The South San Antonio Independent School District’s board of trustees narrowly approved the superintendent’s recommendation to close its second high school Wednesday evening in a 3 to 1 vote.
West Campus High School will close at the end of the school year, five years after trustees reopened it against the recommendation of their superintendent at the time.
Trustees were so against closing it again last year that Superintendent Henry Yzaguirre took West Campus off the agenda in order to approve the closure of three other schools.
At the time, Yzaguirre said South San would run out of money and default on its debts in two years if significant budget cuts weren’t made soon.
But now, faced with the potential of a complete state takeover, three trustees agreed to close the school.
Manuel Lopez and Ernesto Arrellano Jr. were the only board members to vote yes on the closure last year. This year, Cyndi Ramirez joined them. She said she was “quick to put on the brakes on” the vote last year because she didn’t feel like she had enough information to make a decision.
However, Ramirez said she now understands the budget deficit is a serious concern. She blamed former board members for reopening schools in 2019 and creating the financial strain.
“We inherited this situation. All we can do is clean it up or right the wrong. Call it whatever you want to, but numbers don't lie,” Ramirez said. She also accused former trustees of “[pulling] students out of a beautiful state of the art high school and [placing] them in a makeshift building” with fewer programs.
South San has spent millions of dollars to renovate West Campus over the last few years, and district administrators say they don’t have the funds to complete further renovations.
Only two of the four trustees who voted to reopen West Campus in 2019 are still on the board. Homer Flores and Shirley Ibarra were both absent Wednesday.
Abel Martinez Jr. voted against reclosing West Campus, and Joe Ariaz abstained.
However, during discussion Ariaz said trustees needed to show the Texas Education Agency that they did not need to be replaced by state-appointed board of managers.
“We assured TEA that we are a new board that is willing to help and manage South San ISD to the best of our knowledge,” Ariaz said, referring to their agreement to accept a conservator this fall after a TEA investigation found the South San board has overstepped its bounds in recent years.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are trying our best. And whatever we decide tonight is the betterment of the entire district to save South San ISD,” Ariaz said.
South San administrators said the district has a $9.5 million deficit this year amid declining enrollment, and the estimated it costs $4,000 more per student to run West Campus than the district’s primary high school, which has significantly more students.
West Campus will be one of 18 San Antonio public schools closing at the end of the school year, joining 15 San Antonio ISD and two Edgewood ISD schools. Three South San and four Harlandale schools closed last year. All 25 school closures are due to declining enrollment.
