Executive Summary The Socorro Independent School District A Texas School Performance Review The Comptroller's Texas School Performance Review (TSPR) was created by the Texas Legislature in 1990 to help the state's school districts, large and small, deliver the best possible educational services to their children in the most efficient and cost-effective way. Texas is in the forefront of the nation's jarring transition to an information-based economy, and the education given its children will play a vital role in determining the state's future prosperity. A well-trained workforce will be our state's greatest competitive asset in the next century. We must protect this resource and make absolutely sure that every Texas child has an opportunity to learn. Parents and families are customers of our school districts as well their children, and so are the teachers, principals, and other employees who work with admirable dedication in thousands of schools across Texas. Ultimately, too, the property taxpayers who support their local schools benefit from efficient and effective schools, and they pay a good deal for it. They deserve to know that their dollars are spent wisely. At a time when Texas is engaged in a critical debate over how-and how much-to pay for the education of its schoolchildren, all these customers deserve to know that schools are accountable both for their cost and the quality of the education they deliver. Only then will they be willing to invest the time, energy, and resources needed to ensure that all future Texans receive the education they need to succeed. TSPR in El Paso TSPR began its review of the Socorro Independent School District (SISD) in October 1997. As in its previous reviews of 25 other Texas school districts, the review team came to El Paso in response to a local call for assistance. In February 1997, only days after assuming his position, SISD Superintendent Don Schulte joined Senator Eliot Shapleigh in requesting a review of the district. In his letter, Mr. Schulte expressed pride in the district's accomplishments, but asked the Comptroller for suggestions that could make a good district even better. With the help of experts provided by Neal & Gibson, an Austin-based consulting firm, the TSPR team interviewed district employees, school board members, students, parents, business leaders, and representatives from community organizations. In addition, the review team collected comments from letters to the Comptroller and calls to a toll-free hotline. To obtain comments from community residents, TSPR held open forums at two district high schools and conducted four focus groups that yielded valuable comments from current and former district employees, parents, community leaders, and students. Written surveys were sent to all administrators, one-third of all teachers, 480 parents, and 250 students. Of the 162 teachers and school administrators that responded to this survey, 48 percent work at elementary schools, 25 percent at middle schools, and 22 percent at high schools. Thirty-four parents representing 13 of the district's campuses sent responses, and 237 students participated in the survey. A number of one-on-one interviews helped the review team fine- tune its findings and recommendations. Details from the surveys, public forums, and focus groups are provided in Appendices A through F. In addition to its extensive interviews, the review team consulted databases of comparative educational information gathered by the Texas Education Agency (TEA)-the Academic Excellence Indicator System and the Public Education Information Management System. To make useful comparisons, the review team also asked SISD to select similar, or peer, Texas school districts. The district chose Edinburg, Pharr-San Juan- Alamo, Southwest, United, Ysleta, Laredo, and El Paso school districts. These districts have significant characteristics in common with SISD, such as enrollment, demographic features, and/or similar economic resources. Ysleta and El Paso are significantly larger than SISD, but they are in the same area and have similar demographics; the district felt that its community regularly compares these districts to SISD and therefore that they should be included. Exhibit E-1 compares SISD and peer district enrollment. Exhibit E-1 SISD and Selected Peer District Enrollments 1996-97 District Enrollment % Economically Disadvantaged El Paso 64,444 67.2 Ysleta 47,366 68.1 United 21,387 70.1 Socorro 21,098 70.4 Southwest 9,219 74.0 Edinburg 19,153 86.2 Laredo 22,987 86.6 Pharr-San Juan-Alamo 20,362 87.0 Source: AEIS. TSPR visited each SISD school, targeting 12 areas of operation: · District organization and management · Educational service delivery and student performance · Community involvement · Personnel management · Facilities use and management · Financial management · Asset and risk management · Purchasing and distribution · Computer technology · Food services · Transportation · Safety and security Acknowledgments The Texas School Performance Review and its consulting firm, Neal & Gibson, wish to thank the Socorro Independent School District