Mission CISD does not recommend in-house police department
Mission CISD had 26 law enforcement officers stationed throughout the campuses for the 2022-2023 school year. In addition, the district employed 37 on-site security guards. But if MCISD wants to keep those same safety expenditures for the upcoming school year, it cannot afford to implement a district police department with its current budget.
Assistant Superintendent for Finance Joel Garcia and Deputy Superintendent for Support Services Lorena Garcia combed through the figures at the June board of trustees workshop and meeting.
The district paid more than $2.7 million to staff and equip the on-site police officers (School Resource Officers) and security guards in 22-23; almost $1.7 million went exclusively toward the SROs. Mission PD, Alton PD, Palmhurst PD and Hidalgo County Precinct 3 provided the SROs through memorandums of understanding with Mission CISD. But the district had to pay officer salaries and equipment.
If the district were to add an in-house police department, it would consist of four officers, a chief and an assistant chief. The estimated salary is $386,000; equipment would cost about $894,000. Establishing a Mission CISD PD would mean investing an additional $1 million into safety expenditures for the 23-24 school year, totaling about $3.7 million with an in-house PD, SROs, district security guards and contracted security guards.
But the district already had to make budget cuts for the upcoming school year.
The board of trustees approved a $182.8 million budget for 23-24. And although the budget includes a compensation plan with pay increases for all employees, administration decided to cut department and campus budgets by 15% to afford the raises.
“I’m being very sincere in just looking at the data. And knowing the funding that we have, I can’t make a recommendation, as the finance person, to proceed [with a police department],” Joel Garcia. “We would have to cut more. We would have to adjust it and think it through a little more and see if that’s something that we can do.”
But even if MCISD administration does not recommend establishing a police department, the school board can still vote to approve one.
If the trustees choose to proceed with an in-house PD, the money would have to come from the district emergency fund, also known as the unassigned fund balance. And according to the assistant superintendent for finance, “dipping into fund balance is not sustainable.”
Mission CISD has almost $107.7 million in the general fund balance, and about $81.3 million is unassigned. But the state requires every district to have three to six months of unassigned funds in case of emergency. Mission CISD has about $15 million in monthly expenditures and would need all the unassigned funds to continue operation for five months.
Additionally, if the school board approves a police department, it would not be ready for the 2023-2024 school year. The district would need to submit an application to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, which could take about a year to go through.
But even without implementing an in-house police department, Mission CISD administration said the current level of safety staffing is more than enough.
“I looked at the district numbers from neighboring districts. We are staffing at or above the number of [full-time employees] for safety than our local partners that have police departments or the ones that don’t. We are providing a safe environment for our students,” Lorena Garcia said. “The question is, do we want to invest in our own police department where that gives us a little bit more local control? But as far as safety is concerned, we have just as many armed police officers at our campus as our neighbors do. In addition to that, we have more security officers on top of that. So we have the manpower for safety currently.”
Mission CISD was also head of the curve last year with their safety staff. The new House Bill 3, effective Sept. 1, now requires at least one armed personnel on every campus. Mission CISD already had police officers carrying firearms at each elementary campus, two at each Mission High and Veterans Memorial and two roving constables.
MCISD Trustee Jerry Zamora, a leading advocate for establishing a district PD, suggested replacing four officers from one of the other agencies with the four officers of the proposed Mission CISD PD. But Mission Schools would still have to take the extra cost out of the fund balance.
Trustee Petra Ramirez, who has spoken against an in-house PD at past meetings, remains opposed because the district does not have the funds.
“We have all these people that are helping us and they’re willing to help us and they’ve helped us a lot and they’ve done a phenomenal job. And every time we need more officers, in the spur of the moment, they send more officers…Everybody gets there,” Ramirez said. “I don’t see the logic of replacing four police officers and having our own, paying all this money, when all of that money, in reality, can be reused to hire more police officers from the four entities that help us.”
Trustee Juan Gonzalez echoed the same sentiment.
“I just don’t see the benefit of having [a police department],” Gonzalez said. “What’s the benefit of having it if we’re covering all our schools right now with our local entities and it’s being outsourced, which we cannot get a better price than being outsourced.”
Zamora and Ramirez continued to have a back-and-forth on whether or not the district needed more officers in case of unavailability.
“They’re not here all the time and they’re not going to be here all the time. The assistance will not be available all the time. Right now it is. Right now it’s good,” said Zamora, who is the chief deputy of Precinct 3 constables. “That’s my job, that’s what I do. And I’m telling you, it’s not going to last.”
Ramirez fired back, using the Uvalde CISD shooting as an example.
“It’s just like Uvalde, 376 officers. And the police department people, where were they? Like you said they were nowhere to be found,” Ramirez said. “If anybody is going to do something, [they’re] going to. I think we are well protected in our schools. And I applaud all of those people who have helped and made it possible for nothing to happen to our children. We’re never going to neglect the safety. I’m just arguing because of the monies; we don’t have the money at this particular time. They’re reading it to us black and white.”
Even so, Assistant Superintendent for Finance Joel Garcia told the board to look at the full picture. While the initial cost for the current SROs and an in-house PD would be an estimated $2.7 million, the finance department predicts it would cost about $1.7 million by 2026-2027 once the district has paid for the startup costs and can apply for grants.
“The board would need to determine, ‘OK are we ready to make an investment of about $1 million and still wait to have a police department in 24-25,” Joel Garcia said.
After further discussing the item in closed session at the June 21 meeting, the board decided to table it to learn more about House Bill 9, which expands internet availability and provides funding for digital 9-1-1 services.
This article is part of a series on Mission CISD finances.
