On Monday, August 21st, 2023, El Paso County Commissioners approved the expenditure of the $2.8 million dollar Cotton Valley Connect project. This has been in the pipeline since the onset of the pandemic when gaps in access and connectivity to the internet were identified.  

Congresswoman Veronica Escobar secured the monies in July 2021 to fund the project by Digital El Paso.  This is intended to provide reliable access to public broadband via a wireless mesh service.  This will benefit over 3,000 students in Tornillo and Fabens.  This follows a successful pilot led by Canutillo ISD during the pandemic.

Martin Torres (Interim Superintendent for Fabens ISD) and Rosy Vega-Barrio (Superintendent for Tornillo ISD) will continue to work collaboratively in a bid to realize this long-awaited project.  

Michael Perez, Technology and Security Director, stated he is very excited to see this project come to fruition, having worked on it arduously since its inception.