Pearson said he has hired Marina Monsisvais, a longtime arts advocate and former owner of Barracuda Public Relations who hosts KTEP\u2019s \u201cState of the Arts\u201d program, with plans for her to manage the station.<\/p>\n
The station will continue to broadcast local content as well as programs from National Public Radio, according to a UTEP news release. The university also will continue to provide internships and work-study opportunities for UTEP students.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Also Thursday, the regents approved a transfer of $15 million from Designated Funds to \u201cApproved Projects\u201d for use of one-time fund balances to support minor capital improvements and cover implementation costs for a donor management and customer relationship management software platform.<\/p>\n
UTEP did not respond to a request for a list of the approved projects.<\/p>\n
El Paso ISD Offers Some Teacher Stipends for Overcrowded Classrooms<\/p>\n
The El Paso Independent School District is asking permission to increase class sizes beyond the state\u2019s limit and is offering stipends to some teachers who are willing to take in more students than is normally allowed.<\/p>\n
The EPISD school board voted unanimously Wednesday to request class size waivers from the Texas Commissioner of Education, exempting them from the state\u2019s 22-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio requirements for prekindergarten through fourth grade. Teachers in those grades are eligible for a $2,500 stipend each semester if they have 25 or more students in a class.<\/p>\n
Superintendent Brian Lusk said the district regularly requests waivers as class sizes are leveled at the beginning of the year, but didn\u2019t previously offer additional compensation to teachers who took on the extra workload.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, what we\u2019ve done as a district is to add an extra teacher, and those very practices are the kind of practices that got us in trouble in the past. We\u2019re adding (teachers) that really shouldn\u2019t be added, and financially, we really shouldn\u2019t have done it. So, we thought, let\u2019s take a different approach,\u201d Lusk told El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n
The waivers may also minimize the number of students who may need to move to another classroom to balance class size.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you move students, it can create a challenge. So, with teacher consent, those who have students over the class size waiver number, if they\u2019re willing to, they can take the stipend and keep the students over the number that they have,\u201d Lusk said during the board meeting.<\/p>\n
Lusk said the district doesn\u2019t know exactly how many classes will be affected, but estimates it will be similar to last year when the district requested over 70 waivers.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/LT-SHERIFF_S-OPERATION-18-scaled-e1776374090426-1024x680.jpg\")
Sheriff Oscar Ugarte, at right, appears before the El Paso County Commissioners Court during a special meeting at the Juvenile Justice Center, Thursday, April 16, 2026. (Luis Torres \/ El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n
Sheriff\u2019s Office Overtime Spending Could Strain 2027 County Budget<\/p>\n
The El Paso County Sheriff\u2019s Office spike in overtime spending may lead to an unplanned $2.5 million deficit in the next fiscal year\u2019s budget, county administrative staff warned during a budget hearing Monday.<\/p>\n
The possible deficit comes as the Commissioners Court finalizes its budget<\/a> and adopts its tax rate for the 2027 fiscal year.<\/p>\n The $2.5 million figure was a conservative estimate by Budget Director Carmen Arrieta-Candelaria, though the estimated deficit could change in the weeks ahead. County Administrator Betsy Keller and Arrieta-Candelaria have briefed the Commissioners Court since March<\/a> when it was noted that the public safety sector had spent nearly half of its budget, largely driven by overtime costs for jail staffing under the Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n \u201cWe haven\u2019t run into this type of an over-budget spend previously,\u201d Keller said during the Monday meeting. \u201cThis is not a planned contingency, and so this is going to be an impact on our overall end of the year budget.\u201d<\/p>\n