Faced with a growing budget deficit, the South San Antonio Independent District board is again considering consolidating its two high schools by closing West Campus nearly a year after a similar conversation led to months of trustee infighting that ended with the under-enrolled campus remaining open.
“Our options are to do nothing and we continue down the track we are on and see our deficit continue to grow, or we consider consolidating both South San and West Campus High Schools,” Superintendent Henry Yzaguirre said at a community meeting Wednesday night.
The board will hear an official recommendation from the superintendent at a meeting on Dec. 20.
Without action, the district has only enough funding to operate for two years before it runs out of money, according to Chief Financial Officer Tony Kingman, who presented the district’s financial outlook to the board and community.
“We are cutting off the limb to spare the rest of the body,” board President Manuel Lopez said about the consolidation, adding that the board must make the difficult decisions regardless of negative backlash.
The stalemate over the closure was cited, among other dysfunctions, when the board was put under the control of a conservator last month in a deal with the Texas Education Agency to stave off a complete takeover of the board by at least a year.
Officials say the district is in a better spot than it was a year ago, with a $9.5 million budget deficit down from $12 million, and more equity in lower grades after the closure of two elementary schools and one middle school. However, inequities remain in the high school grades, according to district officials.
More fine arts programs, including a mariachi program at the middle school level, have been added, along with more academic coaches and support staff.
But Yzaguirre warned that the lack of COVID relief dollars that have buoyed the district for the last three years will cause the district to rely on its general fund, akin to a savings account. Without a decline in spending or an increase in funding, which is tied to enrollment, the district will continue to face financial trouble.
Abe Saavedra, the conservator for the district, said earlier this month that the board must pass a balanced budget by next year to ensure his exit and not trigger the ouster of the board and state takeover, a task he said will involve “tough decisions.”
Trustees Shirley Ibarra and Homer Flores Jr. were not at the meeting. Trustee Abel Martinez Jr., who said it was clear that the school would be closing, pointed out the millions of dollars poured into the school that could now close.
“How are we going to get some of that money back that we’ve been spending?” he asked.
The district spent between $8 million and $10 million to reopen the campus. What could happen to the campus will be a separate conversation, according to the superintendent.
“The discussion that we need to have now is what are we going to do for our students at this particular time,” he said. “Yes, the money and the deficit is a big thing, but right now, our priority is making sure our students are put in the best situation.”
The rest of the trustees talked about the unfortunate reality faced by the district, necessitated by decisions made by former board members. Trustee Ernesto Arellano Jr. said the board should “rip the Band-Aid off” to move forward with other business.
District officials revealed that more than half of the students at West Campus already commute to South San Antonio High School for half-days, since Career and Technical Education courses are mostly offered at the newer campus. The situation makes the smaller high school far more expensive to operate.
Gilbert Rodriguez, a former board member, was one of two community members to speak at the sparsely attended meeting. He criticized the district and called the superintendent a failure for an ongoing decline in enrollment, which was cited as one of the reasons for ongoing financial issues.
Rodriguez was among the trustees who voted to reopen West Campus High School and other schools in 2019 after it was closed in 2008 due to low enrollment. The district has not passed a balanced budget in the years since, according to Yzaguirre.
Yvonne Saldivar, a parent and educator, said that while it was a difficult situation, she supported the board and understood the district’s problem.
She added that the district needs a plan to reintegrate the West Campus students into the South San Antonio campus to avoid fights and other discomfort.
“I know they pride themselves on being the smaller school, but the numbers don’t lie, that it’s not fiscally responsible to keep it open,” she said. “If we concentrate all of our energies into that high school, we can make it great like it was, like I know it can [be].”
