The La Feria ISD school board held a special meeting on June 25, 2024. Under a proposed budget, the district planned to hire a police chief and four police officers. La Feria ISD recently received its activation letter and made it official by hiring Mr. Carlos Romero. He was the school’s security director and has now been named Chief of Police for the La Feria ISD Police Department.
To make this possible, the district had to make cuts to afford the proposed police department, which has a startup cost of $500,000. Operating costs were reduced by 5%, and all campus budgets would decrease by 5%. Several teaching positions were cut through attrition. A total of $160,000 was obtained from the school district general fund and the remainder from state and federal funds. The school has already purchased three police vehicles.
As the school district ended its contract with the City of La Feria Police Department, they needed a police force within the district. There’s no better time to have a school police force than now, with gun violence at an all-time high…