BISD holds meeting to discuss possible bond election

BROWNSVILLE, Texas (ValleyCentral) — The Brownsville Independent School District held a special board meeting Thursday, with one item on the agenda.

The discussion, consideration and possible action to call a bond election in May.

The Brownsville Facilities Commission held a hearing Monday to discuss the bond election option.

Chief Financial Officer Alejandro Cispedes led the presentation and said this bond election was a long time coming.

“We’ve been working on this the last two or three months," he said. "It’s actually been something, a work in process the last year."

Cispedes said the district has done a good job paying down its bonded debt over the past two fiscal years.

For this fiscal year, BISD is carrying about $39.5 million in debt. He said now is the time to call for a bond election because of upcoming tax rate decisions.

“We’ve built what you call debt capacity. If the district was to not call a bond election in May, when we adopt our tax rate for next year, for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, it would drop approximately about 10, 11 cents," Cispedes said.

Brownsville ISD Trustee Carlos Elizondo said there is a lot of concern in the community about the plan.

He said that given the current climate in the district, putting a $450 million bond on taxpayers is not the best way to increase funding.

“We have closed over 6 schools now, right, and enrollment has been down.," Elizondo said. "So I think the school district, or the individuals that are pushing this are maybe rushing this issue a little too fast."

Elizondo said he is also worried about transparency. He and other BISD trustees have been calling for a financial audit surrounding the use of funds following a Tax Ratification Election held years ago.

During the last school board meeting, trustees were able to garner the votes to order an audit of those earlier expenditures.

“What are we going to use that money for? A lot of it has been said that we’re going to use it for roofs and air conditioning," Elizondo said. "We used T-R-E money for that too. And that information still has not been brought to us. Where did all that money go? Where is all this money that we’re asking for, where is it going to go?"

During Monday's meeting, facilities commission members questioned Cispedes about what items to include on the list of priorities, should the school board want to proceed with a bond election.

He reported that what his office is asking for would not cover all the issues the district needs to address.

“The pricing that we’ve gotten, which is half of the list, already puts us at about $667 million," Cispedes said. "So yes, it's 100 % true that this proposition, or this recommendation, would address a lot of the needs that we have. But not every need that we have.”

Elizondo said another reason he opposes moving forward with a bond issuance is the absence of the Superintendent.

Superintendent Jesus Chavez has been on medical leave and Cispedes has been handling the day-to-day operations for the district in his absence.

If the school board wants to get the bond election on the ballot in time for the May elections, it is now or never.

The filing deadline to hold an election in Cameron County is Friday, Feb. 14.

Update from Thursday night's meeting:

After heated discussion and input from residents, the measure failed on a 3 -3 vote.

Trustees Elizondo, Ortiz and Pena voted against the measure. Trustees Lopez Valdez, Garza and Gonzalez voted in favor.