EPISD To Vote On Becoming A District Of Innovation

Some big changes could be coming to the El Paso Independent School District, but not everyone is happy about those potential changes.

The EPISD school board will vote tonight at their regular board meeting about becoming a District of Innovation. Texas is the only state with such districts, which are designed to give more control over day-to-day operations and make them exempt from the Texas Education Code.

EPISD says they would have greater flexibility to achieve the goals that they believe are best for their students.

Some of the changes would be -

1. Universal Pre-K - EPISD believes it would mean more students in the district, and therefore, more state and federal dollars in their budget.
2. Minimum attendance for class credit - Students would have the option of taking online classes and not have to be physically in class to get credit.
3. School Calendar - EPISD students currently go back to school around the third week in August and get out mid-June. EPISD would like to move those dates up. It would affect teachers who have already made summer plans.

The El Paso Teacher's Association says they are ultimately more worried about giving the district more power over removing keys steps to teacher evaluations, and more power to the district in general. They say the proposed changes would make EPISD a charter school district, rather than a public school district.

If the District of Innovation measure is approved, EPISD will be one of the first to do so in the state.