Uvalde budget committee recommends selling Slate Creek, other cuts to close roughly $3.3M gap

At a Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District board workshop, a 64-member community budget committee presented recommendations aimed at closing a roughly $3.3 million budget shortfall, including recommending the sale of the Slate Creek property and reductions to pay for uncertified teachers, committee representatives said.

The recommendations matter because they would affect staff pay, district-owned property and services for students and families. The committee framed its work as a mix of immediate cost-saving steps and longer-term revenue strategies to restore the district’s fiscal position.

Simon Ortiz, a budget committee representative, said the committee organized recommendations into tiers and ranked them according to three questions: would the measure be meaningful, would it minimize negative impact on teaching and learning, and would it support long-term district goals. Ortiz said Tier 1 items — those the committee favored most — include selling Slate Creek, reducing pay for uncertified teachers, reworking stipends and consolidations, and eliminating the district-paid student accident insurance. “The number 1 is let's sell Slate Creek, come up with an incentive recruitment program, and use that money to do the study to make sure that we're getting all our money from WADA,” Ortiz said.

Presenters gave specific estimates for some items. District administration items described by the committee included schedule changes that could yield about $1.4 million in savings and staff/building realignment that could add roughly $250,000, for about $2.15 million in preliminary reductions. The committee said the Slate Creek sale was “currently estimated at a $1,000,000 revenue point” but recommended a formal appraisal; a presenter later said the district had the property listed at $2,000,000 “I believe,” reflecting differing estimates from committee discussion. Reducing pay for uncertified teachers was estimated to save about $221,000. Eliminating district-paid student accident insurance was estimated at roughly $30,000.

The committee identified additional potential savings and revenue opportunities in lower-ranked tiers. Those included a tiered (sliding-scale) reduction in staff medical insurance contributions, a proposal to reduce pre-K to half day (estimated at $360,000), and exploring repurposing or selling nonperforming district properties such as Batesville. Committee members also proposed a locally run teacher-certification pathway to convert uncertified teachers into locally certified teachers and to aid recruitment and retention.

Committee members emphasized attending to weighted average daily attendance (WADA). Presenters said improving attendance capture and related procedures could potentially recapture an estimated $2.7 million in state funding the district is not collecting. “If administration is right and we're losing out on $2,700,000 worth of revenue, that's more than half the battle won,” one presenter said.

Superintendent Collins framed the committee’s work as advisory. Collins confirmed the district must follow state rules when disposing of real property and said administration would obtain a fair-market evaluation before any sale. “We would have to do an evaluation and get fair market value for it,” Collins said, noting statutory requirements govern disposition of district property.

Trustees and presenters repeatedly said Tier 1 measures alone could meet the committee’s near-term target: committee figures showed a projected local budget decline from about $41,800,000 to roughly $39,000,000 and the need to address an approximately $3.3 million deficit. Committee members stressed they had designed the recommendations so the board and administration could choose which steps to implement and in which order. Several presenters urged prioritizing revenue recovery and nonperforming-asset solutions so that deeper personnel or benefit reductions could be avoided.

The board did not take formal votes on the committee’s recommendations at the workshop. Trustees were asked to consider the committee’s ranking and to direct administration to return with detailed implementation plans, specific financial modeling and legal steps required for property disposition and personnel changes. The board scheduled further budget workshops in the coming weeks and months for staff to present the requested details.

Public comment at the meeting included a resident, Diana Olvedo Carew, who criticized the district’s prior purchase of the Slate Creek property and urged the board to prioritize frontline staff and students when making budget decisions. The meeting closed with a procedural motion to adjourn that passed unanimously.

Details that remain to be decided include whether Slate Creek will be put to public sale or an open bid process, precise appraisal values, which employees (if any) would be affected by sliding-scale insurance contributions, and whether a locally run teacher-certification plan will be adopted and how it would interact with state certification rules. The board directed administration to return with those specifics before taking final action.