001A school board meeting of the Board of Trustees of Far San Juan Alamo Independent School District is now being called to order. It is 6.02 on Monday, May 12th, 2025. This meeting is being held at PSJA Early College Lecture Hall located at 805 West Ridge Road in San Juan. We'll start off with a Pledge of Allegiance. Mr. Villegas will lead us and Ms. Barron will lead us in invocation. States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Heavenly Father, today we thank you for the opportunity that you have allowed us to be here today. Today we have an agenda that we must follow, Heavenly Father, and we only ask you to guide us through each item on this agenda and that we
002don't lose focus on the purpose that we have on this board. Please allow us that opportunity to exercise our right and to always think about students, teachers, staff, and our tribe community. In your mighty name we pray. Welcome everyone and welcome to those at home via live stream. Counsel, did anybody sign up for public comments? No? Okay. Dr. Elias? You can proceed with tonight's agenda. Yes, Madam President. We have under item three recognitions and we have the valedictorians and salutatorians and this will be presented by Ms. Saenz. Good evening, Madam President, Dr. Elias and members of the board. Today we are honored to recognize the class of 2025 PSJA ISD valedictorians and salutatorians from our district six high schools. These students are graduating at the top of their class with numerous accolades proudly representing our
003PSJA family. At this time, could I have PSJA early college principal and then salutatorian parents and salutatorian? You can come over here. Okay, salutatorian Sabrina Marie Garcia is the daughter of Jose and Adriana Garcia Afar. She was an active member of her school's National Honor Society and Interact Club, and she graduated early from South Texas College in December. Sabrina earned an associate degree in interdisciplinary studies from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. She plans to attend Baylor University and major in pre-med. Okay, can I have the valedictorian from PSJ High? is the daughter of Javier Saenz and Bianca Valeras of San Juan. She is an AP scholar with honors and has been a two-time UIL theatrical design state competitor, as well as three times... varsity UIL one act play participant she earned
004an associate's degree in interdisciplinary studies from South Texas College through the PSJA early college program Brianna plans to pursue a degree in economics and business from one of the nation's top Ivy League institutions the University of Pennsylvania College High School, salutatorian Jose Ochoa Escobedo is the son of Horacio Ochoa and Maria Isabel Escobedo of Alamo. He is a recipient of the prestigious Gates Scholarship, Hispanic Fund Scholar, and was recognized as Noticias RGB Estudante de la Semana. He earned an associate's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. Jose plans to pursue a degree in exercise science with an emphasis in biomedical engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, one of the leading public research universities in the nation. is the daughter of Francisco and Alma Islas of
005Alamo. She is a recipient of the UTRGV Luminary Scholar Award, National Hispanic Recognition, National First Generation Recognition, and is an AP Scholar. She earned an Associates of Science and Biology from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. Celeste plans to pursue a degree in biology from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. And PSJA North Salutatorian. We have our principal from PSJA North Salutatorian. Joshua Jude Alaso is the son of Anacita Sugalan Afar. He is a proud Quest Bridge match recipient and was recognized as Channel 5 Student of the Week. Joshua was an active member of his school's choir and earned the distinguished honor of being a Texas All-State Vocalist three times. He earned an associate's degree with a field of study in biology from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College
006Program. Joshua plans to pursue a degree in neuroscience. and biology at one of the nation's premier Catholic research universities known for its academic excellence, the University of Notre Dame. Valedictorian from PSU. Valedictorian Axel Santiago Cantu is the son of Fabian and Veronica Cantu of Pharr. He was awarded the prestigious Welch Scholarship, which provides a full ride, as well as the Impact Scholarship. He is also recognized as an AP Scholar. Axel earned an Associates of Science degree with a field of study in mathematics from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. He will be pursuing a degree in Mechanical Engineering degree at the University of Texas of Austin. Now we have from PSJA Southwest Early College High School. Salutatorian Angela Marie Ramos is the daughter of Alberto and Elda Ramos of FAR. She is
007an AP scholar with honors, a recipient of the National Hispanic Recognition Award, and a member of her school's Varsity Orchestra. Angela earned an associate's degree in interdisciplinary studies from the South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. She will be majoring in mathematics at Texas State University. Now we have valedictorian Aislinn Ramirez is the daughter of Juan and Ana Azuna Afar. While at PSJA Southwest, she was awarded the Texas National Bank President Scholarship. She is a UTRGV luminary scholar and an AP scholar with honors. Aislinn earned an associate's degree in biology from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. She plans to major in nutritional sciences from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. From PSJA Jefferson T-STEM Early College High School. Our salutatorian Emily Flores is the daughter of Adolfo Alvarez
