El Paso Matters – SISD election: District 2, 3 candidates vye to represent Far Eastside amid school budget, management challenges

Board candidate Phillip Shawn Ollis called the Socorro Independent School District’s financial crisis the “elephant in the room” looming over the May 3 election.

Whoever is elected to the SISD board will inherit a debt that mounted over a decade before the current board – staring down the barrel of impending financial exigency, the equivalent of bankruptcy for education institutions – voted to lay off nearly 300 employees to shave $38 million from next year’s budget deficit.

State funding that SISD and other El Paso school districts banked on for their budgets did not materialize during the 2023 legislative session, creating a shortfall in their funding. SISD also faces declining enrollment, a problem challenging other El Paso-area school districts, which has added to the budget deficit. 

SISD came under state conservatorship amid other systemic concerns, from students graduating without proof of required credits to the payment of stipends not authorized by the school board.

Two candidates are running for District 2, which covers the areas near Pebble Hills High School and its feeder pattern in Far East El Paso: Ryan Reid Woodcraft, 41, who ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner last year, and Ollis, 47, a political newcomer. They’re vying to replace Cynthia Ann Najera, who is not seeking reelection.

Three candidates are running for District 3, which covers the areas around El Dorado High School and its feeder schools mostly in Far East El Paso: Joshua Carter Guerra, 39, and Jose Alonzo Jr., 62, who both ran unsuccessfully for SISD at-large seats last election, and political newcomer Charles William Smith, 34. Pablo Caldera Jr. informed El Paso Matters that he is no longer running but did not file his withdrawal documents in time to remove his name from the ballot.

They’re vying to replace Ricardo “Richard” Castellano, who is not seeking reelection. Castellano and trustee Pablo Barrera last year were indicted for retaliating against district employees. The two have been absent from duties including key votes the past nine months. Barrera is also not seeking reelection in Districts 5.

SISD trustees serve four-year terms and are unpaid. Trustee races are nonpartisan.

SISD District 2 (Pebble Hills) candidates

Woodcraft, a network integration planner for JANUS Research Group, said he believes anything outside the four walls of the classroom should be on the table for cuts to reign in district spending. Teachers and classroom maintenance should be the last to cut, he said.

Sending the Pebble Hills High School marching band to Pasadena for the Rose Parade? Not so much, he said.

“With any cuts, no matter what it is, people are going to be upset – and rightfully so,” Woodcraft said. “Going back to the balance, this district for far too long just rubber stamped everything with no critical thinking, overspending and assuming money will come in later. When it comes, it will be painful and there will be livelihoods affected and feelings hurt.”

Woodcraft said the district should streamline duplicate services, such as in school security, and whittle down expenditures he described as “astronomical,” such as catering and a district health clinic educators say isn’t open at convenient hours. These savings, in addition to being more aggressive applying for state and federal grants, could help retain more teachers, he said. Woodcraft did not specify which grants.

The district should also look into fundraising or entering partnerships with private businesses to get extracurricular items funded, such as new uniforms and travel for non-UIL events, he added.

Consolidating schools is not on the table yet, Woodcraft said, but credited the board for looking into overflow campuses. 

Woodcraft said blaming private and charter schools for budget woes was a cop-out. Instead, he blamed the district for poor forecasting of student enrollment numbers, as well as municipal governments for encouraging developmental sprawl over the years despite El Paso’s stagnant population, resulting in enrollment shifting from some schools to others. The sprawl also led to higher utility bills for the district, he said.

Ollis, a self-employed consultant, said regaining trust with the community would be his first priority as a trustee. 

Ollis proposed taking board meetings to different campuses to allow parents, teachers and staff the opportunity to attend a meeting closer to home. People don’t attend board meetings unless they’re there to receive an award or give a presentation, and then they leave after that, he said. 

“Virtual and dial-in options are great, but some people want to be there in person,” Ollis said. “There are ways to make this more accessible… Outside of recent meetings, when things get hot, things go sideways, the public’s out there. When things are going smoothly, people are not involved.”

To build trust, the board should be more transparent about its expenditures, declining student population and costs per campus early on – rather than just proposing mass layoffs as a silver bullet, shocking parents who had otherwise trusted the board, Ollis said. He said the board should not approve expenditures that don’t have an urgent need, such as new turf for all the campuses and refurbished restrooms.

Ollis expects the board to consider raising taxes, but should look into grants before defaulting to bonds and tax increases. He did not specify which grants. The districts should also lean on local advocates to go to Austin and push for more funding from the state government, he added. When adjusted for inflation, per-student funding in Texas has declined in recent years.

About 40 members of the Socorro American Federation of Teachers and three members of the West Texas Alliance went to Austin in early March to advocate for increased school funding. 

Both Woodcraft and Ollis described themselves as men of faith, but disagree with including religion in the school curriculum. 

Woodcraft and Ollis were also open to having armed teachers on campus to provide additional security. Woodcraft said the decision should be up to voters, not the board, while Ollis said he would like to hear more from experts on both sides of the argument.

