CORPUS CHRISTI, TX — The Corpus Christi Independent School District discussed ideas designed to save money and increase enrollment at a budget workshop Monday.
Superintendent Roland Hernandez says the district has lost around 4,700 students and the corresponding $29 million to $30 million in state funding over the past several years.
“In the workshop today, we talked about what are some things that we could look at that would help save us dollars down the road," he said.
When it comes to increasing enrollment, Hernandez suggested making efforts to make the school district stand out in the minds of local students.
“We’re very fortunate that we’re able because of our size as a district to offer many new programs that you might not find in smaller districts,” he said.
The school board didn't vote on that proposal or others that would attempt to save money.
They include consolidating more schools and having a single assistant principal oversee two schools that have low enrollments instead of just one.
Those ideas didn't sit well with two local parents.
“I wouldn’t want that for my child," mother Ashley Behrens said. "I just feel like that’s taking away from the students."
“I wouldn’t want that for a principal," father Kevin Paschal said. "That’s a lot of stress on one person. Two schools — that’s a lot of kids.”
If and when the school board approves these kind of changes, they won't go into effect until the 2023-2024 school year.
Hernandez expressed some optimism that CCISD will fully rebound from the setbacks of the past couple of years.
“I feel that we will get more students back," he said. "We started to see that this year. But the pandemic really hit districts pretty hard."