008and Nora Zapata of Donna. She graduated cum laude from South Texas College. placement on the President's Honor Roll and received the PSJA Dual Language Seal of Biliteracy. Emily earned an associate's degree in biology from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. She plans to major in medical humanities at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is an AP scholar, graduated sum cum laude from South Texas College, and earned the PSJA Dual Language Seal of Biliteracy. Fernando earned an associate's degree in computer science from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. He plans to major in computer science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. A collegiate school of health professions, we have our salutatorian, Rodrigo de la Cruz. is the son of Salvador de la Cruz and Francisca Martinez
009Zafar. He is a recipient of the UTSA Terry Scholarship. Dell Scholar is an AP Scholar and a BPA State Qualifier. Rodrigo earned an Associate's Degree in Mathematics from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. He plans to pursue a Bachelor's Degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Texas of San Antonio. For the valedictorian, Carla Gabriela Iturrivatis is the daughter of Jesus Iturrivatis and Josefa Carla Torre. Calderon of San Juan. Carla was awarded the UT Dallas McDermott Scholarship, the UT Dallas Terry Scholar, Dell Scholar, UTRGV Luminary Scholarship, and she is also a BPA National Qualifier. She earned an associate's degree in interdisciplinary studies from South Texas College through the PSJA Early College Program. plans to pursue a bachelor's of science and finance at the University of Texas at Dallas. Once again, our PSJA
010family congratulates these outstanding seniors, their parents and their teachers for this remarkable achievements. Graduating at the top of their class is a testament of their hard work, dedication and excellence in both academic and extracurricular activities. Way to go students. I'd like to say that parents and family, because I know there's more family here than parents. I'm sure they've accompanied you. And I want to say that at this moment, no one can possibly be more proud than you. So the congratulations certainly go to you also. There is just so much of you, for you to be proud of and so much to be grateful for with your valedictorians and salutatorians. So celebrations for all of you. If everyone, well, the students, I wish they would come back just so we can see them and address them
011personally. Where are you? Or just stand where you're at. The salutatorians and valedictorians, if you can just stand where you're at. There you go. to say to you guys that in spite of everything that you participate in, because I know you're inactive in a lot of other stuff other than academics, and I want to say that in spite of all of that, your academic achievement is like nothing short of extraordinary. You have done a lot. As you embark on the next chapter of your life, we have no doubt that you're going to continue to accomplish great things. You are exceptional individuals and your success speaks volumes. You are at the very top and that's quite a feather on your cap. Wear it proudly. As you leave PSJA, please know that you carry with you the
012pride of an entire community. On behalf of this school board of trustees, congratulations. We are incredibly proud of you. You have earned the title of valedictorian and salutatorian of your school's class of 2025. Congratulations. Thank you. Yes, Madam President, under recognition still letter B, UIL area and regional one at place. And this will be presented by Mr. Taylor. Madam President, Dr. Elias, members of the board, thank you for giving the Fine Arts Department this opportunity to recognize the outstanding achievements of our fine arts students. Thank you also for your continued support of our fine arts programs. This year, four PSJA ISD high school theater programs advanced in UIL one-act play competition, with three advancing to bi-district, two advancing to area, and one advancing to regionals. PSJ Jefferson Theater advanced through district and bi-district competition to
013compete at area where they were named alternate to regionals. Cast and crew are Leonardo Banda, Aidan Cantu, Aaliyah Cantu, Kimberly Cardenas, Yareli Chapa, Jennifer Davila, Mia Garay, Dwayne Lozano, Carlos Martinez, Karen Martinez, Mariana Martinez. Jesse Medina, Delany Munoz, Erin Puentes, Alisa Ramos, Jason Salazar, Leila Trevino, and Ivan Wong. Theater director is David Amador Gonzalez, assisted by dance director Miriam Vera. Congratulations, PSJ Jefferson Theater. Congratulations. Good job. So proud of you guys. I love you. Congratulations. Congratulations. Good job. Congratulations. And then one, two, three. One more. Also smile. Congratulations. PSG High Theater advanced through district, bi-district, and area to compete at regionals. Cast and crew are Natalie Alaniz, Jasmine Avila, Sarai Alvarado, Brianna Alvarez, Debedee Alvarez, Cody Barrios, Alice Betancourt, Aiden Borrego, Eva Calvert, Joshua Castillo, Castillo, Sirena Dueñas, Jonelle Gallardo, Anaisa Guerra, Silvia Gutierrez, Martin
