SAN BENITO — The school board’s new majority is holding off a push to restore some of Superintendent Nate Carman’s spending power.
Earlier this week, board members rejected a proposal to lift Carman’s new $25,000 spending cap to $50,000 during emergencies.
The vote comes six months after the four-member majority slashed his spending power from $50,000 to $25,000, giving trustees the authority to approve purchases over $25,000 during board meetings.
“I understand being proactive,” board President Ramiro Moreno said during Tuesday’s meeting, adding board members could call meetings to approve emergency purchases over $25,000.
“In case of a catastrophe, in case of imminent danger, those are the cases in which we can legally call a board meeting,” he said.
On Wednesday, board member Orlando Lopez argued trustees might not have time to call a meeting during an emergency.
“It’s important to give the superintendent the authority to do his job during emergency crises that could definitely affect the staff and kids,” he said. “It puts the district in a very vulnerable situation. It could compromise the safety of our staff and our kids.”
Like Lopez, board member Ariel Cruz said trustees were “micromanaging” the district operations.
“The new majority is taking too much power from the superintendent and micromanaging the situation,” she said. “What if there’s an emergency — a building break-down or a bus breaks down — something that needs to be done right away when a meeting can’t be called?”
Meanwhile, the board’s decision to cap Carman’s spending power has led to longer meetings during which the district pays school attorney Steven Weller $250 an hour to serve as legal counsel.
“It’s an incurred cost to the taxpayers,” Lopez said. “He participates in every single board meeting and committee meeting. It’s almost every week.”
‘Commitment to accountability’
However, board member Janie Lopez stressed the board’s majority’s “commitment to our community to work to promote accountability related to district spending.”
“The health, safety and well-being of our students and employees are at the top of the district’s list of priorities,” she stated.
“As a board member, I would consider adjustments to the district’s emergency contracting policy to allow the superintendent to make purchases over $25,000 consistent with Texas law to address truly unexpected situations that develop and which, from a timing standpoint, need to occur before a called board meeting. However, the SBCISD board has made a commitment to our community to work to promote accountability related to district spending.”
In May, the board’s majority slashed Carman’s spending power from $50,000 to $25,000 to give board members more control over spending.
“Earlier this year, the board determined that purchases over $25,000 had to be approved by the board,” Janie Lopez stated, adding, “a number of other districts in the Rio Grande Valley have taken similar measures to increase oversight.”
“If we were to consider a policy adjustment for emergency matters, I believe that appropriate checks and balances should exist. Before the district expends funds, it seems reasonable to allow the board president to have an opportunity to generally understand the nature of the proposed purchase and evaluate, in conjunction with the superintendent, whether a properly noticed board meeting could occur in time to consider the matter.”
On Wednesday, Carman argued the spending cap bogs down purchases.
“In general, operating with a lower spending cap lessens the efficiency of the purchasing process and larger purchases are often delayed while awaiting board approval,” he stated. “Not only have additional special board meetings been scheduled to consider purchases over the $25,000 threshold, the lower spending cap has resulted in the creation of more open (pending) purchase orders for year-long purchases from the same vendor. However, we can and will most definitely continue to adhere to and operate by board policy.”
At the time the board cut his spending power to $25,000, Carman said most of the area’s 6-A school districts including Harlingen, Brownsville, Los Fresnos and Donna cap their superintendents’ purchasing power at $50,000 to streamline the purchasing process.
Proposed policy revision
As part of the proposal to lift Carman’s spending power to address purchases during emergencies, Weller recommended a revision to the district’s policy “in the event of an unexpected breakdown of school facilities or equipment that poses a threat to the health or safety of district employees or students … provided that the replacement, construction or repair of school equipment or facilities is immediately necessary to protect the health and safety of those persons and needs to occur before a special board meeting could be called or before the next special/regular meeting would occur.”
“Prior to entering into an emergency contract, the superintendent shall confer with the board president to inform him of the nature of the contract and to determine if the board could be available for a properly noticed meeting within a timeframe that would sufficiently address the health and safety concerns,” the proposed policy states.
Board takes on hiring power
A month after slashing Carman’s spending power in May, the board’s majority cut into his hiring authority.
Now, the revised policy gives board members the authority to finalize the hiring of contractual and non contractual employees.
Before the revision, the policy gave Carman the authority to finalize the hiring of non contractual employees.
“They don’t give the superintendent the authority to hire on the spot,” Orlando Lopez said. “It delays the (hiring) process a week or two for employment. We’ve lost (prospective employees) because they’re waiting. Every administrator has to attend all the board meetings just in case the school board has any questions of them hiring hourly or professional people.”
