STAFFORD, Texas – More than 3,000 children and their parents are facing the possibility that their schools will lose their campus security officers, just weeks before classes are scheduled to start.
Stafford Municipal School District has been informed by the city of Stafford that a nearly four-decade tradition of providing dedicated campus police officers at no cost will end.
Instead, the city is offering the school district a so-called "interlocal agreement" that attaches a roughly $186,000 annual fee to the service. Such agreements are common between government agencies.
"They can afford it several times over," Mayor Leonard Scarcella said.
Scarcella is the second-longest current serving mayor in the United States. He's held the job since 1969.
"At the last minute, we get a bill for $185,000. Our students will have security. We have a special board meeting called for next Thursday where will discuss our options," Chris Caldwell, president of the Stafford MSD School Board, said.
Caldwell said some of those options include contracting with another agency for campus security.
"This city and every council member takes an oath to uphold the laws of the state of Texas. We cannot ignore that," the mayor said.
The mayor and Stafford chief of police, Richard Ramirez, said a recently discovered, but long on the books, provision of government code requires a written agreement between the two agencies and that the city is required to charge a fee to recover actual costs.
This is the law to which the police chief refers. On Friday, Chanel 2 Investigates could not find the provision requiring a fee be charged; however, the practice is common.
"They should absolutely be worried in a time in our country where school security is a big issue. We should be concerned," Stafford City Council member A.J. Honore said.
Honore was the one dissenting vote in the move to charge the school district for security services.
On Friday, the mayor issued assurances that regardless of whether the school district signs the new agreement, in cases of emergencies, and even regular beat checks, Stafford's Police Department would be available to any of the five schools in the district.
"Wild horses wouldn't keep us away," the mayor said.