TSC'S 90TH B-DAY: A CELEBRATION THAT ALMOST WASN'T

By Juan Montoya
Amidst the fireworks and fun and games held to celebrate the 90th birthday of Texas Southmost College, nearly everyone has forgotten that if just a few years ago, five to be exact, a majority of the seven trustees at the college had not held firm, there would have been no community college to celebrate today.
It was in a February 2011 meeting that a majority of the then-board – Kiko Rendon, Trey Mendez, Adela Garza and Rene Torres – held firm to their conviction that a community college district that has been nurtured for years by one of the poorest community in the nation should not just be given away to a university system whose representative had shown a callousness more becoming of a ravenous tyrant.

The vote at that meeting was 4-3, with the four trustees voting for a stand-alone TSC, and Roberto Robles, David Oliveira and Robert Lozano voting to stick with UTB in some type of partnership.
The motion was made by Mendez and seconded by Garza. Immediately after the vote before a packed Fine Arts Center, Oliveira and Robles walked out before the meeting was over.
Characteristically, the guest who who had pegged her future on the vote – UTB-TSC President Juliet V. Garcia – did not attend.
Before the meeting, the debate had raged in the community regarding the heavy-handedness of the UTB administration that launched an aggressive campaign involving the business and medical professional community. In the week before the meeting, full page ads in the local daily warned of an ominous future should trustees choose to keep TSC and not hand it over to the UT System, a requirement of the partnership agreement pushed by Garcia and her supporters.
"They should have known that we didn't elect the trustees to give away the district," said a majority supporter. "For years the only vehicle we had to provide any kind of affordable higher education has been our little community college. How could they think we were just going to give it away? They have been listening to the Big Boys in Austin and to Juliet for too long and lost touch with the common people."
Torres during the meeting said that the deadlines set by the UT supporters were red herrings meant to pressure the trustees.
“I too have an opinion, but what I don’t have is the backing of the UTB administration or the resources,” Torres said of the expensive campaign to pressure the trustees to accept the partnership proposal.
Garza, a steadfast supporter of keeping the college under local control, said that while there was no need to separate, it was the trustees responsibility to protect the interests of the local community which has supported the institution for so long.
“Why do we have to serve UT? Why don’t we serve our community?”
As he has done all through the process, Mendez said the UT System had projected that TSC had $198 million in assets, but that there was $102 million left on TSC’s bond debt, with Julieta's plan leaving taxpayers to keep paying into the future.
He said that local control is good for students and that the UT System will not assume the junior college’s debt.
"It's like as if the UT System is taking your house but wants you to keep paying the mortgage and at the end they're going to keep it and you will have nothing," he said after the meeting. "We were elected to represent the interests of the district. We can't in good conscience do that."
Rendon said that Oliveira and Robles walking out of the meeting displayed a lack of maturity that was not to be expected from serious public representatives.
"Do you know how many times in the past Adela (Garza) and Rene (Torres) have lost votes on this board and held their composure and didn't walk out of meetings?" he asked bystander. "We have many professionals in the district who will be valuable assets as we set out to forge the sort of agreement with the UT System that will be more even handed and equitable to our taxpayers and students. The work has just begun."

The college district would have been saddled with the remaining $120 million in bond debt, swallowed the $10 million of rent arrears owed TSC by the UT system, and have absolutely nothing to show in return aside from the burnt orange cowhead affixed to the buildings paid by the residents who have been supporting the community college for the past 90 years with their blood, sweat and tears.

Had everything goes the way the Juliet Garcia administration wanted it, TSC today may have been owned lock stock and barrel by the UT System, its president picked by the UT Regents, and all its resident would retain would be a cash-cow taxing entity known as TSC for the UT honchos to continue milking.

For two weeks in a row in early 2011, Garcia's plan was proposed to the trustees.
First, a special meeting called for "a discussion item where legal counsel would analyze the new partnership agreement between UTB and TSC which was meant to establish the basis for the future relationship between the institutions."

Then, a week later, same place, same station, an action item after executive session would have called for the adoption of the new and improved partnership.

And what a partnership it was to be.
No longer would there be the pretense of local control of our community college. In fact, only three trustees (a minority) would have any say so in the selection of its president, with the final decision to be made by the bosses at Austin.

The administration fervently wanted to keep the details of the agreement under wraps until its was a done deal. TSC legal counsel Daniel Rentfro had been overheard warning anyone about releasing any detail of the partnership. Why?

The wording on the draft agreement included language that should raise red flags at every home in the district that has paid taxes to maintain the college operations.

"The new entity, UTB/TSC, is established by the Texas legislature as a new component of the University of Texas System," the partnership read.

"The partners contribute resources, including land, buildings, equipment, bank deposits, investments, and other assets to set up UTB/TSC, for the use and benefit of the new entity. UTB/TSC assumes the outstanding liabilities associated with these assets and the previous operations of UTB and TSC, except that UT System and TSC remain liable for its bond debt."

Between the lines, the $10 million in rent arrears that the UT System has incurred and has refused to pay the local taxpayer would be "a wash."

Then, there follow bombshell after bombshell.

* "Authority: The UT Board of Regents, as the managing partner will manage the business and affairs of UTB/TSC on behalf of the Partnership, except for (1) major organizational divisions which require consent of both partners, and (2) day to day operational decisions, which are vested in the administration of UTB/TSC.

"President: Selection and appointment of the President of UTB/TSC will be subject to and governed by state law, the UT Board of Regents and the Rules and Regulations, with a formal process that solicits the advice of members of the Board of Trustees, including discussions of the final candidates in a joint executive session. The formal process requires that the Presidential Selection Committee will include three members of the Board of Trustees. The president will be an employee of UTB/TSC and may be removed by the Board of Regents...

"Other Officers of UTB/TSC: The President may designate and remove other officers and assign them duties and powers as needed for the management of UTB/TSC.

Then, a few more goodies for Juliet.

Funding and Resources: "UTB/TSC will receive maintenance and operations tax revenue collected by the TSC District and not required for debt service. A portion of the tax revenue will be used for the TSC Board of Trustees Scholarships for students living in the TSC District."

As we said at the start, we don't know how close we came to losing our beloved community college.
Now, five years later, we have a community college in a rebuilding stage.
*Stand-alone accreditation has been achieved.
*Tuition was lowered by 35 percent (almost $1,000 less per semester).
*TSC employees received raises in 2014 and 2015.
*And enrollment has grown from 3,673 in Fall of 2013 (when TSC gained operational independence) to 5,044 in Spring of 2016.
The success of the TSC college board in making TSC an affordable, accessible rung to higher education for everyone is enough of a reason to celebrate. On to the next 90.