EPISD Under Federal Investigation - UPDATE

An audit and official investigation is underway by the U.S. Department of Education against the El Paso Independent School District.

Several high schools are part of the investigation - including Austin, Bowie, Coronado and Franklin.

During our investigation last month, students and school personnel told us that students were being pushed out of school. Texas State Senator Eliot Shapleigh has publicly accused the district of forcing out low performing students who would soon be taking the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills test, also known as the TAKS test.

The number of students in the sophomore class of 2007 initially raised the concern of Senator Shapleigh's office which noted that less than half of the freshmen moved on to become sophomores that school year. The government measures a school's performance based on its sophomores' TAKS test scores.

The U.S. Department of Education is asking the E.P.I.S.D and Superintendent Dr. Lorenzo Garcia for an extensive list of records.

Those include:

An organization chart that identifies the individuals that make business decisions on behalf of high schools.

Written district school policies and procedures for TAKS and a district retention and promotion policy.

Name of individuals for each school district responsible for submitting student-level data to T.E.A.'s public education information management system.

Also on the list:

Funding sources for salaries, bonuses and pay increases for district administrators including, principals, and assistant principals for school years of 2006 though 2009.

Plus, graduation rates for all E.P.I.S.D. high schools for the past 10 years.

 

 

Attachment	Size
DOE Letter.pdf [2]	1.98 MB