014Hernandez, Sydney Hasso, Hayden Lujan, Sara Olivares, Marlisa Pinon, Miguel Rodriguez, Antalia Rubio, Victor Salinas, Sydney Torres, and Sean Trevino. Theater directors are Jacqueline Benavides, Sabrina Soto, and Hector Nunez. Congratulations, PSJA High Theater. Thank you. PSJA art students from all five high schools competed at the Texas Art Education Association Visual Arts Scholastic Event. Eight students representing PSJA Jefferson, PSJA High, PSJA Memorial, and PSJA Southwest advanced to state vase. Four students earned state medallions and were named all-state artists. Those students and their teachers are From PSJ High, Sofia Rodriguez and Sofia Vasquez and their teacher, Celinda Hernandez. And from PSJ Southwest, Leslie Barrera and Emma Cepeda and their teacher, Armando Garcia. Emma Cepeda also earned the very highest honor, the Gold C Medallion. Her artwork will be exhibited in a variety of venues across the nation, culminating
015in the Gold Seal Exhibition at the annual Texas Art Educators Association Fall Conference. Congratulations, art students and teachers. I believe we did two in one. We did drama and we had three different schools that qualified. And just, we wanna tell you all that the school board of trustees thanks you for the positive attention that you bring to your school and to our district, the PSJA. We congratulate all crew. Cast and directors, your entire team is blessed with creativity and talent. Your teamwork continues to shine over and over. We keep hearing of the drama program we have. You bring honor to PSJA and we thank you for that. We are proud of your accomplishments and your decision and your dedication to the arts. Thank you so much to all the theater people here, to the drama
016people. Thank you. I don't know your troop numbers or I would have called them out. I know that those are important. To the arts scholars, two champion schools with talented state visual arts. That says a lot also. PSJA High and PSJA Southwest, your work shines bright. Earning state medals in the Visual Arts Scholastics event is no small accomplishment, we know that. Bears and Javelinas, keep creating and inspiring. Thank you for sharing your vision and your passion with the world. Congratulations, you make us proud. Madam president, as we continue with recognitions, we have a item D UIL academic state qualifiers. And we also have letter E UIL EI global qualifiers. And these will be presented by Mr. Michael Murray. We'll start first with our UL academics and all the students could please come up. Madam President,
017Dr. Lias, and members of the board, thank you for allowing the Advanced Academics Department to recognize our outstanding achievements of the UL academic students and the Destination Imagine Global Qualifiers this evening. PSJA ISD UL academic students accomplished incredible results at this year's 2025 UL Regional Meet in April. I am very pleased to announce that four of our schools have students who have advanced to the UL State Academic Meet, which will take place later this month. I would like to take the moment to commend our students and staff for working together and excelling this year. And tonight, we're recognizing our UL academic state qualifiers. Students, if you can please raise your hand when your name is called. From PSJA Early College High School, we have Nathan Lopez, second place calculator applications and state qualifier. Daniel Hernandez,
018third place calculator applications and state qualifier. Franco Silva, sixth place calculator applications and state qualifier. And our calculator team is the first place regional champions for 6A, and this includes Nathan Lopez, Daniel Hernandez, Franco Silva, and Tristan Garza. Our UL calculator coaches are Alvaro Leal and Oscar Santos, and UL coordinator is Jacqueline Benavides. From PSJ North Early College High School, we have Sofia Salazar, third place in pros state qualifier. Her sponsors are Brian Honnell and Jacqueline Zepeda, and UL coordinator is David Garza. From PSJA Memorial Early College High School, we have Marcella Rocha in the Barbara Jordan Essay Contest State Qualifier. Her UIL sponsor is Jason Flores, and the UIL coordinator is Julissa Alaniz. And finally, from PSJA Southwest Early College High School, we have Ramiro Zapata, third place in Poetry Interpretation State Qualifier, and
019his UIL sponsor is Krista De La Rosa, and UIL coordinator is Sergio Alaniz. Congratulations students and sponsors for these amazing achievements. Madam president, Dr. Elias, members of the board, the Santos Levis elementary Raul Sagita middle school and PSJ collegiate PSJ early college high school destination. Imagine team imagination teams recently competed at the state destination imagination contest in Arlington and have advanced to the DI global contest in Kansas city, Missouri later this month. The PSJA gifted and talented program is proud to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of the following students and team managers for this momentous accomplishment. The Santos-Livas team is made up of Brooklyn Hernandez, Luciano Flores, Autumn Villafuerte, Vicente De La Garza, Anthony Sanchez, Delia Rogers, Nicole Ortiz, and team managers are Erica Ramos and Kayla Serna, the Santos-Livas DI team. The Raul
