Glenn, I have one question. Are the children that are not going to be able to get a ride on the bus to school living in the USA? If not, who is paying the taxes to fund the school that they are attending? If they are living in Mexico, why are they going to school in the US? Lacy

Roy,
Yes, the children live their homes on the U.S. side during the week in Candelaria and these children are U.S. citizens. Their parents who may or may not be U.S. citizens and some are also have residences in Mexico and own or rent houses in Candelaria so the kids may go to school. But the non-citizen parents may not work legally on the Texas side. Renters do not pay property taxes. Anyone who owns property in Presidio County pays the school taxes. Just like in San Angelo where property owners foot the bill for educating the children of renters. The same probably goes for taxpayers in any other place in the U.S.

The children also live in Mexico with their parents on weekends, during the summer or when ever they can. They are going to school in the U.S. to learn English and because their school in San Antonio del Bravo has been closed. There is no other place for them to go to school. The schoolteacher in San Antonio was shot and killed on the steps of the school and no longer operates. This has long been a thorn in the side of the Presidio ISD. The two room Candelaria school became known as the "wetback school" in its century of existence and the Presidio ISD solved their problem by simply closing the school a few years ago. They also closed the Redford school. Now the kids spend more than two hours a day on a bus in order to get an education. This is very hard for them especially the little ones. The Border Patrol today uses the Candelaria school buildings and property as a base of local operations. It costs the school district more money to run the buses back and forth that it did to operate the school. It costs the district the same to pay the teachers in Presidio or Candelaria.

There are no quick and easy answers for all this. The good decent folks on the river do their best to make a living for their families and get an education for their children. The result of the border crossing closing at Lajitas only brought economic ruin to the Mexican town across the river when the lifeblood of the community, tourism, was cut off. The school on the Mexican side at Paso Lajitas closed and the good people had to move away. Now Paso Lajitas is a ghost town, only to the benefit of the smugglers.

Gj

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