By Louis Zylka
The 830 Times
The public school district’s board of trustees held a town hall meeting on Tuesday to elaborate
on the $50 million bond issue the district is seeking and to answer questions.
In August, the board approved sending the $50 million bond package to the district’s voters in
November. The bond proceeds will go towards funding future projects for improving the district’s
campuses and learning facilities.
The projects discussed at the town hall meeting included a new Del Rio Freshman Center, a
new elementary school at Roberto “Bobby” Barrera (RBB) STEM Elementary, renovations at
Buena Vista Elementary, a new tech academy facility and new gy at San Felipe Memorial Middle School.
Those attending the meeting included School Superintendent Dr. Carlos Rios, Raymond P.
Meza, school board president; Josh Overfelt, school board vice president; Jesus Galindo,
school board secretary; Rebekah L. Chavez, board member and Diego Almaraz Jr., board
member.
Each of the board members went into detail about the proposed projects the bond package will
cover and how they believed those projects will benefit the campuses. After the presentations
were held, people in the audience were allowed to ask questions.
The first question came from
Joaquin Taylor, and he asked where students will be attending class during the construction of
the freshman building.
Overfelt said when construction is underway on campus, the students will continue to attend
classes in the existing buildings. He said it is the longest estimated project and will take to two
years to complete, and the school district wants to make sure students can attend classes
regularly without using portable facilities or placing them on the high school campus.
“We will put up construction fencing to keep them out of the construction area, and so they will
still be able to go to all the main buildings (for classes),” Overfelt said.
Amanda Martini asked the next question, which raised concerns about what other projects the
district has not addressed or may be seen in the future. Martini also asked how the community
can assure the district is meeting and thinking about those projects in the long term.
Rios answered the question, describing the projects of the district based on “wants” and
“needs.” The current bond will cover the district’s need to build and provide instructional facilities
for students to learn in. Rios said after the main projects are finished, the future projects, such
as a fine arts center, will be decided based on what the community wants and will vote on.
Meza wanted Rios to elaborate to the audience who attended on how the interest
rates will work. Rios used an example of borrowing loans to buy a house to describe the
interest rates.
“Building schools is no different from building homes. The only difference is that, for a school
district, the state of Texas automatically provides 20 percent of that debt, so we pay 20-percent less,” Rios mentioned.
Rios then said the school district refinances the note every 10 years at the lowest interest rate,
adding that they will sell the bond into two separate pieces to avoid paying interest on the whole
package at once. Rios also said while the money is in the bank, the district will invest the money
to get a return so the interest they will be paying is diminished.
Bea Vallejo was next to speak, and she said her concerns come from the limited space
available to build the new tech facility and gymnasium at San Felipe Memorial Middle School.
Vallejo then asked why the district is aiming to pay the bonds off in 30 years instead of 15. She
also asked what will happen if the bonds are not sold and if it will raise taxes.
“(Del Rio) is a Medicare/Medicaid community. Our economy is not where it needs to be for debt.
I don’t know how much debt the school district has; I don’t know how much we are still holding
from the past bonds, but we total all that up with all the debt that the school, the city and the
hospital has, then we’re in a hole in the community. We don’t have the economy to get us out of
debt,” Vallejo said.
Rios answered the first part of Vallejo’s comments regarding the available space at SFMMS,
and he said the district has done extensive actions by measuring the property to guarantee the
design of the facility will fit in the area. Rios said the school district owns the majority of property
across the main building of SFMMS on Waters Avenue, adding, “There is plenty of property to
build there.”
Rios then answered Vallejo’s other concerns and said the district wants to pay off the bond
package in 30 years to avoid raising the tax rates. Rios then said the district will agree to a fixed
payment plan, which will not increase the tax rates.
“You cannot collect more than what is due on the payment; the payment is going to be fixed,”
Rios said. “The board broke lanes to make sure the proposition is a tax-friendly proposition.”
Galindo then added to Rios’ comments by clarifying how the tax rates will stay the same or go
down naturally over time. He said the board does not want to “go into anyone’s pockets” when
deciding the projects to approve on based on the needs of the district.
“After the work that was done thanks to the help of the financial advisors, we were able to come
to an (agreement) saying ‘these (projects) are the needs of the district’ and this is what won’t
cost the taxpayers any money out of their pocket when it comes down to the SFDR-CISD tax
rate,” Galindo said. “We are not trying to account for the rest of the community or the county when we are talking
about other tax rates. We are simply talking about SFDR-CISD . . . We cannot control any other
entities; we cannot control the property values. Those are going to gradually increase because
that is how things naturally go.” Galindo added. “But when it comes to looking at the school
district’s tax form, we are going to take ownership and understand this is what we’re telling
(citizens) where this is going to be, and we did it at that platform to make sure not an extra dollar
will come out anybody’s pocket based off the school district’s needs.”
Another woman in the audience wanted the board members to confirm if the district has an outstanding debt of $36 million. Rios confirmed the debt amount the district has, but he clarified
the woman’s concerns, saying the current debt will “liquidate” and be reduced once the future
bonds are issued within the next five years.
Early in the meeting, Overfelt discussed plans for cost savings by adding energy-efficient
windows to the proposed future freshman building. Martini asked another question suggesting if
the district would invest the savings to help with teacher pay or other educational needs.
Overfelt answered Martini’s comments, saying the board can look at the budget process in the
future to improve teacher pay or other needs.
Rios added to Overfelt’s comments, saying all the projects will take three-and-a-half years to be
completed, which is to avoid the rise in construction costs.
Overfelt then said late spring of 2026
will be the time frame for work to begin at RBB.
Another woman in the audience asked when the projects will begin construction if the bonds are
passed. Even though there is no definitive date to begin construction, Overfelt said the first
project to “turn dirt” will be at RBB, adding that Laughlin has already done environmental studies
and prepared the property for the project to begin the first phase.
He said Bobby Barrera will
take between six and nine months to be completed. The next project will be the freshman
campus with the other projects following after.
The last question was asked by Mario Rodriquez, who asked the board members why they want
to build a new building on the freshman campus instead of doing renovations. Overfelt said
renovations will raise the tax rates. He also said the main reason for wanting a new building is
because the current freshmen center is a “really old structure” in need of an upgrade, adding
that, “it makes more financial sense to build a brand-new center instead of putting duct tape on
one building.”