Board of Trustees; Superintendent Don Schulte; Ben DeBellis, who acted as district liaison to the review team;and the district employees, students, and community members who provided valuable information and assistance during TSPR's work in the district. In particular, we are grateful to Superintendent Schulte for making district personnel available to the review team; Ben DeBellis for coordinating data requests and providing relevant financial information; and Vicki Icard, Sue Bawcom, and Ernie Salcido who assisted in scheduling and coordinating focus group sessions and other interviews. Socorro ISD SISD is one of Texas' fastest-growing districts, having doubled in size over the last ten years. It is also one of the state's poorest districts, ranking 852 out of 1,037 school districts in property wealth per pupil. Of the nearly 22,000 children currently enrolled, more than 70 percent are considered economically disadvantaged; 89 percent are Hispanic, 9 percent are Anglo, and 2 percent were members of other minorities. Yet in a time when many districts cite large numbers of minority and economically disadvantaged children as a reason for declining student performance, TEA rates two SISD campuses as 'exemplary,' three as 'recognized,' and 15 campuses as acceptable-and no campuses rated 'low- performing.' SISD is one of only a handful of districts that have implemented districtwide year-round education to provide year-round learning for students and to alleviate overcrowding and lessen the need for additional buildings. SISD's fast growth has necessitated a vigorous construction program in recent years; 21 of the district's 23 schools were constructed in 1980 or afterward, and 11 have been built since 1990. During the 1997-98 school year, SISD's 2,800 teachers, administrators, and support workers served nearly 22,000 students in 23 school campuses and three support facilities containing nearly 3 million square feet of floor space on 322 acres of land. The district's annual operating budget is $114 million. Texas School Performance Review: A History of Savings For more than six years, the Texas School Performance Review (TSPR) has helped public school districts across the state ensure that they spend their scarce education dollars in the classroom, where they belong, rather than on red tape, paperwork, and needless bureaucracy. TSPR fields invitations from public school districts of every size and shapeÑlarge or small, rich or poor, rural or urban. The team settles in for months of detailed study at no charge to district taxpayers. TSPRÕs goal is to identify ways to cut costs, reduce administrative overhead, streamline operations, and improve educational servicesÑin short, to help school districts operate more effectively and efficiently within their available resources. Most of the ComptrollerÕs recommendations come directly from teachers, parents, students, and others who live or work in the district. TSPR has found that these hard-working folks often have known for years what would help them improve their schoolsÑif only someone would ask. The Comptroller asks. Since 1991, TSPR has offered nearly 2,600 detailed ways to save taxpayers more than $300 million in 25 public school districts throughout Texas. And TSPR has accomplished this without recommending the firing or laying off of a single classroom teacher. Districts studied by the TSPR team to date include San Antonio, Richland Springs, San Saba, Cherokee, Lubbock, Victoria, West Orange/Cove Consolidated, Lake Travis, Dallas, Austin, Calhoun County, Midland, Paris, San Marcos Consolidated, Brownsville, Longview, San Angelo, Beaumont, Waco, United in Laredo, Tyler, Houston, Texarkana, Spring, and Corpus Christi. A review of the Ysleta district will conclude in the near future, while studies of the Port Arthur, Wimberley, and Hamilton are under way. Reviews of the El Paso and Comal districts are anticipated to begin early in the 1998-99 school year. In addition, TSPR conducts follow-up reviews in districts that have had at least one year to implement their recommendations. These subsequent reviews indicate that 89 percent of TSPRÕs combined proposals have been acted upon, saving local taxpayers more than $80 million during their first years of implementation, with much more in additional savings expected in the following years. TSPRÕs work is not a financial audit in the traditional sense. Its purpose is not to uncover financial wrongdoing or potentially criminal activities. Instead, each review tries to show the participating district how it might accomplish more with its existing budget. Detailed information on any of TSPRÕs previous reviews should call the Texas School Performance Review toll-free. Summary Results In all, the review team found SISD to be a well-run district, particularly in light of its low-wealth status. The review team found many commendable practices that could be replicated by school districts across the state. But charged with finding ways to make a good district better, the team developed 115 recommendations during a five-month review of SISD that ended in March 1998.