Former superintendent, incumbent, ex-trustee win seats on Canutillo ISD board

Former Canutillo ISD Superintendent Pedro Galaviz, incumbent Cindy Andrade Carrillo and former Trustee Blanca Trout won full-term seats on the Canutillo Independent School District Board of Trustees on Tuesday.

Retired Canutillo ISD employee Patsy Mendoza, 70, won the seat for an unexpired term, taking 96% of the votes over write-in candidate Brandi Stevenson.

Nine candidates sought four of seven at-large seats on the board – unpaid, nonpartisan positions elected at-large to represent all of the district’s roughly 5,600 students. 

The board adopts an annual budget, sets a tax rate and establishes district policies. Trustees also hire, evaluate and can fire the superintendent. The district’s current budget is about $65.7 million. Among the tasks the board will face in the coming years is overseeing the $387 million worth of bond projects approved by voters in 2024 and raising the district’s academic performance from a C rating in the state’s accountability rating system.

Galaviz, 59, received 21% of the votes. He served as the district’s superintendent for about 13 years before retiring in December 2025 due to what he called the “political climate around education and the management of the school board.”

“We give (students) opportunities, that’s our job as superintendent,” Galaviz told El Paso Matters on Tuesday night. “Now, as a (part of the) school board, (our job) is setting the direction and making sure that our kids are competitive.”

He said during his tenure as superintendent, the district was considered “one of the best small school districts in Texas.”

Canutillo ISD’s Texas Education Agency’s A-F Accountability rating system dropped from a 80 (B) in 2024 to a 78 (C) in 2025. 

“Now, we sit at a C district, both financially and academically, and that leads with the board,” said Galaviz, who was superintendent in 2025 when the rating dropped.

Canutillo ISD’s current superintendent, Josue Borrego, was hired in January. 

To improve this rating, Galaviz said he’d like to “lead with data,” such as analyzing graduation rates and where resources are allocated.

“If you look at the board’s agenda for last year, besides the stuff that you have to do, like the (Texas Academic Performance Reports) report … they don’t talk about kids anymore,” he said.

Andrade Carrillo, 44, a restaurant manager and incumbent CISD trustee first elected in 2022, received 17% of the votes. She said her priorities, as always, are district students and that her top goal is to improve the district’s rating from a C to an A.

She owes about $13,000 in property taxes, although the Texas Secretary of State guidelines do not disqualify candidates for having delinquent property taxes.

Trout, 64, received about 16% of the votes. She was first elected to the board in 2016 and served through 2024. 

She said she’d like to focus on reviewing policies for special education students and those with mental health needs. Serving on the National Alliance of Mental Illness for about 14 years, she said she brings “knowledge and experience with mental health certifications” to the district. 

Trout would also like to ensure that Canutillo ISD teachers are “well-served” by asking then what they need, reviewing policies that impact them and analyzing their pay in comparison to other school districts. She said she’d like to see Canutillo raise teacher salaries to match other districts if possible.

“To give the students a voice, I would like to see more kids in our school board meetings, and I want to see kids, from kindergarten, elementary and middle school to come to talk to us in the board meetings and tell us what their needs are,” Trout said.

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