Following the controversial vote by the El Paso Independent School District to approve financial exigency, a pair of board members have tendered their resignations.
District 7 trustee Daniel Call and District 6 trustee Valeri Beals have both stepped down from the EPISD Board of Trustees, citing different reasons for their decisions. Both Beals and Call resigned on Friday, June 5, a day after the financial exigency vote passed 5-1, with Call being the only dissenting vote and Beals absent from the meeting.
The district moved to cut the percentage of its budget spent on salaries from 89% to 80% amid a budget crunch exacerbated by changes in state funding and declining enrollment.
In a statement explaining his decision, Call said:
“I have decided to resign from the El Paso ISD Board of Trustees. Seven years ago, the people of my district entrusted me with this office by electing me with 78% of the vote. Since then, I have given this position everything I had. I invested my time, energy, and best judgment into serving the students, families, employees, and taxpayers of El Paso ISD. That has come at the expense of time with my beautiful wife, my five children, and my livelihood. No trustee gets every decision right, and I certainly haven’t. But I leave with a clear conscience, knowing I always tried to do what I believed was best for the district. While I respectfully and strongly disagree with the direction this board has chosen for EPISD, I stood when it would have been easier to sit, and I spoke when it would have been easier to remain silent. Serving on this board has been an honor. I leave grateful for the trust placed in me and confident that, in the end, truth, accountability, and good governance will eventually prevail.”
During the Thursday, June 4 EPISD meeting where financial exigency was approved, Call made a motion that failed to postpone the vote so that MoakCasey, an Austin-based public school consulting firm the district hired to conduct an audit this month, could review the best way to apply budget constraints to the district. That motion failed.
The $52.8 million shortfall in the EPISD budget was from last year’s cycle, February through June 2025. The current drop-off for next year’s budget is $42 million.
Beals cited more personal reasons for stepping down.
She said she needs to spend more time with family, including helping her mother-in-law, who has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
“It’s bittersweet. The board has some hard decisions to make and are making them. That was the reason for my absence yesterday,” Beals said.
The board now has options for filling the two vacancies, including holding a special election or appointing trustees to represent the two districts until 2027, when the next election is scheduled.
Kristian Jaime is the Top Story Reporter for the El Paso Times and is reachable at Kjaime@elpasotimes.com.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: 2 EPISD board members resign after financial exigency vote
Reporting by Kristian Jaime, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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By Kristian Jaime, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
