LIVE OAK, Texas – A spirited discussion and new economic figures prompted the majority of the Judson Independent School District’s school board to table a vote on whether to eliminate the Spanish Immersion Program at one of its elementary schools.
Four of the seven board trustees voted in favor of postponing action during the district’s school board meeting on Thursday night.
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The program that is potentially on the cutting block is based at Wortham Oaks Elementary School.
The district is in the midst of its plan to deal with a multimillion-dollar budget crisis.
During Thursday’s meeting, school board president Monica Ryan alleged that new, unspecified cuts worth “tens of millions” were added within the last 24 hours.
“We’re talking abouts tens of millions (of dollars) of cuts were added 22 hours before this meeting convened today,” Ryan said. “And I just don’t think it’s reasonable to expect us to have time to even review. Honestly, I haven’t even read the new version of it. I had commitments all day today.”
Fellow board trustee Suzanne Kenoyer was among the three trustees who voted in favor of looking at the measure during the meeting.
“I think we’ve got to get moving on this. Ms. (Monica) Ryan, you’re the one who’s been saying, over and over again, ‘We’ve got to make these decisions. We’ve got to make these decisions,’” Kenoyer said. “And now you’re not ready to talk about decisions. That’s not OK with me. We need to move forward on this. Our employees need to know. Our constituents need to know. It’s important to move forward.”
In December 2024, KSAT spoke with Kenoyer about the budget and the future of Wortham Oaks Elementary’s Spanish Immersion Program.
“Next year, we would not have a first-grade class, and those first graders would matriculate up to second grade … and once they finished fifth grade, then the program would be gone completely,” Kenoyer said on Dec. 13, 2024.
On Dec. 12, 2025, nearly one year later, the district told KSAT in an email that it is also looking to cut or restructure the dual language program, the gifted and talented program and library services.
“The district is actively developing a plan to reduce the budget deficit by carefully evaluating all programs, position reductions, and the possibility of school consolidations,” a Judson ISD spokesperson said at the time.
The spokesperson also said no final decisions have been made about any of the programs.
The district’s next regular board meeting is scheduled for the third Thursday of each month, which in this case, would be Jan. 15, 2026.
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