EL PASO, TEXAS (KFOX14/CBS4) — Ysleta Independent School District leaders gathered for the district’s 2026 State of the District event on Thursday, where Superintendent Dr. Xavier De La Torre outlined YISD’s priorities for the future.

According to the district, the event brought together regional business leaders, community partners, district leadership, and city leaders to discuss enrollment trends, state funding, the district’s financial stabilization plan, and other major priorities affecting Ysleta ISD families and employees.

With public school enrollment declining across Texas and budgets tightening, De La Torre used his State of the District event to outline the challenges ahead for the district and the options being considered to stay financially balanced.

De La Torre addressed the enrollment drop being seen in public schools statewide.

Earlier this week, The Texas Tribune reported there were roughly 76,000 fewer students enrolled this school year across Texas.

“The entire state, the entire country, is in a pattern of declining enrollment, where you are seeing very low birth rates across the country, across the nation. Texas lost 79,000 students in one year. YISD ended the school year last year in May, and by the time we opened in August, we had 1,407 less students,” De La Torre said.

The report also described it as the first non-pandemic decline in nearly four decades, with Hispanic students accounting for the overwhelming majority.

Speaking to KFOX14/CBS4 on Thursday, De La Torre said that not only are low birth rates contributing to a decline in Hispanic students, but the fear in immigrant communities over possibly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“When you are a school district with a 90 percent Latino population and parents having less children. That’s one thing; the second thing is the national narrative or even the state narrative relative to families who may be undocumented or children who may be undocumented, is making it less and less likely that they are willing to take that kind of a chance to have their family broken up or to have parents held while students are in our schools. So we’ve seen a decline in the number of immigrant students or students who attend our school who may live in Juarez,” De La Torre said.

He added, “We are hearing from our principals, we are hearing from our teachers that families and their students who attend their school or who are no longer attending their school because they feel uncomfortable about the possibility of either the parent being detained or the student being detained, there is that fear. As a school district, we’ve always had a great relationship with our law enforcement agency. I can tell you that during the current school year, we’ve never had an incident where ICE has asked for access to campuses.”

De La Torre also discussed budget pressures facing Ysleta ISD and said the district is facing tough choices ahead.

Among the options the district could consider to reach a balanced budget are holding a voter-approval tax rate election in November, offering a buyout incentive to employees, and cutting what he described as less-exciting programs for students.

“We’re going to continue and get funding from the federal government for our most vulnerable populations. That’s our students who are English learners and our students with special needs. Our general population is going to see a decline in revenue. In the spring, there may have to be a conversation around what we are going to do if we can’t appear to balance our budget,” De La Torre said.

The State of the District comes after YISD said last month it expects to reduce its funding by $11 million.

District officials said during a board meeting in late April that the reduction is tied to changes made this year to Senate Bill 4, legislation passed in 2023.

The law was intended to provide property tax relief to elderly or disabled homeowners whose school district taxes were already capped. While that lowered tax bills for those homeowners, it also meant less money went to school districts.

YISD said it will now have about a $16 million budget deficit as a result. The district is also anticipating losing 1,500 students, which officials said will require cutting 83 positions.

However, officials said all of the positions will be eliminated through attrition due to an incentive program the district passed.

RECOMMENDED: Ysleta ISD faces tough budget choices as state changes cut funding by $11 million

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