Teofilo Ozuna, dean of the College of Business Administration at UTPA. (Photo: RGG/Steve Taylor)

McALLEN, Aug. 16 - One of the interim charges given to the Committee on Border and Intergovernmental Affairs by Texas House Speaker Joe Straus was to study ways of improving economic conditions along the border.

State Rep. Veronica Gonzales, who chairs the committee, is slated to hold a hearing on the issue in Austin on Aug. 27. In preparation, the McAllen Democrat held a forum last week at the McAllen Chamber of Commerce to hear from business, economic development and education leaders from the Upper Rio Grande Valley.

“It was important that I got the pulse of where things are at with our economy. I needed to hear from the various leaders on where they see the growth trends and where they see a decline,” Gonzales told the Guardian, at the end of a meeting that lasted 2 ½ hours. Committee Clerk David Wilkie was on hand to take notes.

Not surprisingly, higher education and workforce training were seen as critical components to improving the Valley’s economic prospects. Steve Ahlenius, president and CEO of the McAllen Chamber, pointed to the “critical mass” in good paying jobs that has been achieved in places like Raleigh-Durham in North Carolina, otherwise known as the Research Triangle, thanks to local universities offering many master’s degrees.

Wanda Garza, executive officer for North American Advanced Manufacturing Research and. Education Initiative, said it did not help when “roadblocks” were put up that stopped higher education institutions like South Texas College from developing key programs. Specifically, Garza referred to STC’s wish to move forward with a new bachelor’s degree in applied technology. She said the Legislature had approved the degree course but the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board had not allowed STC to implement it. “That is not acceptable,” Garza said.

Teofilo Ozuna, dean of the College of Business Administration at the University of Texas-Pan American, agreed with Garza. He said UTPA was also being “held back.”

Gonzales told the Guardian later that she was disturbed to learn that degree programs that the Valley urgently needs, such as applied technology, were not being introduced in a timely manner.

“Having advanced degrees is very critical to the Rio Grande Valley. We do not want to be stifled in our growth by not being allowed to pursue advanced degrees and having our students have to travel to another part of the state or the country to get that type of education,” Gonzales said.
   
Gonzales said education is the foundation to a vibrant economy. Noting that the state of Texas is facing a major budget shortfall, she said it was critical that the Legislature look anywhere but skills development when it comes to cutting the state’s budget in 2011.

“If you have the education, you will attract better paying jobs. So, when we are looking at cuts one of the areas we cannot afford to cut is skills development, especially in areas that have low wages and high unemployment, like the Rio Grande Valley,” Gonzales told the Guardian.

Keith Patridge, president and CEO of the McAllen Economic Development Corporation, said the Legislature made a big mistake when it left UTPA out of the pool of universities earmarked for Tier One status in future years. On a brighter note, Patridge said MEDC was actively trying to get more companies to move their corporate headquarters to the Valley. He said that so far, said six had done so.

McAllen City Manager Mike Perez said there is a definite correlation between income levels and educational achievement. He said that average income level in the McAllen area is $20,000 a year while in other parts of Texas it is $40,000. Perez said the Valley will be “left for dust” if it does not start planning for more “white collar” jobs.

Interviewed by the Guardian after the forum, Perez said he, Ahlenius and Patridge meet for breakfast every Tuesday morning to discuss the long term economic potential for the Valley. He said the region could not rely on having a low wage economy ten to 20 years from now. 

“When Keith and Steve and I meet we talk about what we want to be not in the next six months but what we are going to be like in the next five, ten, 15 years, 20 years. We have to lay that groundwork today,” Perez said.

“Manufacturing is moving offshore but there is still a lot of manufacturing in the U.S. and we think it can be here (in the Valley) for another ten or 15 years. But, we have to make that next leap forward for the white collar jobs.”

Perez the City of McAllen was right to invest in the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, otherwise known as Project VIDA a Valley Interfaith initiative that assists adults as they learn to be nurses and engineers, etc. Gonzales also praised the program, pointing out that the Legislature had, last year, provided $700,000 to the State Comptroller’s Jobs, Employment and Training (JET) Fund for the project.

Perez said it was also important that higher education opportunities are available in those communities that neighbor the McAllen MSA. “The people that work in Hidalgo County do not stop at the county lines. We have a lot of people who work in Hidalgo County but live in Cameron County and vice versa,” he said.

Mario Reyna, dean of business and technology at STC, pointed out that tuition rates in the Valley are much higher than other parts of the state. He gave Plano as an example of a much more prosperous and high cost community that offers much lower tuition fees for its students.

Mike Willis, executive director of the South Texas Manufacturers Association, said there appeared to be an “unintended bias” in the way the Governor’s Texas Enterprise Fund was operating which favored bigger cities. Pat Townsend, president and CEO of Mission Economic Development Authority, questioned whether that bias was unintended.

Interviewed after the event had concluded, UTPA’s Ozuna said the forum had been very useful.

“What I liked today was the importance of higher education for the Rio Grande Valley and the focus on entrepreneurship and how really it is all about creating jobs here, facilitating the growth of jobs here and how we can hire more of our own workforce,” Ozuna said. “It is also important we attract more corporate headquarters to the area. White collar jobs that are very important.”

Gonzales agreed. “I want legislators from other parts of Texas to know that if you travel to our part of the border you are going to see some the largest companies in the world. They may not have their corporate headquarters here but they have plants here. Our goal over time is have them bring their headquarters here,” Gonzales said.

Gonzales also said she would be talking with other members of the Valley legislative delegation to see if one of the members would request a slot on the House Committee on Higher Education. The nearest the Valley has to having a local representative on the panel is state Rep. Joaquin Castro of San Antonio, she said.

Write Steve Taylor

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