020Izaguirre middle school team is made up of Giovanna Rodriguez, Hector Tijerina, Asiel Castillo-Ponce, Jesus Muñiz, Andre Garcia, Ana Pena Davila, and Sofia Diaz. Team managers are Valeria Huerta and Rachel Ramirez. And the PSJA early college high school PSJA collegiate team is made up of Gabriela Rios, Anaisa Guerra, Luis Zuniga and Gustavo Porras. Team managers are Rodrigo Hernandez and Angelica Padilla Feliciano. And the gifted and talented program is coordinated by Ms. Noemi Cuello, our GT coordinator. Congratulations students and sponsors on these amazing achievements. Congratulations. Thank you so much. Congratulations. Good job. Congratulations. Good job. I absolutely love your shirt. Congratulations. I love your shirt. Good job. Good job. Thank you so much. Congratulations. I love your shirt. Congratulations. Good job. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. Congratulations. For all you do. Okay. To our
021UIL academic state qualifiers, wow. Congratulations on reaching the highest level in academic competition in all of Texas. It's amazing. Your commitment to critical thinking, learning and excellence is awesome. This is what PSJA is all about. We are so moved by your success. We thank you for that. To the DI recipients, what an amazing achievement to represent PSJA on the global level. That is beyond. Your innovation, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are world-class, actually. They are. Congratulations and best of luck at Globals. God bless you all. Dr. Elias? We're gonna go ahead and take a short recess too so we can mingle and congratulate the kids out there. Thank you David can you hear us? Can you hear us again? Okay, we can hear you we'll be ready for when it's your turn can you repeat that
022can you do test another test please David, can you test it again? We want to know if you're coming through. Test one more time. We can hear you. We're good. Thank you. Go ahead and mute again, please. We are back from recess. It is 6.59. Dr. Elias? Yes, Madam President. Item 5, consent agenda items. All in favor. Yes. Madam president. Our next item is item six and it's under human resources and this will be presented by assistant superintendent for HR. Dr. Garza. Good evening Madam President, members of the board, Dr. Elias. Thank you for the opportunity to provide a real quick overview of our local policy for update 124. For your convenience, we did print for you a full copy of the updates and you could actually refer to them so you can see the
023language that has been changed. But I will go through them rather quickly. So on this page here, you'll see that the local policy that have been impacted by legal policy are highlighted. We have a total of nine local policies that have been impacted, and I'll go through them rather quickly. So we have, I've also provided explanatory notes for the summary for the updates. We have local CAA, which ties in with fiscal management, CDA, other revenues and investment, CFC, those are accounting audits. And on CAA, you'll see just minor changes to language. And you have, as I mentioned earlier, a full copy of this policy. But you'll see where the red has been. Delete it and you'll see the blue or the new language in in blue. So I'm not gonna read it because I know
024it's kind of small but you do have a full copy of it So it does show the language change that the legal has impacted the local policy The next one is CDA, and this one also has, it's in the investment piece, and this one actually has even minor, it is on actually the fourth page where you see some language added into that section. The next expository notes deal with CY, which deal with intellectual property. DH, employee standards of conduct. EHB, curriculum and design, particular to the special programs. EHBB, this one with the special programs with the gifted and talented. So there again here in this one dealing with intellectual property you'll see language that has been added in blue and the deletion in red and the gist of this one I guess I could real
025quick show you this one is revisions and recommendations throughout this policy to clarify circumstances under which the district's intellectual property may be used and where ownership of intellectual property lies. when material is created by a district employee and other recommendations or revision clarifying with how district employees may use other copyrighted material, including copyrighted material used for performances and displays of instruction. DH local on the employee standards of conducts. The notes explain that the provisions addressing tobacco and e-cigarettes are recommended for revision, including the use of nicotine products, regardless whether the product contains tobacco. So the language aligns with language in the model handbook. The EHB local ties in the recommended revisions in this policy tie into special programs reflecting updated administrative code and addressing dyslexia and other related disorders and particularly aligning it to the
026dyslexia handbook and the ARD committee decisions. The HBB local policy ties in to changes that are impacted from the Texas State Plan of Education of the Gifted and Talented and approved by the State Board of Ed in September 2024. So it's updated terminology and so forth so that there's more alignment. So that's the gist of these changes in these policies. I'm sorry, just one more. FFG, the changes in this particular policy tie into the reporting of child abuse and neglect. And so there's a section here that having to do with all reports are recommended to comply with revision of the family code and administrative. So there's revisions to the making of a report, clarifying new requirements according to the education code and stating that reporting individuals must provide their name and contact information when making
