EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – Canutillo Independent School District (CISD) has had to pour into their general budget in order to fund school safety expenses to meet the state mandates of a bill passed by the Texas Legislature earlier this year.
House Bill 3 was approved in May as a response to the Uvalde shooting, which requires all school districts in the state to have an armed security guard at every one of their schools.
After convening for their fourth special session last week, the Texas Legislature was unable to pass either one of two bills from the House or the Senate that would provide significant additional funding for school safety across the state.
CISD spokesperson Gustavo Reveles said they were not surprised to learn that a bill was passed last week, as they have “been playing this game for over a year.”
CISD has been able to hire additional police officers to meet the mandates passed by the state, but it has come at the expense of the district’s limited resources.
“It’s really taking a toll on what we can do to provide high quality education to our students. We have to take money from the general fund to really provide that safety and security, and that takes money away from classrooms,” said Reveles.
Reveles added that the district is unable to expand their programs and are even limited in how much they can invest into the infrastructure of their schools as they operate in a deficit trying to meet the state’s requirements.
Their limited resources are also affecting their employees.
“We’ve had to change our health plan and really asked our employees to sacrifice a little bit because we are not able to provide us as much as we were able to do so in the previous years,” he said.
Reveles said the district will continue to “pinch pennies” and find the resources to provide their students with safety and security, and a high quality education, but asks parents to join them in their call for the state to take action.
“We need parents to understand that we are we’re stepping up, we’re doing what they’re asking us to do, and to really voice their concern with our legislators to make sure that they reach out to the governor’s office, to the state representatives and state senators, to let them know that they expect them to act and provide funding, proper and equitable funding for public education.”
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