With the Ector County ISD Board of Trustees election on Saturday, Superintendent Scott Muri urged everyone to go out and vote.
Donna Smith, Position 3, and Dennis Jones, Position 7, are up for re-election. Smith will face Wayne Woodall, son of former school board member Doyle Woodall, and Jones will go against pastor Bob Thayer and John Dietz Rabenaldt.
Doyle Woodall resigned from the board in 2020 following a controversy over social media posts.
“We’ll be making important decisions in relation to the school board, the seven individuals that serve this community so well. Several of … those positions are up for election, so we encourage you to exercise your right to vote on Saturday,” Muri said.
If people need more information, they can visit the Ector County Elections Office website at tinyurl.com/mwbncyyz.
You can see who is on the ballot as well as polling places and hours of operation.
On a separate item, Muri said on May 1 ECISD and other districts across the state of Texas recognized that their financial situation is “potentially in peril.”
At a news conference at the administration building, Muri was joined by Big Spring ISD Superintendent Jay McWilliams and Secondary Teacher of the Year Melisa Valenzuela.
“We also recognized that the state of Texas has an unprecedented opportunity to invest in public education. Our local economist Dr. Ray Perryman talks about investing in our children. For every $1 we invest in public education, the yield on that is $56.76. There is no greater investment that we can make with our dollars than the investment in the education of our children … That will continue to ensure the financial success of the community in which we live and our state, so we are reminding our state legislature of the importance of investing in public education across our state,” Muri said.
“Both members of the House and Senate, again, have an unprecedented opportunity with a $32 billion surplus to take this moment and invest deeply and profoundly in public education like we’ve never been able to do before in the state of Texas. So anything that we can do — moms and dads, staff members, community members I encourage you to contact your legislators and help them understand how important this opportunity is, this moment in time, that we make significant investments in the education of our children,” he added.
Asked about possible passage of a voucher program and education savings accounts, Muri said as a public school system they are not supportive of that idea as it takes “public school dollars and moves them into the private sector.”
“I think it’s important for everyone to understand there is certainly a lot of conversation about vouchers and ESAs in the state of Texas. I would encourage anyone that has questions about the issue to ensure that you are fully understanding of the facts of the situation and just make a smart and informed decision,” Muri said. “Right now there really isn’t a public decision. It’s more a decision that’s in the hands of our state legislators, both on the Senate side and the House side. But from a school system perspective, we support investing in public education.”
“Our opportunity as a public school system is to serve to the very best of our ability the students that live within this community, so we would encourage all of our families and business leaders and members of this community to lend their full support toward the school system that serves and meets the needs of the children of this community,” he said.
Anytime the district loses students it creates a decrease. “The money does follow the child and so when kids enter ECISD we do receive the funding for those students and when students leave ECISD we lose the money for those students, so that scenario happens …,” Muri said.
He added that there are minimal requirements for home schooling.
“Home schooling laws in the state of Texas are not very rigid. There are minimal standards that a home school environment must adhere to in order to provide that type of learning for children. We do have some really great families that home school their children and do an exceptional job of that. I’m not a superintendent that is opposed to home schooling, but it must be done right and well. Anyone that is considering that option just needs to fully understand the opportunities and the limitations in that particular environment. But that’s the same thing with any school choice.”
He added that home schooling is not inexpensive when you think about opportunities like art, athletics, academics, and science experience, a lot of money would have to be invested to ensure the child has high-quality academic experiences.
“The older children get, the more expensive that certainly becomes, and so at the end of the day, public school is a great value for what families get considering what they provide from a financial perspective,” Muri said.
Asked about whether departments in the administration building could be consolidated to save money, Muri said every organization should constantly evolve as society, needs and the needs of students change.
“We must always be reflective of an organization when we think about the way that we put together our teams. When we started this work in 2019, we reorganized, if you will, our school system because we were not meeting the needs of our students effectively. Today, we’ve changed a lot and the evidence of our success indicates that our current organizational structure is working for our children and our families. But that doesn’t mean that it will always do that. I think, again, part of a healthy organization is to constantly evolve to make sure that we are effectively meeting the needs of the students we are really obligated to serve. I hope that we’ll continue to change,” Muri said.
Muri will be presenting to the Ector County Republican Women soon.
“I also have to advocate for the kids that we serve. Our children deserve investment; our children do not deserve the status quo; our children do not deserve just average, our children deserve excellence. That’s our opportunity as a community is to demonstrate to our students in a variety of ways how important they are, and again, one way that we do that is investing financially in the growth and the opportunities that we provide for kids. (We) always want to share the good stories with our community, but at the same time telling them the truth about the needs that we have organizationally,” he added.
