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United ISD public commenters press board over discretionary funds and open-records charge
Summary
Multiple public commenters at a United ISD board workshop urged greater transparency after an open-records fee was deemed excessive and raised concerns that board discretionary funds have been used for newsletters and other non-student expenses.
Several members of the public at an October United Independent School District board workshop urged the board to increase transparency around discretionary spending and record requests.
Letty Juarez told the board that she was charged $15 for half an hour of labor to fulfill an open-records request and said the Texas Attorney General later deemed that fee excessive and ordered the district to reimburse her. “This improper 15 charge has in reality cost taxpayers at least $200 due to the district's legal counsel preparation of responses,” Juarez said, and she asked the board to investigate whether the charge reflected a misunderstanding of open-records policy or an effort to discourage requests.
Edna Almeida said the discretionary manual specifies that expenditures should primarily benefit students but alleged that several board members used discretionary accounts to pay for newsletters. Almeida reported a total of $15,957.04 in newsletter spending and warned the mailings could be perceived as campaign material because three board members are currently running for office. “This raises concerns about whether the funds are being used in alignment with the district's guidelines,” she said.
Other public commenters raised related concerns about budget transparency, questioned budget-amendment line items and urged dissolving or reforming discretionary funds that, they said, sometimes covered non-student items such as two-way radios and police uniforms.
Board member Frank Castillo responded that he has historically used a newsletter to reach constituents and defended the practice as one communication avenue for families who do not use social media or read newspapers. District staff later told the board they had revamped the discretionary-fund process to ensure request forms are completed properly and that staff would confirm signatures and timelines before expenditures are brought forward.
The district did not take formal action on discretionary funds during the workshop; the item (agenda 5g) and related budget materials were presented for review and will be listed for potential action at the regular board meeting, where trustees may consider policy or spending changes.
