El Paso ISD board overrules its own bond advisory committee: takes $1.9M for improvements

The El Paso Independent School District Board of Managers overruled the unanimous vote of its own 2007 bond advisory committee Tuesday night. This comes after the committee made its recommendation not to spend $1.9 million of 2007 bond contingency funds last Wednesday.

The committee oversees the reallocation of left over 2007 bond money, which has about $65 million and about $2.1 million in contingency funds.

EPISD asked the committee to put some of that money, $1.9 million, toward projects in its modernization plan, specifically preparing Vilas Elementary to transition into the Mesita Early Childhood Center ($700,000), opening the New Tech High at Franklin High ($100,000), and relocating the baseball and practice field at Bowie High to make room for the district’s maintenance and transportation facility ($1.1 million). The Mesita Early Childhood Center is schedule to be ready this fall.

The committee said no, that they were uncomfortable making decisions without the elected board of trustees in place.

“We’re a constituency,” said bond committee chair Al Patino. “We’re part of that community. I’m paying tax dollars just as anybody else. So we wanted to be responsible and make sure that anything was done that was part of this committee, any reallocation that was suggested, that we did it responsibly.”

The job of the committee is to recommend how the district should spend leftover money from the 2007 bond, about $65 million dollars. The district saw an opportunity.

“Why would we want to take [millions] out of the general fund, when we know it’s declining anyway and not use the readily available bond funds that are just sitting there and haven’t been appropriated?” said Board of Managers President Dee Margo.

The committee’s answer was a unanimous no, with 14 members present.

“I felt uncomfortable with the decision being made very quickly,” said committee member John Moia. “We have time. If we wait a couple of months, we’ll have the board of trustees in place. And they will be able to make decisions that are long term.”

The un-elected board of managers is set to complete its two year term this May, after the election of three trustees. By summer, an elected board of seven will officially take over.The committee is concerned it would be recommending putting money toward projects the taxpayers and the people who represent them have yet to even approve.

“We have a timeline that won’t wait,” Margo said. “The bottom line is the Vilas and Mesita projects are due to begin this September, it is imperative that we move ahead. We can’t wait three or four more months to do that. There’s construction that needs to be done for our children to make those classrooms inhabitable.”