027a report. GKA ties into community relations and it ties into conduct on school premises. So there's some changes regarding language and prohibiting of electronic vaporizing devices such as tobacco and e-cigarettes in this local policy. So here are the changes that are reflected. that's the gist of the language that has been impacted. Any questions? Here, we can ask in the back for legal questions on that policy that she just went over, DH. If there's legal questions, we can take those. Okay. Thank you. That concludes my presentation. Thank you so much. Ms. Quintanilla? Yes, a question. So this is already... I noticed that there's still some strikeouts. There's still some stuff in blue. So when will this be official? As soon as you approve it tonight, I'll notify TASB and they will update our policy. So it'll
028reflect today's approval date. And so TASB has a really quick turnaround. So they'll update our local policy pretty shortly after once you grant the approval. Madam president, I can add to that just briefly. Madam president, um, the reason it's in red and blue, it's that it requires it to be presented like that to show you what we're striking and what we're including. If you actually refer to the page that we provided it actually tells you the red is deleted text and the blue is the new text So it does have kind of an explanation Yes, madam president and as 89th legislature goes through we're gonna see many more policies that are gonna be either revised deleted or added as They adopt new policies and new legalities that come into play All right. Madam President, did
029I read correctly or was I misinformed that we have an anonymous system of reporting anyone that is... Doing Found to be a scandal doing financial fraud. Did I read that correctly? We do have a system of reporting in the district, but it's an anonymous I think it does request that the person submit their name But I believe you can still submit it anonymously. Okay, that was my question. I don't know if I read somewhere It's not here, but I know I remember I recall reading Think we have a system within our within our district where you can submit Some so I did read it correctly somewhere. I read okay I don't see it here. No, no, this is going to be based on TASB's legal update and so forth. But I do believe that there
030is some system within our district that you can submit anonymously some concerns that may be, you know, you want to alert the district. Yes. I was just wondering. uh yes my only question is because this is this seems to be a draft right that's coming forward for approval This this is the way every time that there's a legal Mandate it's going to impact shortly after that we'll get a language on say these legal Laws have impacted your local policy in this way. So every time that they do that they'll send us one You know this information they'll call it as an update and they'll say we're providing your current a policy the way it reads and if if it's being deleted the They'll still put the language in there in red, but it'll strike. And
031then they'll add the blue or the new language in blue. So once you approve it, then we notify TASB and it'll go in black and that'll be the policy that we follow. Thank you. Madam President, the reason we see the red, that's because what's going to be deleted based on the recommendation from TASB. And then what you see in blue. is what's being rewarded or being added. But TASB always makes those recommendations to us based on legalities as they're changing policies are changing so that this is what you're going to see. But we also do it to show here so that way there's transparency. But the blue wording is what's going to be adopted and the red is what's going to be exiting. Okay. Okay. So it was in here that's been changed. That's recommendation
032from TASB. Yes. The district did not do anything in here. It's all TASB. Yes, that's correct. Action on that after executive session has been requested. Yes, Madam President. So no action right now? You asked to take it to the vote. No, but we can vote. The questions I have are not going to change anything. Do I hear a motion for approval? Motion to approve. Moved by Ms. Quintanilla and seconded by Ms. Barron. All those in favor? Aye. None opposed. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, madam president item 7 finance And this will be presented by miss Gonzalez Assistant superintendent for finance and it's approved the resolution of the Board of Trustees for San Juan Alamo Independent School District creating property casualty self-insurance fund Good evening, Dr. Elias, Board of Trustees. We went over this information in
033our budget workshop, but we just wanted to go over it one more time in case there's any additional questions. Starting in 2018 the school district was paying 1 million dollars to insure our properties as you can see in 2024 that jumped to 6.9 million and we had a slight decrease in 2025 of 6.1 million so we are recommending that the district go self-funded for property insurance because The red line is our recovery. And as you can see, there are years where we recovered nothing. And even on the years that we did recover, we were still repairing the roofs ourselves before we received the recovery money. It took us about three years. So over the past three years the district's insurance premium has surged by about 500% across the industry property insurance rates have risen 20%
