By Omar Zapata and Dina Arévalo | Staff Writers

McALLEN — City officials and community members were blindsided by the McAllen ISD school board voting 4 to 2 to engage in a discussion to uncommit a portion or the total amount of $4 million previously allotted for projects at Quinta Mazatlan and IMAS.

At a meeting Monday night, an agenda item sought to uncommit funds for projects at Quinta Mazatlan and IMAS and approve the transfer of said projects to the district’s general funds for the purpose of funding projects aligned with McAllen ISD’s strategic plan, goals and strategies.

The item that sparked conversations about the financial situation the district is in received community pushback with public comments and board feedback.

McAllen ISD Superintendent Rene Gutierrez said McAllen ISD and many school districts in Texas are in a difficult situation currently with funding.

“We’re just trying to see if we could get some relief wherever we can moving forward and if there’s a possibility that perhaps if we talked to Quinta and IMAS and that there might be a little bit of a relief,” Gutierrez said. “But the only way we’re going to know is when we sit at the table that can have that discussion”

Trustee Sam Saldivar said via Zoom during the meeting that the board needs a formal position and motioned to move that the McAllen school board direct the superintendent to enter into discussion with contract parties to uncommit the funds in whole or in part.

The district previously committed $3,040,830.42 to Quinta Mazatlan and $1,313,999 to IMAS for a total of $4,354,829.

Trustee Lucia Regalado seconded the motion.

The motion passed 4 to 2 with trustees Saldivar, Regalado, Sofia Peña and Aaron Rivera voting for it and board president Debbie Crane Aliseda and trustee Elizabeth Kittleman voting against it. Trustee Erica De La Garza was not in attendance to vote.

Regalado said she seconded the motion in hopes that the superintendent and the contract partners can get a better understanding of where the district is at financially and give all parties a chance to sit down and discuss what can be done.

“That’s the spirit of the second that I did,” she said. “It contemplated a discussion of coming to the table with community partners and saying ‘Here, look, this is where we’re at. Are there options? Let’s brainstorm.’ Is there some way that we can help us get past this difficult juncture that we’re at, and if there’s not been, as the motion states … it’ll come back to the board for further directions.”

Peña said with her cellphone and email blowing up with concerned residents over the agenda item, that she wanted to clarify they are just approving to start discussions at this point.

She added that the board will also look at internal projects to see what can be done over the district’s financial situation.

“But at this point, it is our responsibility on this board to be fiscally responsible, and to make sure that our budget is in a good place,” Peña said.

Aliseda said before voting no to the motion that she would like to see in the discussion between the superintendent and the contract partners the possibility of keeping the same amount but extending the amount of time having to pay the $4 million.

“Instead of having to pay it out in a year, we can pay it out in the next two, three, four, five years,” she said. “I would like to see that be part of the discussion. We fulfill our commitment but we change the time constraints.”

Kittleman asked the district staff attorney, John Ball, what the legal consequences of going back on the commitment could be and Ball said there is a laundry list of hypotheticals depending on variables.

“The consequences are anything from we stay in the contract and we are completely obligated, to we will become obligated for paying the contract plus attorney fees and such on top of it,” he said.

With all board trustees mentioning the value of partnerships and relationships with the city of McAllen and other partners, Kittleman said during the meeting this is a short-term fix that will have a negative domino effect on the city of our partners.

City officials were caught off guard at the news that MISD might rescind its $4 million commitment to the $52 million expansion of Quinta Mazatlán.

Speaking after a McAllen City Council meeting, which also took place on Monday evening, City Manager Roel “Roy” Rodriguez said he first learned of the school district’s proposal over the weekend.

“I was unhappy,” Rodriguez said when asked what his immediate reaction had been.

No one from the district had reached out to the city prior to the agenda’s posting and Rodriguez intimated that his own attempts to contact someone there have since gone unanswered.

“As far as we can tell, the school board is considering the funding that they’ve committed to the city of McAllen. Honestly, we don’t know exactly what that means,” Rodriguez said.

“We have been unable to get a clear communication on that,” he added.

If the district does ultimately move forward with decommitting the funds, Rodriguez fears the decision could irreparably erode relationships that have taken years to cultivate.

“It’s something that the city commission — and me, personally — has worked on very hard for the last 10 years is to enhance that relationship,” the city manager said.

“Pulling that funding would be detrimental not only to the project, but to this long-lasting relationship that we have,” he added a moment later.

McAllen has recently partnered with the district on parking lot and lighting improvement projects, as well as the construction of a new press box at McAllen Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The city and school district have worked together on so many joint projects because they serve the same constituents, Rodriguez said.

He hopes the district can find a solution that doesn’t involve pulling its funding, and added that the city could be amenable to working out some form of “payment plan.”

But, again, Rodriguez emphasized that though losing the funding could set back the Quinta Mazatlán expansion, the district’s decision would mean larger ramifications on those carefully cultivated relationships.

“I think what’s more important is what we lose in our relationship. That’s what worries me because these relationships take years and years and years to establish because they’re relationships of trust,” Rodriguez said.

“Everything that we do in and out of this building is about trust.”