EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — With massive layoffs looming over the El Paso Independent School District’s (EPISD) $52.8 million budget deficit, parents in South-Central El Paso are drawing a line in the sand.
Advocates in Barrio Chamizal are fighting to keep the proposed cuts away from their already strained campuses, arguing that their students — who already face uphill battles — cannot afford to lose another educator. As the district considers a reduction in force that could eliminate 400 jobs, the community gathered outside the shuttered Beall Elementary to voice their frustrations.
Chanting for justice, parents expressed that their children’s education has become a battle against toxic stress and systemic discrimination that is failing to prepare them for college.
A Crisis of Retention and Dropout Rates
Advocates point to a constant turnover of teachers, principals, and a history of school closures that have disproportionately impacted low-income and Spanish-speaking households, driving many students to drop out long before high school.
Hilda Villegas, an organizer with Familias Unidas por la Educación, highlighted the alarming rate at which students are disappearing from the district’s rosters…