South Texas ISD superintendent says he must dispel misinformation about school district

MERCEDES, Texas - The leadership of South Texas ISD cannot understand why the school district is coming in for criticism this year.The complaints have centered on the funding STISD receives, with some of the smaller public schools in the Rio Grande Valley leading the way. But, officials with the magnet school district point out that their funding has been the same for years. At a news conference, STISD Superintendent Marco Antonio Lara was asked why the criticism has flared up over the past year. He said he did not know.“That's another great question and I wish I could answer that. But I don't know why. Even the legislators we have met with, we ask why, why now? I really don't know,” Lara told the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service. “If it's about equity, that's not the way to go about it because now you are harming 4,300 students and 680 employees - by taking away our taxing ability. That's not equity. And if you do, what do you gain from it? That money doesn't go anywhere. The school districts don’t get that money.”Lara asked where STISD’s 4,300 students would go if his district was disbanded.“Do they go back to their home schools? I don’t know. That's a great question and I wish, maybe, you could find somebody who could answer that,” Lara said.“This came up all of a sudden, again with a lot of misinformation, misconceptions about how we are funded and why we are funded. And I would really like to know. This is just something that's beyond us.”The news conference was held just before a school board meeting. The meeting drew a large crowd of parents and staff, all supportive of the school district. In his answer to the Guardian’s question, Lara mentioned state legislators because it has been assumed that critics of STISD would try to get the 88th Legislature to change the school district’s funding model.Attached is an audio recording of Superintendent Lara’s comments at the news conference.Editor's Note: To read the full story go to the Rio Grande Guardian International News Service website.Go to www.riograndeguardian.com to read the latest border news stories and watch the latest news videos.