Woodcraft has raised $4,095 in political contributions in the last reporting period, according to campaign finance reports. None of his individual contributions exceeded $500. Ollis has raised $3,925, about half of which came from Socorro AFT. He received endorsements from both the Socorro AFT and Socorro Education Association unions.

SISD District 3 (El Dorado) candidates

Carter Guerra, a paralegal who volunteers for soccer and track programs at Sgt. Jose F. Carrasco Elementary School, said he chose to run for office again because the district needs a politically engaged candidate as the district competes with private school vouchers.

He proposed creating an oversight committee, similar to the city of El Paso’s Financial Oversight and Audit Committee, with each trustee appointing three members to the committee. The committee would oversee budget proposals on a rolling basis to ensure there are more eyes on the financial decisions being made, he said.

He also suggested town hall meetings in between decision-making school board meetings where trustees could update the community on the timeline of projects and what’s gone over budget. These meetings could be livestreamed and uploaded on social media platforms, as well as emailed in a newsletter.

Carter Guerra blamed the district’s debt on school boards over the years who approved overspending on items such as catering and track repavement. Trustees backed by the Socorro AFT union tend to vote in a block and SISD’s deficit has been a decade in the making, he said. He personally pledges to not take any reimbursements for trustee duties if elected and challenges other trustees to do the same.

“I support unions, but you have to ask yourself if you’re getting a new person with new ideas or the same person with the same rubber-stamped thoughts from that union,” Carter Guerra said.

Carter Guerra said he opposes tax increases because the board should shoulder responsibility for the problem it created, not taxpayers. He proposed building a coalition of educators and training them to communicate with policymakers so they can advocate for raising the state’s funding allotment per student – which Texas has decreased significantly in the last decade.

The Texas House approved Wednesday a bill to increase school funding and teacher pay, but critics say the increase was not enough, especially when accounting for inflation.

Alonzo, a patient care technician at Las Palmas Medical Center, said no one who served on the school board under previous superintendent, Nate Carman, should be on the board because “they’re the reason why we don’t have any money.” The trustees hired Carman in 2022, but SISD has not had a balanced budget since 2015.

To address declining enrollment – and with it, declining state funding – Alonzo proposed consolidating schools and buildings such as warehousing, as well as moving the school police department to district offices, then selling off the now vacated properties. That would be a better option than raising taxes, he said.

“I know it’s a sensitive issue because you don’t want schools that have a lot of tradition to close down,” Alonzo said. “But at the same time, you have to communicate with parents why it’s being done. Parents don’t want kids bussed to other schools. Show them the facts: Where the money is going and how much more money would be spent to keep those schools open.”

Ideally, salary cuts should start at the top with people making more than $100,000, starting with the superintendent, he said. While that might make only a tiny dent in the deficit, it’s worth it to save a few jobs for the teachers, he said. Teachers also need better health insurance and he suggested working with the other school districts to purchase insurance as a whole and get a better rate.

Smith, who runs MVS Body Shop and is studying at UTEP to become a teacher, said he was prompted to run for office when his wife, a teacher at Capt. Walter E. Clarke Middle School, learned about the teacher layoffs this year.

Though the school district posts meeting agendas and minutes online, Smith proposed posting summaries of every major board decision and expenditure in a way that’s easy for people to understand. He also said the district’s budget spreadsheets should be more easily accessible to the public and he would like to implement an improved oversight process for contract awards – noting the conflicts of interest the previous superintendent, Carman, had before leaving.

Smith said expenditures should focus on students’ direct education, not contracts for new turf or repainting lines in the parking lots, though he acknowledged these savings would not pull SISD out of millions of dollars in debt.

“I know millions seem a lot and something as small as painting parking lot lines is not nearly enough, but it’s a small step forward,” Smith said. “It might not seem like a lot, but it will add up.”

Smith said he would support tax increases if that’s what the community wants, but at the moment it’s hard for taxpayers to see what they would get out of it because of the district’s current state.

Smith also addressed his criminal record – a 2012 felony indictment for assault by strangulation on his then-wife. In 2013, District Judge Dick Alcalá dismissed the domestic violence case after evidence from discovery and because the complaining witness requested dismissal, according to court records. Smith claimed he has full custody of their daughter and his ex-wife made a false police report while he was at work, shortly after catching her in a moment of infidelity. El Paso Matters contacted the alleged victim, but did not get a response.

All three candidates opposed mandating religion in the classroom and said all students should be free to practice their own faith.

Carter Guerra and Alonzo opposed arming teachers with guns. Alonzo said the district should fund more cameras and radios, as well as longer shifts for police officers. When questioned if this was a good use of funds, Alonzo said, “If you’re going to fund a music program, some of the money should go there (to security), too.” The board voted to eliminate the music elementary program in February.

Smith said the district shouldn’t push teachers to carry guns, but wasn’t opposed to teachers who want to arm themselves after proper training and as long as it was concealed carry, not open. He also proposed a volunteer, civilian task force made up of people with law enforcement and military experience to support additional school security.

Carter Guerra and Alonzo have raised no political contributions in the last reporting period, according to campaign finance reports. Smith has raised $3,216 – $2,000 of which came from the Socorro AFT union. He also received an endorsement from the union.

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