Former Harlingen super blames retiring finance boss for fund balance drop

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HARLINGEN — As officials cut millions working to build back their cash reserves, the school district’s accounting director is overseeing finances following Assistant Superintendent Ramon Mendoza’s decision to retire.

While officials argue former Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez’s administration pulled $23.2 million from the district’s fund balance without the school board’s knowledge, Gonzalez claims he didn’t know Mendoza was withdrawing the money.

The district’s fund balance currently stands at about $19.8 million.

Mendoza, the district’s assistant superintendent for business services, was retiring Friday, interim Superintendent Veronica Kortan said.

Now, Ida Ambriz, the district’s accounting director, is supervising the department as officials work to slash millions in expenditures.

Mendoza’s decision to retire comes more than three months after he rescinded his resignation following officials’ concerns stemming from Gonzalez’s administration’s use of $23.2 million in fund balance to cover unbudgeted expenses.

After Mendoza suddenly resigned, he returned to the district after officials requested he rescind his resignation.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez says school board President Greg Powers directed him to request Mendoza rescind his resignation “as the optics could negatively impact the district,” he said Thursday in a statement.

Since Wednesday, Mendoza has not responded to a request for comment on his decision to retire.

The Valley Morning Star is requesting under the Texas Public Information Act the district release Mendoza’s resignation letter.

As assistant superintendent for business services, Mendoza was overseeing the district’s finances as Gonzalez’s administration was pulling $23.2 million from cash reserves to cover expenses outside the district’s budget.

On Aug. 26, Mendoza texted Gonzalez, showing the district’s fund balance was standing at $22 million, down from the $38 million which he had been reporting, Gonzalez said Thursday.

“Sir …. My fault. And nobody else,” Mendoza is quoted as stating in text message screenshots Gonzalez provided to the Valley Morning Star.

“In text, he is making reference to taking money from the fund balance and running it through a consent agenda without the board nor my knowledge, saying it was his fault,” Gonzalez said, referring to items placed on the school board’s consent agenda for board members’ consideration.

For years, Mendoza served as a top district finance official, working as interim chief financial officer before taking the title of assistant superintendent for business services.

From 2003 to March 2018, he served as the La Feria school district’s chief financial officer.

Until August, board members didn’t know the administration was dipping into millions of dollars in cash reserves, overspending the budget.

By June, they were passing a $215.3 million budget.

Then around August, board members found out Gonzalez’s administration had pulled $23.2 million from the fund balance to cover unbudgeted expenses.

“After this matter was discovered by the board, we did our due diligence and we found out there would be certain instances in meetings that Dr. Gonzalez would direct numerous expenditures,” Powers said in an interview.

”He would ask (Mendoza), ‘Do we have the money?’ and (Mendoza) would say, ‘No,’ and the superintendent would say, ‘Go find it.’ This has been confirmed to us by more than one person who was at those meetings,” he said.

”We were not told and did not know that these expenditures exceeded our approved budget, so there was a clear lack of communication by the superintendent,” Powers said. “It was his responsibility, and his responsibility alone, to report significant issues to the board, such as expenditures that exceed our budget and the affect that would have on our fund balance.”

For 22 years in a row, the school district had earned the Texas Education Agency’s prestigious Financial Integrity System of Texas’ FIRST rating, a superior “A” rating, for its financial management, Kortan said.

Last month, the certified public accounting firm of Carr, Riggs and Ingram gave the district a clean audit for the 2023-2024 school year.

“A clean audit means that all the money is accounted for,” Kortan said.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez claims he didn’t know Mendoza was withdrawing money from the district’s fund balance, adding cash reserves dropped from $38 million to $22 million.

“The situation in Harlingen stemmed from actions taken by Ramon Mendoza, the assistant Superintendent for business operations, who withdrew funds from the district’s fund balance to cover general operating costs without my knowledge,” Gonzalez said in a statement.

“These transactions were approved by the HCISD board through the consent agenda, although the board was unaware that these funds were being used in this manner,” he said. “This practice, I later learned, had been in place even before my arrival at HCISD.”

Since taking office in September 2023, he and Mendoza met weekly to review finances, Gonzalez said.

“Throughout my tenure, I held weekly meetings with Ramon Mendoza and the senior leadership team, during which Mr. Mendoza consistently assured me that the district maintained the 2.5 months’ worth of operating expenses in fund balance recommended by the Texas Education Agency, which he claimed amounted to $38 million,” he said. “I trusted his assurances, which was a mistake, and I own up to that.”

Gonzalez said Mendoza “confessed” that he withdrew money from the fund balance after an Aug. 26 Finance and Planning Committee meeting.

“Following the meeting, I asked Mr. Mendoza to provide the exact fund balance total,” Gonzalez said in his statement.

“Later that evening, while I was with Veronica Kortan, Mr. Mendoza confessed to both of us that the fund balance situation was his responsibility and indicated that he intended to resign immediately,” he said.

Kortan declined comment, Marcy Martinez, the district’s spokeswoman, said.

By late August, board members had set up the new Finance and Planning Committee to review the district’s expenses.

Days later, Gonzalez, who had taken office a year before after serving as McAllen’s superintendent since 2016, suddenly resigned with two years left on his contract, five months after board members gave him a one-year contract extension along with a $10,000 pay increase, bumping his salary to $310,000.

After naming Kortan to serve as interim superintendent, officials began developing the district’s new fiscal plan.

Now, officials are working to build up the district’s fund balance, planning to cut millions of dollars in expenditures.

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