Harlingen school board president not running for reelection

Greg Powers (Courtesy: Harlingen CISD)

HARLINGEN — After 15 years on the school board, President Greg Powers won’t be running for a sixth term in the May 3 election amid one of the district’s most turbulent years.

On the board’s Place 7 seat, trustee Eladio Jaimez has filed to run for a fourth term.

Meanwhile, Rebekah Herrmann Batot, a hospital administrator, has filed for the Place 3 position.

Powers, an attorney who’s held the board’s Place 3 seat since 2010, said he’s been thinking about stepping down since the start of the school year, describing his decision as “bittersweet.”

“After 15 amazing years of being a part of the HCISD family — and after much thought, and I can tell you, a lot of thought, consideration, especially after tonight — I’ve decided not to run again for the upcoming school board election,” he said during a Jan. 14 meeting

“I ran for this board in 2010 to make a difference and to give back to this district, a district that had a very positive impact on me, my decisions in life and my family,” Powers said, adding he, his children and parents went to school here.

“It’s been an incredible honor to serve this community, and I’m truly grateful for the trust and the support that the community has given me during my term on the board,” he said.

Powers described the school board, which the Texas Association of School Administrators named board of the year in 2019, as “the strongest school board in the state of Texas.”

“Every member that sits up here tonight has a very deep concern for the students of this district and this community,” Powers said.

“There’s a deep commitment. There’s no personal agenda, there are no personal goals,” he said. “There’s a genuine love for the students of our community, and they devote an enormous amount of time and effort to make sure HCISD achieves the very best that it can, as has been demonstrated by our accomplishments — and I am confident that this district will continue to thrive and succeed in the future.”

On the board, trustee Bobby Muniz described Powers as a mentor who’s served as a “sounding board to all of us” through the “sweat, the tears, the challenges.”

“Nobody will ever know how much effort you put into this board, to our district,” he told Powers. “Thank you for being you, for what you’ve given to us.”

Veronica Kortan, the district’s interim superintendent who’s worked with Powers through much her career, described him as a leader.

“You love doing great things for people,” she told him. “You have a heart bigger than Texas.”

After winning the board’s Place 7 seat in 2016, Jaimez, a provost at Texas State Technical College, is serving as the board’s secretary.

Eladio Jaimez

“It’s been an honor and a privilege to serve our amazing HCISD and greater Harlingen community and its residents, especially the teachers, staff and students of this great district,” he posted on Facebook. “I cannot wait to start knocking on doors and engaging with the community as I hit the campaign trail.”

This year, the school board’s contracting the Cameron County Elections Department to run the election.

During last week’s meeting, Remi Garza, the county’s elections administrator, estimated the district’s charge at about $86,000.

The election’s early voting period’s set to run from April 22 to 29.

The election’s coming as school district officials plan millions in cuts, working to rebuild the budget’s fund balance.

In late August, board members found out former Superintendent J.A. Gonzalez’s administration used $23.2 million in cash reserves to cover operating costs including unbudgeted 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 trustees gave him a one-year contract extension and $10,000 pay increase, bumping his salary to $310,000.

While the district’s fund balance stood at $48.3 million in 2022, its cash reserves had dropped to $17.2 million by June 2024, when board members passed the current $215.3 million budget.

After trustees appointed Kortan to serve as interim superintendent, she worked with officials to slash at least $7.2 million worth of expenses while planning millions in cuts, aiming to rebuild the fund balance.

As of Dec. 31, the district’s total fund balance was standing at $21.9 million, with $20.7 million of that money making up unassigned reserves.

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