This story has been updated.
The South San Antonio Independent School District will only have one high school starting in the next school year after trustees voted to close West Campus High School on a 3-1 vote during a tense board meeting Wednesday.
Trustees Homer Flores Jr. and Shirley Ibarra were both absent and Trustee Joe Araiza abstained.
The vote follows a presentation earlier this month that revealed that more than half of the 502 students enrolled at West Campus already travel to South San Antonio High School for half-days already, increasing the already high cost per-pupil for students at the smaller campus.
A continued decline in enrollment and a $9.5 million budget deficit are also still impacting the district, according to the presentation. Compounding the problem, next year the district will run out of COVID-relief money, which has buoyed the district for the last several years.
“This is not an issue of performance,” Superintendent Henry Yzaguirre said. “But really a big imbalance of services that we are able to provide the students at West Campus.”
“Our job is to educate these kids and making sure that what we do with our money goes directly to them and not to a building,” he added later.
Board Vice President Cyndi Ramirez, who voted previously not to close West Campus, said she was not in a position to make the choice at the time.
“I was not in a position to close this campus without knowing for myself all the information that I need to know based on the decision like this,” she said.
Despite previous meetings in which discussions about school closures were sparsely attended, the board room was filled with district alumni, parents and students, many of whom shared concerns about the process being rushed and with little opportunity for meaningful engagement.
The campus narrowly avoided a closure vote in April after Yzaguirre rescinded a recommendation for its closure, saying it was too late to make it happen for the 2023-2024 school year.
Several family members and students left the room in tears following the vote, including Ezra Mares, a West Campus junior, and his mother, Aracely Mares, who said she was angry about the move the board took.
“It was obvious that they already had a predetermined outcome,” she said.
Ezra, who was pacing outside the boardroom after the vote, said his goal since he started at the campus was to continue his brother’s legacy of playing basketball.
“It just hurt me so bad,” he said. “It means everything to me. When I wake up, I’m excited to go to practice.”
Yzaguirre assured families that students will not have to sit out any University Interscholastic League (UIL) sports or activities, including band, cheer or academics, and will be given a spot at South San Antonio High School.
But parents aren’t so sure, and if students choose to transfer outside of the district, they will face a one-year pause before they can compete in UIL activities again, the superintendent said.
Tom Cummins, president of the San Antonio AFL-CIO who spoke on behalf of South San Antonio ISD’s federation of teachers and support personnel, chided the board before the vote for holding the meeting in December, which he said “stifled student and teacher voices” with faculty and staff on vacation and other events holding the attention of the public.
“The hope appears to be, who will notice this … at this time of year,” Cummins said, asking the district to delay voting until “the full community can be present.”
Trustee Abel Martinez Jr., who voted against the closure, spoke during public comment, arguing that the campus should stay open, citing the growth of the campus since it was reopened four years ago and new construction in the area. He also asked whether the move would actually resolve the district’s budget deficit.
“What is the actual solution?,” he asked. “You’re basically going in a circle.”
Later in the meeting, Martinez called explicitly for a board of managers to be installed to manage the district due to failings that led to the closure discussion.
Abe Saavedra, who was appointed as conservator overseeing the district two months ago by the Texas Education Agency, presented a graph showing that the district has been spending more money than it brought in since 2019, when the board at the time voted to reopen three schools that were closed for low enrollment and flood damage.
“There is some correlation between the existing deficit that the district has and the reopening of the schools,” he said.
If no changes occur, Saavedra said it won’t be long until “the district goes through the existing fund balance and basically becomes broke completely.”
The governance issues are already affecting the district’s financial outlook.
Tony Kingman, the district’s chief financial officer, reported Wednesday that the district’s credit rating is being downgraded from an A, to an A- with a “negative future outlook.”
According to the organization’s website, Fitch Ratings publishes credit ratings that are “forward-looking opinions on the relative ability of an entity or obligation to meet financial commitments.”
