McAllen ISD begins facilities study as consultants say district could qualify for $290 million bond without raising taxes

McAllen Independent School District officials and consultants opened a facilities forecast advisory committee meeting on May 19, 2025, to begin collecting campus and community input for a districtwide facilities assessment that could support a bond issue of about $290 million while keeping the district's existing 99-cent tax rate.

Superintendent Rene Gutierrez framed the financial context for the meeting: “McAllen ISD tax rate is at 99 cents, which is one of the lowest in the area,” and he explained that about 83 cents goes to maintenance and operations while “the other 16 cents is on the I and S (interest and sinking) funds” used to pay bonds. Gutierrez said debt service scheduled to retire soon could free up that I&S portion and that the district’s financial consultants had indicated the district qualifies for “about $290,000,000 bond … without raising the taxes, that is maintaining the same tax rate at 99 cents.”

Nerissa Sparks, the lead consultant from MGT, said the meeting was intended as an early listening session. “The goal of tonight’s meeting is more of a listening…