'We are not going to fall asleep at the wheel': Here's why Socorro ISD became open enrollment

As Socorro ISD Superintendent José Espinoza weighed open enrollment, he thought back to a phrase he heard Dallas ISD Superintendent Michael Hinojosa say a few years ago as to why that district suffered an enrollment decline: "We fell asleep at the wheel."

Unlike his peers in El Paso and across Texas, Espinoza hasn’t had to worry about an immediate loss of students since he was hired in 2012 to lead the Socorro Independent School District.

As others grapple with closures, he’s overseen the opening of five elementary schools, a middle school and a high school. A combination elementary-middle school is set to open in 2022.

Fueled by El Paso County’s eastward expansion, SISD grew from approximately 44,250 students in the 2012-2013 school year to the current level of about 47,670, all while it remained closed to students who live in other districts.

But that changed in June, when trustees, based on the recommendation of the administration, unanimously voted to make SISD an open enrollment district. In doing so, they joined every other district in El Paso County to review inter-district transfer requests.

"I told the team, 'look, we are not going to fall asleep at the wheel here at Socorro ISD,'" Espinoza said of the decision to become open enrollment.

"Superintendents come in, they'll last three years, for example, and off they go to their next job. I've been here now seven years. I'm invested in this school district."

Part of that investment is taking steps now to ensure SISD will not have to shutter schools down the road as its population invariably shifts and changes and enrollment eventually levels off.

Balancing students, filling SISD schools

The Texas Education Agency does not track the number of open enrollment districts in the state, but Tracy Ginsburg, executive director of the Texas Association of School Business Officials, said a large percentage of districts currently allow transfer requests from students who reside in another district.

Ysleta ISD has offered it since 1998, Clint ISD since 2007 and El Paso ISD since 2013.

As of this school year, El Paso County's nine public school districts all consider inter-district transfer requests pending the availability of campus space and staff.

EPISD is the only one that does not consider disciplinary history and attendance records when it reviews requests. Socorro also takes into account "current school year academic standing" and Clint looks at grades, according to their policies.

Although Canutillo ISD does admit students from outside the district, it does not consider itself open enrollment.

"When we hear open enrollment there is a perception that we would accept everyone," Canutillo ISD Associate Superintendent Marnie Rocha said, noting inter-district transfer requests are not guaranteed.

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Open enrollment makes financial sense for most districts because "it balances your student population (and) it fills your buildings," Ginsburg said.

El Paso County saw total student enrollment in public school districts and charter schools decline by 3.4% from the 2011-2012 school year to 2018-2019, according to Texas Education Agency data. Most of that decline was in the kindergarten through second grade levels, which each saw drops ranging between 12% to 16% during that period.

Despite its overall growth, SISD has not been immune from this trend. From 2011-2012 to 2018-2019, its K-2 population dropped by 317 students, or 3%, according to the TEA.

Because state funding for districts is a based on a per-student basis, declining enrollment "places a huge financial strain on school districts," said David Knight, an assistant professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington, who previously taught at the University of Texas at El Paso.

Because many of the costs of running a district and an individual school are fixed, a decrease in students is incredibly costly in the short-term, Knight said.

More:YISD to relocate Alicia R. Chacon, LeBarron Park, Marian Manor students in August 2020

Making SISD a 'destination district'

For SISD, open enrollment could help bring elementary schools in areas that have seen slower to no population growth closer to full capacity.

The western part of SISD, which borders YISD, has seen the school-age population decline, stay stagnant or grow between 1 and 5% since last school year, according to data Marivel Macias, assistant superintendent for administrative services, shared with the El Paso Times.

Some schools in that area, such as Bill Sybert Elementary and Myrtle Cooper Elementary, are under capacity. Bill Sybert is at 66% capacity, with 861 students enrolled at a school that can hold up to 1,300, according to SISD data. Myrtle Cooper is at 76% capacity, with 768 students in a school that holds 1,012.

Elementary schools in the district's eastern region, which has seen double digit population growth within the last year that has reached 25% in some areas, are closer to full capacity.

Dr. Sue Shook Elementary, which opened in 2007, and Cactus Trails Elementary, which opened this fall, are at 93% and 95% capacity, respectively, according to SISD data.

"We're going to maximize the use of all our facilities," Macias said. "As we open any new campuses, we want to make sure that we're not going to be closing down any campuses."

Open enrollment is not the only strategy SISD has employed to balance enrollment and attract new families to what Espinoza calls a "destination district."

As of this school year, all of its high schools have early college programs that allow students to graduate with an Associates of Art degree from El Paso Community College.

This year it launched a dual language academy at Myrtle Cooper and Sue Shook elementary schools.

Next school year, full-day pre-K for four-year-olds will begin at every elementary school, freeing up space for new students at Cactus Trails and Sgt. Jose F. Carrasco elementary schools, campuses in the rapidly growing eastern part of the district that previously served as pre-K hubs.

Pre-K for three-year-olds will also start at Escontrias Early Childhood Center and O'Shea Keleher Elementary School, maximizing the capacity of these under-used campuses.

SISD also continuously adjusts individual school boundaries to address capacity, Macias said.

El Paso charters didn't factor into open enrollment decision

Last year, 641 students living within SISD's boundary attended IDEA Public Schools, according to Texas Education Agency data. About another 800 went to Harmony Science Academy and another approximately 480 to other El Paso charters.

IDEA opened its first two campuses in far East El Paso last school year, one of which is within SISD's boundaries and the other in neighboring Clint ISD. 

Another IDEA campus will open in Clint next fall and two Harmony Science Academy campuses within SISD.

But discussions about becoming an open enrollment district began well before IDEA announced in May 2016 that it would rapidly expand to El Paso, Espinoza said.

The numbers enrolling in charters also pale in comparison to the 3,405 students that reside within SISD's boundaries that attended a YISD school in 2018-2019, the 574 that went to EPISD and the 182 that went to Clint, according to TEA data.

Espinoza said those numbers don't concern him.

The outflow of students residing in one district that enroll in another isn't unique to SISD.

While it's difficult to know why those students enroll in another district, Knight, the UW professor, said one reason could be because students who grew up and started school in YISD, for example, choose to remain there even after their families move within SISD's boundaries.

It's also unknown from the TEA data whether students categorized as "transfer out" from SISD ever attended an SISD school.

Open enrollment brings new students to SISD

The superintendent did not set specific goals for the number of new, out-of-district students he would like to bring to SISD via the open enrollment policy.

SISD enrolled 815 out-of-district students this fall, according to data it sent the Texas Education Agency in October. That's a 321 student increase from the approximately 494 out-of-district students enrolled in October 2018, when SISD only allowed out-of-district transfer for employees' children.

The largest growth in out-of-district transfers this year came from Clint and Ysleta. Transfers from Clint grew from 190 in October 2018 to 295 in October 2019, according to TEA data and SISD data. Transfers from YISD grew from 194 to 337 during the same period.

Even without taking into account these new students, SISD projects enrollment growth to continue into the next decade. If it continues to grow annually by an average 1.25%, as it has done since 2010-2011, Macias said she projects enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year to be approximately 51,250.

For that reason, Espinoza will keep monitoring both population dips and rises across the district.

"We never, never want to be caught asleep at the wheel where there's a whole new subdivision that's going up, (and we) did not prepare accordingly," he said.

Molly Smith may be reached at 915-546-6413; mksmith@elpasotimes.com; @smithmollyk on Twitter.