{"id":82539,"date":"2025-12-10T02:00:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82539\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T02:00:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T02:00:09","slug":"new-episd-superintendent-brian-lusk-outlines-focus-on-instruction-equityenrollment-challenges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/82539\/","title":{"rendered":"New EPISD Superintendent Brian Lusk outlines focus on instruction, equity,enrollment challenges"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brian Lusk was formally named El Paso Independent School District\u2019s new superintendent Tuesday, vowing to make student success his focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s been a really strong focus in this particular school district, El Paso ISD, around quality of instruction, and to me, we\u2019re on the right path, because that\u2019s really the key to academic success,\u201d Lusk said in an interview with El Paso Matters. \u201cSo, as we think about outcomes, we have to be laser like in our focus around instructional quality, supporting principals, supporting teachers, and making sure that our singular focus is around student academic outcomes with good instruction making that happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The EPISD school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to make Lusk the leader of the 47,000-student district, the largest in El Paso County. He and his wife, Beverly Lusk, were serenaded by EPISD student mariachis and folklorico dancers after his appointment was approved.<\/p>\n

District officials said the contract terms would be made public later Tuesday, after the contract was signed. His first day on the job is Wednesday, school board President Leah Hanany said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brian Lusk, the incoming superintendent for El Paso ISD, shakes hands with principals from the district before signing his contract, Dec. 9, 2025. (Corrie Boudreaux\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

Former Superintendent Diana Sayavedra was paid $320,000 a year when she resigned earlier this year.<\/a> Ysleta Independent School District Superintendent Xavier De La Torre, who is among the highest-paid superintendents in the state, makes over $450,000 annually. James Vasquez<\/a>, who was hired as Socorro Independent School District superintendent this year, makes $285,000 annually.<\/p>\n

The board voted in mid-November to select Lusk as the sole EPISD superintendent finalist<\/a>. State law requires school districts to wait at least 21 days before completing the hiring of a finalist for superintendent.<\/p>\n

Most recently, Lusk served as the deputy superintendent of academics and transformation of the Dallas Independent School District.<\/p>\n

Lusk said the district owes it to students to help them identify the best path for them, and then help them succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, so, whether a student says, \u2018You know what, I want to go to a CTE program and study X,\u2019 or \u2018I want to go into an early college program,\u2019 or \u2018I want to go into Advanced Placement,\u2019 or \u2018I want to do a few of those,\u2019 it is our job and obligation to make sure students understand their path and to help them get towards that path to prosperity so that they can realize their dreams,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Lusk is taking leadership of a district that has seen some academic gains in recent years, but which still lags behind the neighboring Ysleta and Socorro school districts on many student performance measures.<\/p>\n

EPISD \u2013 like many urban districts across the country \u2013 is facing declining enrollment<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The number of students attending EPISD schools has dropped by 13,000 \u2013 or 22% \u2013 in the last decade, and that trend likely will accelerate in coming years because of rapid declines in El Paso\u2019s birth rates. School closures over the past 10 years have largely been concentrated in elementary schools, but growing declines in middle school and high school enrollments likely will require closures in those areas.<\/p>\n

A divided school board last year approved Sayavedra\u2019s plan to shutter eight elementary schools over two years. Following school board elections this spring, a new board majority agreed to keep open Lamar Elementary School, one of the schools targeted for closing.<\/p>\n

Lusk acknowledged that falling enrollment \u2013 which reduces state funding to schools \u2013 forces school districts to make difficult choices.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, if you look at any district across the state, it\u2019s been a challenge. And it\u2019s not an excuse, it\u2019s a challenge,\u201d he told El Paso Matters.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with that, I think we have to then look at, of the work we\u2019re doing, what return on investment are we getting? Where\u2019s the best investment of our dollars to make sure that our kids and our families are getting what they expect?\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he would work with the school board, teachers and parents when deciding on future school closures or other investment decisions.<\/p>\n

Board members who voted against Sayavedra\u2019s closing plan said it unfairly focused on schools in low-income areas, though the board majority at the time disagreed and the plan was approved 4-3.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brian Lusk, the new superintendent for El Paso ISD, speaks about his background and his plans for El Paso, Dec. 9, 2025. (Luis Torres\/El Paso Matters)<\/p>\n

Lusk said equity concerns have to play a role in all education decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we all recognize that some students come to school with greater challenges, right?\u201d he told El Paso Matters. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean they can do less, and to be clear, it doesn\u2019t lessen expectations, but sometimes they have bigger barriers to get through. And sometimes we have to allocate resources to meet the needs of our students, and sometimes it does require us giving more resources to schools or students or school communities so that they can equalize the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of aging infrastructure on many of its campuses, and the likelihood of closing or consolidating schools in the wake of declining attendance, EPISD officials have said for several years that they\u2019ll need to ask voters to approve a bond issue worth in the hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

EPISD voters last approved a bond issue in 2016. Lusk said the district needs infrastructure investment, but it has to build a case for voter approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut that\u2019s going to take some time to really lay out and think about the framing of that, because it\u2019s not a light conversation. It\u2019s a consideration that\u2019s going to take a lot of planning and conversation and collaboration with many, many stakeholders,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

When asked by El Paso Matters to share something about himself that people may not know, Lusk pointed to his soccer experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI played soccer from age 5 to age 21. I played through college. And I was telling a few folks recently that that shaped me, having those experiences. We know that\u2019s why sports matters. Sports matter in middle school and high school. And extracurricular opportunities matter. But soccer shaped me, and it helped give me leadership experiences that would not have had otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

And like many f\u00fatbol fans, his eyes are on the 2026 men\u2019s World Cup, hosted jointly by the United States, Mexico and Canada. It is the first time the tournament has been played in the United States since 1994.<\/p>\n

\u201cI went to five World Cup games back in \u201994, so that was amazing. If I can go to one game now, I\u2019d be good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

LISTEN: EL PASO MATTERS PODCAST<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brian Lusk was formally named El Paso Independent School District\u2019s new superintendent Tuesday, vowing to make student success…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,14237,139,8695],"class_list":{"0":"post-82539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-el-paso","8":"tag-el-paso","9":"tag-el-paso-headlines","10":"tag-el-paso-isd","11":"tag-el-paso-news","12":"tag-episd"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82539","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=82539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}