Citing questions about the budget and transfer policies, two self-described concerned citizens criticized the direction the Cuero ISD is headed during the regular school board meeting on June 19.
In the public comments, Steve Urbanovsky referenced a previous letter he had given to the board regarding the upcoming budget. He said his questions had generally been answered, but he was not fully satisfied and had more questions.
“I am here today to give notice that there is now a concerned community group, regarding those serious issues that we see our school district is facing,” he said. “We will be notifying you with questions and concerns.”
According to Superintendent Dr. Micah Dyer, CISD is looking at a multi-million dollar deficit in the coming school year because of the recently passed state funding formulas, Next to speak was former CISD School Board Trustee B.J. Drehr, who resigned from the board in February after 20 years of service.
B.J. DREHR
He reminded the board that he spoke to them at their March meeting, trying to get clarification on transfer policies.
“I got the same result when this was brought up during the December evaluation – absolutely nothing,” Drehr said.
He said the district was slow in responding to the community about its transfer policies when surrounding districts approved decisions that will affect their students coming to Cuero as they previously would. Earlier this year, Nursery ISD signed a transfer agreement with Victoria ISD, and Westhoff ISD will start a high school in the next school year.
Drehr recalled the lifelong friendships he formed with students from Meyersville, Nursery and Westhoff during his days as a CHS athlete and student.
“Can you honestly say that your life was not shaped for the better by one of your schoolmates that came from these neighboring districts?” he asked board members.
Traditionally, Meyersville, Nursery and Westhoff school districts had agreements with CISD that their graduating 8th graders would be accepted to the district. In the spring of 2024, Dyer told the board that the district’s attorneys advised them not to continue with the automatic acceptance agreements.
“If you go back and look at the board minutes on July 18, [2024], the entire board voted for the change in the transfer policy, including an ex board member,” Dyer said. “And that was after three months of deliberation.”
He said the traditional districts that have fed into Cuero had input. “They added none other than they wanted to keep it exactly the same way it is,” he said.
Later in the meeting, it was mentioned that 200 transfer applications have been approved for next year.
Dyer said the only student not accepted back as a transfer is one who had multiple disciplinary issues over multiple years.
“Under the old policy, we would have been required to take that student back, even though they've been to DAEP multiple times,” Dyer said. “We would have been required or forced to take that kid, regardless. So how was that fair to the taxpayers of Cuero?”
