Incumbent Paul Guerra wins SISD District 4 race

May 07--Incumbent Paul Guerra will retain his spot as Socorro Independent School District 4 trustee after being voted into office Saturday.

Guerra beat out competitors, David O. Morales, a retired Clint school district principal who now works as a self-employed insurance agent, and Dennis Redd, a firefighter and paramedic with El Paso Fire Department, signaling that voters want more of the same.

Guerra, 49, is a territory manager for Insco Distributing. He has a bachelor's degree in kinesiology from the University of Texas at El Paso. He and his wife, Anne Guerra, a teacher in SISD, have 13-year-old triplets who attend Sanchez Middle School.

The school district has grown rapidly under the watch of Guerra and his six colleagues, surpassing neighboring Ysleta district becoming the second-largest in the county with nearly 46,000 students.

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He will represent District 4, which stretches from the Lower Valley up the East Side near Zaragoza and Tierra Este Road.

All of the candidates in the race agreed that the district is headed in the right direction. And they all said the district needs to promote its offerings to families and expand academic programs to stem the number of students considering a move to the charter network.

Guerra, who has served on the school board since 2010, was the only incumbent facing challengers. Three other incumbents, Cynthia Najera, Angelica Rodriguez and Gary Gandara, will automatically retain their seats after running unopposed.

Student enrollment has boomed in recent years as new homes have popped up on the Far East Side, despite stagnant growth in older pockets of the district, west of Loop 375.

But an influx of charter schools could threaten that student enrollment growth, all three candidates for the District 4 seat said before the election.

One of the largest charter school operators in the country, IDEA Public Schools, is opening two elementary and two secondary campuses within SISD's boundaries next year. Socorro officials estimate the charter campuses, once fully up and running, could cost the district $9.6 million per year in lost student enrollment.

The school district has an annual operating budget of $426 million.

Maria Cortes Gonzalez may be reached at mcortes@elpasotimes.com; 546-6150.

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Get to know the SISD District No. 4 candidates

SOCORRO ISD District 4

Paul Guerra 329 50.08 %

Dennis R. Redd 167 25.42 %

David O. Morales 161 24.51 %

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