El Paso ISD trustees review 2026–27 budget update and plan staffing realignment amid enrollment decline

El Paso ISD trustees met April 14 to review the district’s 2026–27 budget development update and to press staff for steps to align central-office staffing with declining enrollment.

Budget staff told the finance committee that the district is increasing needs-based supplemental allocations while refining staffing ratios by campus tier. Rebecca Khan, the district’s director of budget, outlined changes that target interventionists and instructional supports to campuses with higher needs and described a move to convert instructional coaches into “instructional lead teachers” who will split time between intervention and coaching and become eligible for teacher incentive allotments.

The presentation included a regional comparison of ‘‘director-and-above’’ positions. Staff said EPISD has historically carried a larger number of upper-level administrators, noting the district has reduced roughly 277 central-office positions since 2018 but still needs further realignment. An unnamed staff presenter argued the distribution of positions — not only the administrative cost ratio — helps explain community concerns about an outsized central office.

Miss Cortez and other staff explained the Texas Education Agency’s administrative cost ratio (ACR), the state’s formula that measures administrative and instructional support spending relative to total district expenditures. Staff reported EPISD’s ACR for 2024 as about 5.49%, below the state maximum cited for districts of its size (about 8.55%). They cautioned that as enrollment falls, a district’s ACR can rise even without hiring.

Trustees pressed staff on attendance measures and budget assumptions. Mr. Buyers explained the difference between Percentage in Attendance, Average Daily Attendance (ADA) and the ADA ratio used for forecasting; the district reported a four–six-week attendance rate of 92.9% and said it is using a 90% ADA ratio for 2026–27 budget modeling. Trustees confirmed that ADA — not the daily percentage — determines state funding and that 90% is the planning assumption for next year.

Superintendent Dr. Lusk described near-term steps: an early-notification incentive for central staff who plan to resign or retire (an item staff said would appear on the next board agenda) and planned realignment of departments to shift work closer to campuses and reduce upper-level FTEs. "Decisions are never easy," Dr. Lusk told trustees, adding the district will begin department realignment and further staffing reviews.

What’s next: staff will return with the early-notification item on the board agenda and continue modeling the impacts of realignment and ADA assumptions on the 2026–27 proposed budget.