Board approves $7M investments at La Joya ISD
The La Joya school district will use $7 million from its rainy-day fund to invest in transportation and facility upgrades.
Of the total funds, LJISD will use $2 million to purchase new buses, $3 million for baseball field upgrades and $2 million for future facility and operational priorities that the district has already identified.
Administration has not revealed specifics of its baseball field and other facility upgrades. However, Chief of Operations & Infrastructure S.B. Pierson said the $2 million covers about 10 new school buses at about $170,000 per bus. But he is uncertain when the vehicles will arrive in La Joya ISD.
“That’s the big mystery. Right now, with the political climate, the lead time varies depending on where the buses are procured through,” he said. “So the numbers we’re hearing right now is about six months.”
La Joya ISD must replace 80% of its aging bus fleet within the next three to five years, facing a possible $20 million price tag. However, the district must strategically acquire the vehicles to avoid overloading the replacement schedule with too many buses, effectively creating a financial burden for LJISD in the future.
Although the board allowed the district to dip into its rainy-day fund to invest in the transportation department and facilities now, administration emphasized that this is a one-time deal.
The rainy-day fund is known as the district’s unassigned fund balance, which is separate from the yearly budget that goes toward payroll, daily operations, child nutrition and debt.
Administration only uses fund balance monies for emergencies or strategic funding priorities because state law requires 60-75 days’ worth of operating expenditures at all times. The La Joya ISD policy goes further and requires three months of operational expenditures.
With the board approving the $7 million investments at the June board meeting, the district now has $114.9 million in unassigned funds, which is $44.6 million above LJISD’s 90-day minimum requirement.
“That is a healthy fund balance,” Chief of Business, Finance & Administrative Services Mirgitt Crespo said at the May 20 meeting. “We can afford it one time…we can do this comfortably and for our students and our school district.”
In the past, auditors have stated that La Joya ISD has too much money in its unassigned fund balance.
Between fiscal years 2020 and 2025, the district’s unassigned fund balance grew from $37 million to $109.1 million. Alvarez & Marsal Senior Director Mike Potter said the fund was at an “unhealthy level” during a May 2025 audit presentation.
“It’s not necessarily good to continue adding [unassigned] fund balance because then you’re effectively holding out from the system,” the auditor said during the presentation. “In the long run you want to invest that in accordance with your strategy, provided that that’s done with the lens of a multi-year financial model.”
Since the district rolled out its five-year strategic plan in August 2025, administration has repeatedly stressed that all financial decisions have to align with the district’s plan. Still, they have shied away from dipping into the rainy day fund.
“We always have our budget priorities. If it doesn’t match to a strategic plan priority, it doesn’t get done,” Superintendent Dr. Marcey Sorensen said at the May board meeting. “That’s the way we keep ourselves accountable.”