034over the last two years with no signs of decreasing soon Some of the benefits of self-insurance Involves setting aside funds in a dedicated savings account to cover damages or expenses expenses related to district property This gives us the district greater control over repair decisions, allowing the district to manage maintenance and recovery needs more efficiently. By placing these funds in a high-yield interest-bearing account, the district can also grow its reserves over time. Right now, when we pay the insurance company, of course, the cash leaves immediately. We're not earning interest on that investment. The financial advantages, maintaining sufficient financial reserves ensures readiness to cover unexpected repairs, damages, or other costs. This saves time and money by eliminating the need to file insurance claims and avoiding lengthy interactions with insurance companies. The district will retain full authority to
035decide which expenses and repairs to fund without external approval processes. So tonight we're asking that the board adopt the resolution creating a self-insurance fund for property insurance. And next steps would be to budget the amount for 25-26 school year. Are there any questions? Comments? Go ahead, sir. Thank you, Madam President. With the understanding, Dr. Elias, that at some point in time later on, if we deem it feasible to come back to... Paying premiums and get out of self funding. We have that option correct. We we can always opt out and If we see that we want to go back as a board you'll have that option and we want to go back to Purchasing insurance again casualty purchase for insurance that we can go back and purchase that. Thank you, sir Thank you. Just to
036recap, this is what we got presented at the workshop. And what we were doing for the public is instead of going and purchasing insurance and paying those $6.9 million, we would be putting that in a savings account and then every year adding to that. And in case we had any claims, then we can get that money to pay for. In the past, we get reimbursed and it takes somewhere between two to three years to get the money back. So we still have to use our money to pay for those damages, correct? Correct. And that recovery involved attorneys. It involved several attorneys. So it also alleviates that portion that we have to pay attorney fees on. Thank you. I have another question. Go ahead. And to follow up. The question, Dr. Elias or Becky. So we
037accumulate a certain amount. We don't have any catastrophic events and we build our savings. Delineate a little bit on what we can use that money for exclusively or what we cannot use that money for. It's going to be exclusively. It'll be in a reserve. and it'll be sectioned off where we cannot use it. Of course, even as administration, we cannot touch it unless we have board approval. So it's only in case of... That we do need to do repairs for the district and these are major repairs not repairs as per maintenance But repairs that we're gonna have to go out and do a bit so it still has to go through the board The board has to approve the bid or whatever contractor we are gonna go with So it's always in the power of
038the board in order to be able to use these funds So arbitrarily, we just can't use it for, like you said, any other thing unless we've got board approval. Correct. All right. Thank you. I'm sorry. Just a comment just to make sure. And I think we, and I think I understand it very well based on the workshop that we had. So the reason we're going this route is. Also be it sometimes because it's a timely issue the You paid six points a million yearly to an insurance in this case. It's gonna go into like you know a holding fund right and provided like Mr. Vega said there is no major catastrophic event the following year. We add another six point some million And the reason I think Dr. Elias said, I'm pretty sure the community
039wants to hear is that because we feel that we're very stable as far as our local funds and also our... Fund balance. Yes, well our fund balance so we that's why the I think we feel comfortable that we can proceed this route Provided that hurricane season, you know does not Come this way correct and and and really we go back to the Hannah lawsuit that we did We again, we pay for legal. We have the attorneys and at the end of district only got a percentage of that. But by then it took three years. So we had already done most of the fixing and re roofing and all that out of the district's general funds. So in this way we are actually saving the district a lot of money. And by doing this we have
040the power to do it right away. And again, our, General fund balance is very healthy right now. So we can manage to do this at any moment, at the spare of the moment, and while we're still conducting where we are doing the reserve for the savings. And I wanted to comment that in the discussion, I know that we all learned that this is the way corporate America does it. Correct. And this is how they save money, and this is what we're leaning to doing. So I entertain a motion for approval. Second. Oh, I had to entertain a motion. Second. Motion by Mr. Rodriguez, seconded by Ms. Quintanilla. All in favor? Aye. Opposed? An investment group, yeah. The next item is item B, investment report for quarter ending February 28, 2025. Tonight, David McEwen from the
