ARE YOU ALL IN...CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS STUFF?

By Juan Montoya
We understand that despite the badly-worded agenda item that was pulled from the agenda last time before it went for consideration by the the board of the Brownsville Independent School District, the backers of the United Brownsville shadow government will again try to get $25,000 from the district in "membership" fees when the board comes back from vacation.
With Superintendent Carl Montoya and board president Enrique Escobedo on the 27-member UB board, IBC president Fred Rusteberg and his minions feel they have a lock on the annual "membership" dues.
But now people are asking what City of Brownsville commissioner Melissa Zamora asked UB's president Mike Gonzalez when he went before the city commission asking for their 25,000 membership money: "What is it exactly that you do?"
And indeed, besides blowing smoke up the keisters of local boards and governmental entities to get them to cough up their $25,000 in annual dues, there is scant work product to examine that has emanated from this questionable organization.
The information we get from their website is even more general. They cite the 2011 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  $1.5 million grant as the trigger mechanism for their community involvement.
It states that the Gates awarded Brownsville the grant " not because they saw a community with alarming social/educational indicators – we have that, but those challenges that can be found throughout Texas and the U.S. – but rather because they saw a community that was ready to take action for change.
"They saw this readiness demonstrated in the depth of our community-wide partnerships and the collaboration of the Imagine Brownsville Comprehensive Plan."
Excuse me?
If we remember correctly, that plan was put together to submit to Congress for grant money. The plan never sailed through because the two congressional sponsors who promised to push for it were defeated in their next campaign. So, what to do with a plan that had cost the city more than $1 million and ended up not producing what its proponents (former Mayor Eddie Treviño, manipulator par excellence Carlos Marin, Rusteberg, et al) had promised?
Instead of fading off into the sunset and the dustbin of historical boondoggles, Imagine Brownsville was morphed into United Brownsville and used as a mechanism to siphon off funds from local cash-strapped entities like the BISD, the city, PUB, BEDC, GBIC, the Port of Brownsville, etc.
With its all-star cast of local heavy hitters, the local boards and elected officials proved pliant to the entreaties of the local idols.
The slogans came in fast and heavy: Better Block, building communitiesWORKSHOP, and now, ALLIN.
It kind of reminds us of the sloganeering by UTB's Juliet Garcia when she came up with the "community university," "partnership," etc. Now it's something called the University of the Americas.
But the Regents showed their true colors when they decided that since the local yokels of Brownsville did not see fit to turn over all the assets of their community college (TSC) to be swallowed lock, stock and barrel by the UT System, the administrative headquarters would be located in Hidalgo County instead of in Brownsville.
It's not like the TSC taxpayers weren't kicking in their share. During the last TSC budget, the community college turned over $55 million in a transfer to the UTB, as per the partnership agreement signed in 1991. A conservative estimate (and we have a public information request before the UT System of the specific sum) of the TSC contribution to this abusive partnership is that the local community has turned over close to $1 billion to the UT System to keep UTB afloat.
That's right, a billion, with a "B."
United Brownsville's claim of the BISD education dollars is based on a campaign to shame the district into putting up the cash.
"The Gates Foundation was willing to bet on Brownsville," the ALLIN website states. "Are we?"
They then walk you through the depressing statistics that made Brownsville eligible for the Gates grant to begin with.
"As you read this, 34 percent of Brownsville households live in poverty, compared to 11 percent for the U.S. Our, median income is $30,454, compared to $50,046 for the nation. U.S.
 Improving these and other negative community indicators will not be the result of any one big decision, but will happen because of thousands of students, parents, educators, and employers aligning their efforts under a shared agenda around education."
And what can the "Brownsville Partners for Postsecondary Success" do to achieve this goal?
Well, if you're a student you can follow these guidelines: Explore career options, prepare for college early, take responsibility for your future, attend school every day, participate in school and community events, etc., etc., etc,
This requires paying someone to tell our students this?
Now, if you're a parent, ALLIN also has a few words of advise for you. Ready?
First and foremost, file your taxes early (what?), make sure your children go to school everyday, attend school open houses regularly, spread the word to other parents, encourage daily study time, motivate your child to explore career options, etc., etc., etc.
Teachers, you can also be ALLIN if you: Raise your standards, be rigorous, continue your own education, take students to college campuses, mentor your students and reach out to parents, etc., etc., etc..
Are these people serious? This approach is an insult to those parents, students and teachers who labor day in and day out to pay their bills and property taxes to keep the schools running. Surely this isn''t the advice they are seeking from the self-appointed guardian of academia called United Brownsville at $25,000 a pop.
Now, with UTB President Juliet Garcia as the educational matriarch of United Brownsville, what is it that we can expect? Foiled in her attempt to give the community assets away to the UT System, she will ride the glories of her performance to raise the academic standards of these hapless Brownsville students.
She can wow the crowds with her 17 percent graduation rate over six years, the 50 percent loss of the freshman class each year, the inability to even rank in national college assessments, and the highest tuition and fee schedule of all the community colleges in Texas. Oh, yeah, she's got plans for ALLIN, alright.
There is also the slight matter of personal politics at play here. It is no secret that Brownsville Mayor Tony Martinez – a principal in United Brownsville – is making every attempt to cut off BISD president Enrique Escobedo's brother Jaime from continuing to provide city security surveillance contracts through his company. Now United Brownsville is going before the BISD board to give them their yearly $25,000.
Will blood turn out to be thicker than mud? Will Enrique's desire to be ALLIN with the Big Dogs overcome his allegiance to family? Or will Enrique hinge his support for the handout on a condition that Martinez call off the dogs on his little bro's company?
And what about trustee Minerva Peña who is always whining about the "poor kids" that will be left without resources to further their educational career whenever someone proposes something new expenditure for the district? Why isn't she making a fuss about her "poor kids" who will be deprived of $25,000 so the board can give it to millionaires like Rusteberg and his cronies?
Things, as Alice used to say, are getting curiouser and curiouser..."