The South Texas Independent School District superintendent is pushing against legislative change for removal of the districtโs taxing authority to continue providing its education opportunities.
During the Feb. 20 Edinburg City Council meeting, STISD Superintendent Marco Antonio Lara provided a presentation to counter โmisperceptionsโ about the district.
โWe really appreciate a few moments โฆ this evening just to share a little bit of the story of South Texas ISD and, hopefully, clear some misperceptions that are happening in our communities,โ Lara said.
At the last council meeting on Feb. 7, Edinburg Consolidated Independent School District Superintendent Mario Salinas talked about STISD and taxing concerns. Salinas said that STISD is an โeliteโ district and that, compared to other districts, it did not serve as many economically disadvantaged students.
In a Feb. 20 interview with The Rider, Lara said nobody should use the word โeliteโ when talking about education.
โWeโre a school of opportunity,โ he said. โSo, if we offer a program โฆ thatโs going to benefit any student, we welcome any stream [of students].โ
The STISD tax base is less than a nickel per $100 valuation. The tax is used for the districtโs operations throughout Hidalgo, Cameron and Willacy counties and helps maintain, renovate and construct facilities.
โItโs really not duplication [of taxes],โ Lara said. โWe do not get the [interest and sinking] taxes, which is collected by the district from the residents to help pay for the bond indebtedness. So we donโt get an extra tax to pay for facilities. The [other] districts do. The [other] districts get state funding to help them through [Instructional Facilities Allotment] and [Existing Debt Allotment].โ
Lara said eliminating STISDโs taxing authority would cause the district to lose 45% of its funding. He also said the district employs 675 people and serves 4,300 students.
โTrying to eliminate our tax base would certainly devastate the district,โ Lara said. โBut whatโs the point to it? Nobodyโs going to get that four cents. If it goes away, it doesnโt come back to any other district.โ
School districts obtain two types of property tax revenues, maintenance and operations tax, used for anything, including salaries and interest and sinking. When districts construct buildings through bonds, interest and sinking comes into play. Lara said since STISD does not obtain this, the district has to resort to saving money or finding a way to finance.
In a Feb. 15 interview with The Rider, Amanda Odom, STISD administrator for Public Relations & Marketing, said because of the way the district and its taxing authority is set up, it does not include those additional revenue sources.
In other business, the Edinburg City Council rejected a resolution of support and commitment of development funding to the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for the Affordable Housing 2023 Competitive 9% Housing Tax Credits for the proposed Sprague Villas, a multi-family development consisting of 80 units to provide affordable rental housing to low-income families.
The apartments would have been located on Sprague Road near McColl Road. The project would have cost $24,500,000 and, if supported, the City of Edinburg would contribute $1,500 in permit fee waivers.
Several Edinburg residents expressed their opinion on the proposed development. Jessica Porras said she was representing 100 residents and that they were not opposed to the apartments but the amount of traffic that a new development would create.
โThe city planning should have considered how many apartments that are available to that area and maybe try to restructure something better,โ Porras said.
The apartments would have included a playground, dog park, barbecue and picnic areas for residents, according to the agenda packet. The property would also have a pool, deck and a splash pad along the 3,600-square-foot clubhouse common area.
The community center would have included a fitness center, business technology center with computers and Wi-Fi internet access, library, card or gaming rooms and a community room.