041Meter Group, who's our investment firm, will be presenting our quarterly investment report. He's joined us virtually. Can everybody hear me okay? Yes. It's good to be with you guys. Thank you very much for the opportunity to present the quarterly investment report. We are reporting on the quarter ending February the 28th. We have had, as usual, we're looking in the rearview mirror, and we've had quite a bit of market activity that has occurred since the conclusion of this quarter. Namely, I think the largest thing that everybody in the room is aware of is we've had a lot of And it has created wild swings in the fixed income markets. So we've seen the market expectations for the Fed to cut rates more aggressively. The Fed has dug in their heels and continued to maintain the fact
042that they're going to remain data dependent in order to make their decisions. They just held rates steady again last week, and they continue to give the guidance that they will probably cut two more times this year. But the expectations was going into the meeting that they could possibly cut as early as June. There were rumors that they might do an emergency cut in May. Obviously, the comments coming from the Federal Reserve after the meeting last week was now the market is expecting that the rate cut might occur in July. But they will have five more meetings remaining this year. And I think Chairman Powell and he was kind of under attack by President Trump for being too slow to cut rates. his job was created to do, and that is just to take all the
043factors into consideration. They've been fighting inflation now for the better part of two years. And the one thing that would cause him to pivot and focus maybe more on inflation would be a rising unemployment rates, followed by, you know, a dip towards a recession. Right now, the Federal Reserve, again, they're given the guidance that they plan to cut two times. Fed funds futures, they've been all over the place. And at one point, they thought the Fed would cut four times. Right now, they're starting to believe the Fed and the odds are that they've got it at two and a half rate cuts, basically. Consumer prices. have been trending higher. We would expect the longer the tariffs remain in place, that these consumer prices will gravitate higher. That will be a tax on the consumer if
044that does occur. We did see the GDP in the most recent quarter was negative 0.3%. That was the first negative reading in three years. So I think a lot of that was, you know, we saw a lot of the American companies that do retail sales were front-loading, and they were ordering more than usual in anticipation of trying to avoid tariffs. So there's been a few imbalances created. The consumer hasn't purchased as much, but I think a lot of people wanted to stock up in advance of the tariffs. just in case they were hanging around. The Treasury yield curve had been inverted for more than two years. Right now, we're seeing a positive slope occurring now between, you know, right around two to three years, it starts to trend back up, and the four-year and five-year
045rates are higher than those shorter rates. But we're still inverted on the short end of the curve. If you want to tab to the next slide. The job number, job creation has been steady. We have, you know, most sectors of the economy have not turned down just yet. But most of the economists that have been polled by Bloomberg, you're seeing an increasing number of economists predicting a possible recession as we move, you know, towards the latter part of this year. The unemployment rates continue to remain historically low. In January, the reading was 4%. The current reading is 4.2%. And, you know, the inflation has just kind of been stuck around the, we bottomed out around 2.4% on CPI. That number has just been bouncing around in the mid to high 2% range. We would expect
046if the tariffs hang around, we're going to start to see, you know, CPI and CPE gravitating back up into the low 3% range. If we go to the next slide and keep going and we'll get to the overview of the quarter end balances. Go one more. There we go. So at the end of February, the total portfolio value was just over $145 million. The average yield was slightly below 4%. And right now, the portfolio is... super liquid. Almost 100% of the portfolio is in cash. There's one investment in a term product that has a maturity of roughly six months, and that represents 2% of the portfolio. But we're working with the finance staff to, again, just try to identify where we're comfortable trying to push some funds further out and try to lock in some
0474% type yields to give a little more budget certainty as you're looking forward. Because the one thing that, again, has occurred is rates have peaked. You can see that your yields are beginning to trend lower. If we tab to the next screen. You can see the comparison quarter over quarter. Again, we finished this quarter at just over 145.1 million. In November, which is typically around the low water point for the year, you were at 128.5 million roughly. You see the weighted average yield in November was a 4.23%, and we finished February at a 3.87%. Again, we would continue to expect that the yield will continue to move its way back down the ladder here, and that will be impacted directly by each Fed rate decision later this year to cut the Fed funds rate lower.
