American Federation of Teachers have endorsed opposing candidates in the board races and traded attacks against each other on social media.
Leaders of both unions have made claims in recent months about the political motivation of the candidates they oppose and the future of the district’s finances – with no evidence to support them.
“This has been one of the most political elections that I can remember,” said EPISD board President Israel Irrobali, who’s seeking reelection to District 5.
“I just wish there was more cooperation. It’s really sad to see unions attacking each other. I think public education is under attack, and this should be a unified fight,” said Trustee Leah Hanany, who also is seeking reelection to the District 1 seat.
The EPTA is backing Hanany, Jack Loveridge, Mindy Sutton and Robert Osterland in their respective races.
The EPAFT has endorsed Irrobali, Isabel Hernandez, Monica Elena Benjamin, and John Ponce De Leon.
Disagreements on how the district is handling plans to close eight elementary schools boiled over as the president of each union took to Facebook, newsletters and public meetings to denounce each other’s positions on the closures and to attack each other’s preferred candidates.
EPTA President Norma De La Rosa criticized the EPAFT for endorsing candidates receiving financial support from the Kids of El Paso First Political Action Committee.
The PAC shares funders with the Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development, or CREEED, a nonprofit known for awarding grants to public schools and expanding charter schools to El Paso.
EPAFT President Ross Moore has been critical of the EPTA for opposing the current board’s decision to close eight elementary schools under a project called Destination District Redesign, or DDR, claiming the closures would keep the district from laying off several hundred employees.
Twelve candidates are campaigning for four seats on the board in one of EPISD’s most contentious elections in recent history.
Early voting is April 22-29. Election Day is May 3. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, a runoff election will be held June 7. Early voting for the runoff will be from May 27 to June 3.
School closures
Much of the public fallout between the two unions, which compete for membership but often align on major issues, stems from the school closures district leaders say was necessary to deal with declining enrollment and an ongoing budget deficit that’s expected to reach $32 million by the 2025-26 school year if the district doesn’t cut expenses.
After months of community meetings, protests and budget discussions, the board voted 4-3 in November to close Carlos Rivera, Lamar, Newman, Putnam, Rusk, and Zavala elementaries next school year and Stanton and Travis elementaries the following year.
Irobali, Hernandez, Valerie Beals and Daniel Call voted in favor of the closures, while Hanany, Loveridge and Alex Cuellar voted against them.
Irrobali said school closures were necessary, and said the decision contributed to the political nature of the district’s school board elections.
Trustee elections are nonpartisan.
“I think it’s a tough decision, and it’s easy to turn in and say, ‘I’m going to be the white knight that saves schools,’ but at what cost?” Irrobali said, pointing to the Canutillo and Socorro school districts that are laying off employees due to budget deficits.
Along with community organizations such as Save Our Schools Coalition, the Amanecer People’s Project and the El Paso chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens, the EPTA wanted to delay school closures until the district completed an ongoing equity audit.
Hanany said opponents of the closures took issue with the metrics EPISD administrators used to decide what schools to recommend for closure and felt the district could come up with a better plan to reduce its budget deficit.
“Some of us on the board were in the minority that voted against the proposal as is and recommended an alternative proposal that would have saved money and also spared those high-poverty, high-performing schools,” Hanany said.
EPAFT supported the closures, claiming it would stop EPISD from needing to lay off 500 to 600 employees to cover the district’s expected $32 million deficit.
Moore, the union president, didn’t provide evidence to support the claim on the number of layoffs needed. The savings from that many layoffs would be tens of millions of dollars more than the district is saving by closing the schools.
District officials said in November that closing the eight schools would still leave EPISD with an expected $16.7 million deficit for the next school year.
District officials, including Superintendent Diana Sayavedra, have said that if the board had decided not to close the schools, EPISD could face potential layoffs, but have not said how many employees would be affected.
“By consolidating schools, we successfully avoided these outcomes,” EPISD communication director Sehban Zaidi told El Paso Matters in a statement.
Trustees background
Though the EPAFT endorsed Hanany during the 2021 school board election, the organization announced in February that its members would not back her during the coming election, claiming she voted against school closures for financial gain and lied about the organization endorsing her for the current election.
Hanany rejected both accusations.
“I can’t explain why the AFT president is lying about me. I’m deeply disappointed that he’s chosen to attack its most consistent allies on the board. I fought incredibly hard for teachers,” Hanany said about Moore. “I have not once claimed to be endorsed by AFT for the 2025 election cycle.”
Moore also alleged that Hanany’s job with Nickel Hayden Advisors, an Austin-based financial advisory company that works with local governments, including the Canutillo Independent School District, could be a conflict of interest.
“The firm has never applied or bid for any contract” with EPISD, Hanany said.
She said she also recused herself from the procurement process and voting when the board renewed its contract with the financial advisory company, Hilltop Securities, in May 2024.
Moore also accused Hanany of lobbying for her former boss, Darryl Henson, then-superintendent of the Marlin Independent School District, during the 2021 superintendent search.
Hanany previously worked for the Marlin district as a communications coordinator under her maiden name, Leah Wayne.
Though Henson was selected as a finalist during the superintendent search, Hanany said she was unable to publicly share her connection with him after the board signed a non-disclosure agreement preventing them from discussing the search.
Hanany recused herself when the superintendent selection came to the board for a vote in November 2021. Sayavedra was hired for the position.
CREEED and the Kids First of El Paso PAC
Much of the criticism lobbed at the EPAFT came after the union seemingly aligned itself with an organization Moore has frequently bashed.
In 2018, CREEED provided funding to bring IDEA Public Schools, a charter school network based in South Texas, to El Paso to create competition for public schools in the hopes of boosting academic outcomes.
CREEED’s executive director, Eddie Rodriguez, said the organization is a nonprofit with the goal of improving the El Paso economy by raising educational attainment levels in the region.
Rodriguez, who also serves as the treasurer of the Kids First PAC, said in an interview the committee is “dedicated to electing individuals who have a similar emphasis on educational attainment and what that intends and what that means for growing an economy and developing skills that will be beneficial to individuals that are coming out of the system.”
Over the years, the Kids First of El Paso PAC has provided funding for several school board candidates.
CREEED has spearheaded multiple programs meant to improve outcomes for students in traditional public schools.
De La Rosa says the organization supports a Republican agenda to privatize public education and turn school districts into charter school networks.
“On the surface, they’re trying to make the community believe that they’re here to help public schools. But the bottom line is they are pouring money into these candidates’ campaigns because they are trying to buy seats,” De La Rosa said.
Rodriguez denied the allegation.
“CREEED is not doing that and the Kids First PAC is certainly not pursuing any kind of agenda along that line,” Rodriguez said.
Irrobali said he was hired under former Gov. Rick Perry’s office in the state’s economic development department and transitioned to work under Abbott after he took office. Both are Republicans.
He said working under the governor has not influenced his politics or his role as a board member.
“I like to remind people there are thousands of employees, both Republican and Democrat, that work in the governor’s office. It’s not a partisan shop,” Irrobali said.
Disclosure: The Council on Regional Economic Expansion and Educational Development is a financial supporter of El Paso Matters. Financial supporters play no role in El Paso Matters’ journalism. The news organization’s policy on editorial independence can be found here.
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