Enrollment forcing cutbacks

RAYMONDVILLE - Declining enrollment will force the Raymondville school district to scale back on staff, officials said.

The district also will lose more than $1 million in state funding because officials overprojected enrollment figures and other funding sources, said Lorenzo Sanchez, the district's chief financial officer.

Officials won't lay off staff, school board President John Solis said, but they won't replace some retiring personnel.

"As long as (enrollment) keeps declining, we can't afford to pay for all the staff we have," Solis said.

Last week, Superintendent Johnny Piñeda tried to quell teachers' layoff fears.

"The district will review staffing requirements and, when feasible and through attrition, take the necessary initiative to balance the budget," Piñeda wrote in a memo to district staff.

In recent years, the district has lost about 3 percent of its enrollment every year, Sanchez said. For the 1994-95 school year, the district's enrollment stood at 2,928; by 2003-04, enrollment had dropped to 2,512. It is now at 2,200 students.

With a staff of about 400, the district employs a higher percentage of teachers than most school districts, Solis said. Its 15-1 ratio of students to teachers compares with the state average of 21 students for every teacher, he said.

"We're maintaining the same staff but we have a lot less kids," Solis said. "As long as enrollment is declining, we've got to do what we've got to do."

The district will lose as much as $1.2 million in state funding next year because district officials overprojected enrollment numbers and property values, Sanchez said.

Enrollment projections were off by about 3 percent, or about 60 students, he said.

Of the district's $20 million budget, state funding supplies $15 million, Sanchez said.

For years, the district has struggled to curb dropping enrollment, but lack of job opportunities has resulted in some residents moving to take jobs out of town, Solis said.

Neighboring school districts like Lyford, San Perlita and Lasara also attract some students, Sanchez said. This year, some students transferred to the Lasara school district after it opened a ninth-grade campus, Sanchez said. He said he didn't have an estimate on the number of students who transferred.

Next year, officials expect to lose more students when Lasara begins a 10th-grade class, Sanchez said.

The district also lost money this year when its appraised property values dropped, he said. The appraised value of minerals such as oil and gas dropped by about $20 million.

In 2007, the district's appraised property value stood at $345 million, said Donna Hoot, Willacy County's assistant chief appraiser.