McAllen, PSJA still working on deal for future student attendance

A decision on whether future residents of the Jackson Meadows subdivision can send their children to McAllen schools remains in doubt.

McAllen school board members last week expressed concern over a new option that would allow children from the future subdivision to attend its schools - while allowing the Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district to keep control of the land, and the tax revenues from the development.

The future subdivision, near Yuma Avenue and Jackson Road, is located within McAllen city limits but is part of Pharr-San Juan-Alamo school district.

The subdivision's developer, Eduardo Cantu of Esponjas Development, initially wanted the PSJA district to hand over the land to McAllen so that children in that neighborhood could attend McAllen schools without paying extra fees. The developer believes he could sell the houses for more money if students were allowed to attend McAllen schools, said Kevin O'Hanlon, who is Cantu's attorney.

Students living outside a school district's boundaries must pay tuition to attend schools within a neighboring district. The subdivision is expected to have roughly 200 homes.

McAllen's school board approved annexing the property in late 2006, but PSJA school board members rejected the request in 2007 because they did not want to lose real estate tax revenue from the development.

The lingering dispute was sent to the Texas Education Agency, the state agency that oversees public schools, to determine whether the land could be annexed. The matter is still pending with the agency.

Since then, the developer and PSJA's school board have proposed what they believe is a compromise in offering to keep the land within PSJA's boundaries - and retaining tax revenues from the development - while allowing the students to attend McAllen schools for free.

The McAllen district would receive more state money under this compromise because it would have more students attending its schools. The state reimburses school districts by the average number of students who attend school daily.

McAllen school board members, however, are not enthused about the plan. McAllen board members are concerned whether this proposal would set a precedent for other districts to annex properties from one another, and whether the agreement would be fair to families already paying tuition. They also question whether the state funding would cover the actual cost of educating the Jackson Meadows students attending McAllen schools.

They also expressed concern about how it would affect future residents of the subdivision if the district decides to opt out in the future. The PSJA option would allow McAllen to opt out of the agreement at any time.

"We're opening a can of worms for future boards," said McAllen board trustee Javier Farias.