Ector County ISD Superintendent Scott Muri said the district is having internal budget discussions currently but will bring thoughts and recommendations to the board of trustees in the coming months.
In June 2023, the board approved $345,173,500 million in expenditures with about $13,920,249 million coming out of fund balance.
The deficit budget came as a result of the legislature being unable to come to an agreement on public school funding for all districts in Texas even after four special sessions.
“Looking at our own budgets every year for the last four years, we’ve been using a modified zero-based budgeting process so we already have some systems in place that allow us to do an analysis by department to understand what dollars are being spent, how they’re being utilized and what dollars are being expended, etc. We’ll continue to use that modified zero-based budgeting process this second semester as we look at potential cuts,” Muri said in his media call Wednesday.
“In light of that, we know that most of this money, if not all of it, is sitting in Austin and simply needs to be released to public schools across the state. We will continue to advocate that our state legislature and governor release funds that need to be spent in public schools in Texas, so that’s a part of our work as well,” he added.
No meetings with legislatures or any further special sessions have been scheduled that he is aware of. Asked if there had been any discussion of a four-day week, Muri said there has not been.
On a separate topic, Muri noted that Jan. 4 marked the return to school for students following Christmas break. Staff, teachers and administrators went back to work Jan. 3.
“Make sure that you have your children at the bus stop at the appropriate time or delivered to school on time. Make sure that they eat a nutritious breakfast. If not, we also provide a free-of-charge breakfast for all of our students, so just make sure that you’re encouraging your kids to eat a healthy breakfast in the morning,” Muri said.
He added that parents may want to check the weather this time of year as conditions change from day to day.
“We see really cold temperatures as well as some warm temperatures, so pay attention to weather and … make sure that our students are dressed appropriately for any weather conditions that they may face as they go outside and begin school on Thursday.”
Additionally, buses will be driving the roads again.
“Kids will be moving through neighborhoods on their way to bus stops, or in and out of traffic as they are released and exiting cars … so just encouraging members of our community to adhere to the safety areas in and around our school campuses. Be mindful of the flashing yellow lights which indicate a very slow speed as you navigate through school crosswalks and school crossing areas,” Muri said.
“You want to be mindful of crossing guards as they are helping our (kids) make their way from one side of the street to the other, that you are aware of their stop signs and adhere to any directions that they want to provide. And just being extra slow as you drive around the neighborhoods. Again, we have kids sometimes that can dart in and out of cars and we just want to make sure that we’re extra careful as buses and kids start moving again Thursday of this week,” he added.
The school choice window is open through Jan. 15.
“If your child is looking for an exciting option at the elementary, middle or high school level we encourage you to visit the Ector County ISD website at www.ectorcountyisd.org. Simply click on the school choice link and that will take you to all the school choice options that we have available in ECISD,” Muri said.
He added that there are some “pretty exciting options available as well as new options that we encourage all of our families to explore.”
The lottery will be Feb. 14. Parents will be notified on Feb. 21 and will have until Feb. 23 to accept or decline the offer.
He noted that school choice helps ECISD balance the flow of students within and around ECISD.
With Ector College Prep coming back into ECISD, district officials have checked the school’s infrastructure.
Muri said the process will take all semester.
The school is being run by Third Future, a charter school network. Under a partnership under Senate Bill 1882, they entered an agreement with ECISD to turn the school around and district officials have said they fulfilled their mission.
“We’ve already been on site … exploring the facility to see what type of adjustments may need to be made. But that school operates as a middle school and we will operate it next year as a middle school and so we don’t anticipate significant facility adjustments that would need to be made. We will be making some programmatic adjustments as we transition from Third Future schools back to ECISD, but we’ll work on those in the second semester and begin to release that information to families that will be attending that school,” Muri said.
