The SMCISD school board voted 7-0 to deny the current offer for purchase of the land adjacent to Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos.
The property belongs to the district and has been put up for sale. Only one bid has been made, although a letter of intent was sent to Superintendent Cardona from Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra for the purchase of the land in partnership with the City of San Marcos.
“The motion was to decline the only offer we’ve received, which we were briefed on during closed session last month,” SMCISD Trustee John McGlothlin said.
During the Sept. 15 meeting the board was presented with three different models for employee pay raises from the Support Staff Retention Allotment (SSRA) under House Bill 2. Model 1 presents a 0% increase to the district’s budget while models 2 and 3 would both cost the district more than $200,000. This decision was discussed after staff presented the 2024-2025 unaudited ending balance, which estimates a $3,842,729.41 loss. The final audit will be presented in November.
“I don’t think that I’ve ever voted against a pay raise,” said Board President Anne Halsey. “I can’t remember ever having done so and I am not going to vote in favor of option 3 tonight, regretfully, because I’m afraid that if we start spending money that we don’t have right now, then next spring we’re going to be in the unfortunate position of having to lay people off. I want to keep as many of our staff members in their positions as we can,” After debating the options and clarifying numbers with staff, Board Trustee Miguel Arredondo proposed an amendment to item 7.A-7 which is the Consideration and Possible Action on Compensation for the 2025-2026 School Year. His proposition was to disperse the pay raises in option 1 equally across three categories to include administrative professionals, clerical professionals and auxiliary. This would amount to 699 employees who are eligible to receive a raise through the SSRA funds, which total $284,572. The board approved this amendment and the adoption of Model 1.
Board members also adopted a resolution to identify hazardous conditions within two miles of a school campus, including areas where no walkways are provided and students must walk along or cross: a freeway, expressway, an underpass, an overpass or a bridge, an uncontrolled major traffic artery, an industrial or commercial area or another comparable condition.
Board members debated a budget amendment that would allot $10,000 for cheer uniforms for San Marcos High School. Since junior varsity cheer has been absorbed into varsity for the school year, the cheerleading uniforms do not all match. After discussion about budget deficits, board members felt conflicted about approving the amendment.
“It’s solely for this year, my expectation was it’s not like we permanently did away with distinction. I think they’ll run a cleaner try out, they’ll probably have two teams next year and so 10k for one year is excessive,” McGlothlin said.
