resigned in June<\/a> amid growing tension with the EPISD school board.<\/p>\nThe facilities assessment, obtained by El Paso Matters through a public records request, shows that 22 of the district\u2019s 72 campuses are in poor condition. This includes Newman, Putnam, Rusk and Zavala elementary schools, which closed last year, and Travis Elementary School, which is set to close this summer.<\/p>\n
Four campuses are considered in critical condition: Bliss, Park, Milam and Stanton elementary schools, the last of which will close this summer.<\/p>\n
Twenty-seven campuses are considered to be in fair condition.<\/p>\n
![\"visualization\"\/](\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/27913615\/thumbnail\")
<\/p>\n
Lusk said the district is now picking up where previous leadership left off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we looked at the data, it was very clear that our schools need some support,\u201d Lusk said. \u201cOn the heels of that, we also have to have a conversation about what to do with this data.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nearly four months into his time at EPISD, Lusk said he has connected with campus principals, local officials and families at community meetings held over the last month to better understand what they want for their children over the next five years. Something he says will help guide the bond proposal.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve heard that they want to make sure that their children leave our schools prepared for college, a career or the military. We\u2019ve heard them talk about the fact that they feel that our facilities need some support and some work. They want to make sure their children get a quality education every single day, and we expect that, too,\u201d Lusk said.<\/p>\n
The committee, which was finalized Friday, is made up of eight community members \u2013\u00a0 one appointee from each of EPISD\u2019s seven trustees and a committee chair appointed by Lusk.<\/p>\n
The committee is expected to meet for the first time March 25.<\/p>\n
The committee will be organized into six subcommittees, with no more than 10 members each, focused on replacing or upgrading facilities and equipment, safety and security, technology, student experience and athletics.<\/p>\n
There will also be a finance subcommittee that will give reports on the district\u2019s bond capacity, a bond\u2019s effect on the district\u2019s tax rate and the district\u2019s overall financial condition.<\/p>\n
A changing district<\/p>\n
One of the goals, Lusk said, is to give students access to better facilities and resources, which in turn will improve student attendance \u2013 and the state funding tied to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
State funding for schools is based on a formula that weighs enrollment and average daily attendance.<\/p>\n
Every 1% increase in average daily attendance brings in an estimated $3.2 million in funding, according to EPISD.<\/p>\n
The district is also considering eliminating a policy that allows students to miss more than 10% of a class without losing credit as long as they get passing grades.\u00a0<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CB_DouglassElementary-8.jpg\")
Posters on Spanish dipthongs hang in a first-grade dual-language classroom at Douglass Elementary School, Oct. 24, 2025. The school is 100 percent dual-language and 30 percent of its students are classified as high-mobility, having been enrolled in more than one school per year. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n
The policy is part of EPISD\u2019s District of Innovation plan, an initiative that exempts some public schools from certain state requirements to give them some of the same flexibility as charter schools. Texas law usually requires students to attend class 90% of the time to get credit.<\/p>\n
EPISD\u2019s District of Innovation plan was adopted in 2016 and is set to expire at the end of the school year. The school board is expected to vote in May on whether to adopt a new District of Innovation plan and change the attendance policy.<\/p>\n
An assessment of the policy found that EPISD\u2019s attendance rate dropped by 3.5% from 95.3% in 2016 to 92.8% in 2025, according to a presentation given to the board in January.<\/p>\n
In September, the district launched an attendance campaign that focused on the experiences students have in school such as making friendships, creating memories and reaching milestones.<\/p>\n
The campaign, which will run throughout the school year, has included competitions where the classes with the highest attendance get a pizza party and challenges where principals, staff and students produce videos to promote attendance.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know it matters what their experience is, because it\u2019s going to cause them to be more excited about going to school each and every day,\u201d Lusk said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lusk said the district also intends to use the focus on the in-school experience to attract more students from nearby districts and address declining enrollment that is expected to continue amid declining birth rates.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeclining enrollment is complex. Post-COVID, families have made different choices for different reasons, and we respect that,\u201d Lusk said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing we can do is make sure that every single day for our children is outstanding. When we do that, parents don\u2019t think about another option,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
As EPISD undergoes these changes, Lusk promised the district will balance its budget.<\/p>\n
He said the district started by eliminating 50 vacant administrative positions from the budget, but did not mention how much it saved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s a priority, but part of it is just being fiscally responsible. We on the central team are leading by example. We\u2019re not going to expect other schools to have to deal with some challenges, and we\u2019re not,\u201d Lusk said.<\/p>\n
Related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid school closures, tight budgets and shrinking enrollment, the El Paso Independent School District is considering taking a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":195694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,14237,139,8695],"class_list":["post-195693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-isd","tag-el-paso-news","tag-episd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/195694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/CB_NewmanElem-9.jpg\")
An employee cleans classrooms and hallways at Newman Elementary School on Oct. 23, 2024. Newman is one of the schools that EPISD administrators recommended for closure. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n