048You can see the investment income for that period if you tab back up one more. The income for the period was just over $1.4 million. So, I mean, we're at a rate right now where we'd probably expect to earn a little over $5 million to $5.5 million as we move towards the end of the fiscal year, which is a very healthy figure. We go tap one more down and you can see the change in the fund balances, the major fund groups from November to February. There wasn't a whole lot of change in the activity funds. The cafeteria funds were about the same. The cash funds saw an increase from $11.6 million to $16.8 million. The construction account is almost down, has almost been spent completely down. The general operating funds were higher as a result
049of the tax collections. That was higher by almost $12 million. The group health insurance saw some payments going out, and that had a decline of $338,000 related to those outgoing payments. And the last account is the interest in bonded. That's the debt service funds that are being accumulated. That had a slight increase as a result of the interest earnings quarter over quarter. The rest of the report is going to, you know, just be a little more detailed as to the description of the local government investment pools in each of the fund groups. If you tab down one more, you can see the balances. by the each of those fund groups once again if we tab down one more slide There's the breakdown of the whole portfolio, 145.1 million. You can see how much we had
050a little over 3.5 million in bank deposits. In the local government investment pools was the largest amount, 122.1 million, representing 84% of the district's funds. And again, you had the LGIP term product, which has a maturity of roughly six months. And that was about 2% of all the funds at $2.6 million. And then there was a money market fund balance, which basically is check and accounts for some of those various funds. And that was just under $17 million. If there's any other questions on the quarterly report, I'd be happy to field them right now. Anyone? Ms. Gutierrez? Yes. What was the total earning for the previous quarter? The previous quarter would have been, if I can just remember off the top of my head, you had a lower balance there for that quarter. And it
051was probably... Just maybe a smidge higher because of the yield, but you had more funds earning more interest this quarter than the previous quarter. Your fund balance has increased by, again, roughly $18 million. So you had more money working at a slightly lower yield. But it would have been just a little bit more interest earnings from the prior quarter between August to November. Okay, sir. Thank you so much. Anybody else? Ms. Castillo? Yes. Sir, were there any significant changes in the investment strategy compared to the last quarter? No, the investment is highly liquid. We have been in this inverted yield curve. It has been to the district's advantage to remain overweight the local government investment pools. But now that we've seen the Fed pivot and we've seen them take actions to the tune of a
052full 1% worth of cuts between September and December. Now they've paused the most recent three meetings, but the writing's on the wall. The Fed has indicated that they will cut two more times. Therefore, we're recommending that we try to identify funds that are not going to get spent out in the next year and try to push those out and get some 4% type yields locked in and keep it on the books because each time the Fed cuts, it'll reduce the rate on the cash earnings. Does that make sense? So you are making sure that you strategize better or look into all those things? Yeah, to the extent that the finance staff can identify funds that are not going to get spent in this year's fiscal year budget, we're going to try to determine how much
053of those funds we can push out into, say, the two- to three-year maturity range to get a little more permanence and get some predictable yields locked in. Correct. Thank you. I have one more question. You're welcome. What steps are being taken to manage the interest rate right now that we're seeing those writings on the wall? I'm sorry. Could you repeat that question for me one more time? My question is what steps are you taking to make sure that... That what now that we're seeing that writing on the wall, I guess it's a Extension of the question that is that I asked first He already answered it. What what were that? Now that you see the writers on the wall What steps are you taking? Well, our advice to the district would be to the extent
054that you know you're not going to be spending all of your funds in the next year. We're just trying to encourage our clients to identify funds that will not be... spent between the next 12 to 24 months and figure out how we can spread out some investments in that window. And then some of the funds that are maybe a little more reserve type in nature that will not get spent out for a period of three years or more, that's where we want to try to push that bucket of funds out in the two to three years. But again, that's going to be dependent on the cash flow expectations. between the finance staff and their communications with the projects that are going on around the district. Thank you, sir. You're very welcome. All right. There's no
055further discussion. This item does not require action. We're going to execute. Thank you, sir. You're welcome. Thank you all very much, and we'll talk to you soon. Thank you. If during the course of the meeting a discussion of any of the items on the agenda should be held in a closed meeting, the board will conduct a closed meeting in accordance with the Texas Opens Meetings Act, Texas Governance Code Chapter 551, Subchapters D and E, or Texas Government Code Session 148.183F. Before any closed meeting is convened, the presiding officer will publicly identify the section or sections of the act authorizing the closed meeting. All final votes, actions, or decisions will be taken in open meeting. Thank you. It is now 7.35. Coming into open session, it is 8.31. Dr. Elias? Yes, Madam President. Under 10 human
056resources, Approve recommendation for one year contracts for professional personnel. Motion to approve. Second. Motion made. Ms. Barron seconded. All those in favor? Aye. None opposed. The next item, Madam President, legal with respect to B, C, and D, we ask that we take no action at this time. Okay. And then under litigation, legal counsel recommends your approval of the set of the... Matter presented an executive session under 11 a motion to approve second motion motion and seconded by miss Castillo all in favor. Aye Aye And the post motion to adjourn Second by mr. Rodriguez all in favor. Aye