The El Paso Independent School District (EPISD) is facing financial challenges after an internal audit revealed that poor attendance and reporting practices have resulted in a loss of approximately $3.25 million in state funds. According to the audit report from the 2023-2024 school year, cited by KTSM, five of EPISD's campuses, which serve nearly 50,000 students, recorded significant numbers of unverified absences.
Franklin High School alone accounted for over $2 million lost with more than 40,000 "unverified" or "no note, no call" absents, as reported by KTSM. Mayra G. Martinez, the chief internal auditor for EPISD, emphasized the gravity of the situation when she presented these findings to the district's Board of Trustees. "The reason why the ‘no call’ and the ‘unverified’ are important is because that’s an opportunity. We don’t know why those students are out because we don’t have a note from parents and because for some reason they haven’t been verified. It’s very unlikely that the district would be able to recapture the 3.2 million," Martinez said, as per KTSM.
As EPISD grapples with this financial deficit, the district outlined its intent to tap into its reserves, which was necessitated by an $18.5 million budget shortfall for the upcoming 2024-25 school year. This decision was made after officials approved a $542 million budget in late June, according to El Paso Times. Such monetary woes come amid a frustrating backdrop where Texas schools have seen no increase in per-pupil funding from the state since 2019, coupled with current inflationary pressures.
