SMCISD board approves building, property donation to Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos

The San Marcos Consolidated ISD Board of Trustees approved a resolution to donate the old Bonham campus to Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos. 

The board’s approval authorizes the donation of the former campus located at 211 Lee St. to Centro, which it currently uses. The donation includes the property legally described as “Dan McKie #2 Addition, Block 3, Lot 1 and Lot 8, San Marcos, Hays County, Texas, with improvements consisting of a 12,795 square foot building.”

The motion to approve the resolution passed with five votes in favor from trustees Miguel Arredondo, Mayra Mejia, Clementine Cantu, Anne Halsey and Mari Salmi. Trustee Kathy Hansen was the lone no vote, while Trustee Margie Villalpando abstained from voting, citing her role as founding member of Centro. 

Centro Cultural Hispano de San Marcos provides programs and educational curriculum and events for children, adults and families throughout the year. Centro first opened on Sept. 18, 2010 as a nonprofit, community-serving organization, utilizing the old Bonham campus located at 211 Lee St. According to its mission statement, Centro serves “as a community beacon for the preservation, development, promotion, and celebration of the Hispanic arts, culture, heritage, and values.”

In 2017, SMCISD entered a lease agreement with Centro to use the building, which runs until Aug. 31, 2042. Additionally, the City of San Marcos, SMCISD and Centro entered into a tri-party agreement in 2021 after Centro was awarded $268,000 in Community Development Block Grant funding for rehabilitation of the premises and to make it energy efficient. 

Monday’s public hearing drew a large crowd with the majority of those who spoke in favor of the donation. 

“Ofelia Vasquez-Philo, Lupe Costilla, Margie Villapando, Dr. Rosina Ruiz Valle, and myself, Gloria Salazar, five women who came together to create a living museum that would invite the community to celebrate heritage, history and diversity,” Centro Program Coordinator Gloria Salazar said. “With a desire to preserve the stories of local heroes and families, to cultivate a passion for the arts in children, and to represent the Hispanic past, present and future of San Marcos, Centro stands as a monument of these efforts.” 

Centro board President Amanda Rodriguez said that despite the profound work Centro does in the building, which was once the district’s Mexican school, it has an “ugly history.”

“It was because people like me, perhaps people in this room, perhaps like it was already mentioned with Spanish-sounding surnames were deemed unworthy to go to school beside their white peers and we have to be honest about that, and that has generational consequences,” Rodriguez said. “... Centro, as an organization, flips that coin of hate, erasure, displacement, we flip it on its head. And we truly serve all people, not just ‘those’ people. I will say this, the reason this discussion is so monumental is because just like our neighbors up north, our area is rapidly changing, increasingly. I will say this, gentrification is no longer, as it’s been said, at our doorstep, it’s already here. We have to ask ourselves: Are we going to continue to be a community who puts profit over people, or do we want to be a community that has discussions like this to figure out how to bring equity and put people over profit?” 

Several spoke in opposition of the donation, citing concerns regarding the timing and the appraised value of the property being given to Centro. 

“I’ve paid school taxes in this community for over 50 years,” Larkin Smith said during the public hearing. “I come to you tonight to voice my opposition to the discussion of giving away  school buildings. In my opinion, to even have this item on the agenda is highly questionable. You were voted in to ensure that our children receive a quality public education and a safe and superior environment. You were also given the responsibility of hiring highly qualified administrators; sincere and dedicated educators; and an impeccable staff. You were not voted in to discuss giving away property that belongs to the taxpayers of this community. With my deepest respect, I sincerely request that you remove this agenda item tonight, never bring it up again and continue to do what you were voted in to do.” 

“I don’t want to speak against Centro,” Robert Fuente said. “My wife and I have supported it since it began. But, in the end, you are all up there as stewards of our kids and the school district, and I don’t see how we can consider giving away this much money … As I was reading this agenda, it struck me that I was reading the core commitments. How much money would go toward the kids and really doing these things that you have written here. Like I said, I’m not against el Centro, we support it, my wife and I. But I think at this time that money is better spent for our children, and that’s what you’re up there to do. Everything you do should be for our children, geared toward our children, educating children, providing for our children. So, all I ask you is that I don’t think this is the time we can do this.” 

SMCISD Executive Director of Operations Bernie Sandoval said the school district owns 2.64 acres of property located at 501 South LBJ Dr., which includes the two lots being donated to Centro, that is valued at $2.4 million. The approximate appraised value of the parcels being donated is approximately $600,000, Sandoval said. 

The Texas Education Code allows for a school board to authorize, by resolution, the donation of real property and improvements “formerly used as a school campus” to a nonprofit organization. The board, however, must find that the improvements have historical improvements; the transfer will further the preservation of the improvements; at the time of the transfer the district doesn’t need the real property or improvements for educational purposes; and the entity receiving the property donated has show satisfaction to the bard that the entity will use the real property and improvements for public purposes, according to Juan Cruz, the board’s legal counsel. 

Additionally, there must be a reverter clause that if the entity receiving the donation discontinues use of the property and improvements or attempts to execute a document to sell or convey the property it will revert back to SMCISD. The district was also required to give notice to open-enrollment charter schools in the district’s boundaries, and an opportunity to make an offer to purchase, lease or use the facility. SMCISD received one request from the Katherine Anne Porter School in Wimberley to donate the property at 211 Lee Street to the charter school. 

Following the public hearing, the board convened in closed session to receive legal consultation regarding the donation and later returned to open session to discuss the matter. 

Trustee Kathy Hansen, who was the sole no vote during February’s meeting against holding a public hearing regarding the matter, brought up several concerns she had.

“I fully support everything that Centro is doing for the community, our schools, our children, our parents but I do have some concerns,” Hansen said. “I’ve been a taxpayer in this district for the past 48 years, not that we would ever consider selling the building that was never any board member’s desire, but we’re currently looking at phasing back what we build for central office because we don’t have enough money. We’re going into our budget with a $7 million deficit. These are taxpayer funds that we are donating … I think we need to be good stewards of the taxpayer funds and what they work hard to be able to support our entire schools.” 

Trustee Miguel Arredondo, who made the motion to approve the donation, stated that he considers the donation to Centro as an investment in the overall SMCISD community

“In addition to that, I think time and time again, my colleagues on this school board have done not only what is  best for our overall community but the children in San Marcos in particular and we’ve seen that throughout the course of the pandemic,” Arredondo said. “[The district went] above and beyond what most school districts did over the last 18 months. And this [donation], in addition to all of those things, shows that not only are we committed to our children but our community. In addition to that, we have lowered our tax rate by more than 25% since my election to this school board and we continue to do more with less. So, again, the assertion that this vote might be representative of fiscal irresponsibility quite frankly is fake news.” 

Hansen responded to Arredondo’s comments stating that she didn’t “assert anything that Mr. Arredondo stated.”

“I was just stating facts and concerns for all of our taxpayers and how they generously give their funds to help support our school district,” Hansen said. 

Ultimately, the board approved the resolution to donate Lot 1 and Lot 8 of the Dan McKie #2 Addition, the improvements and the 12,795 square foot building. 

Final details of the donation will return to the board at a later date.