UPDATE: After this story aired on Tuesday, June 25, La Feria ISD School Board approved the proposed $37 million budget for the 2024-2025 school year. 

The La Feria ISD School Board is meeting on Wednesday evening to discuss their proposed $37 million budget for the upcoming school year.

The new school year starts on Aug. 12, and the district hopes their new police department will be fully operational by then. 

Under the proposed budget, the district plans to hire four police officers and one police chief, but first they will need approval from the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

“We need to do a quick turnaround and get the applications in house and start to hire,” La Feria ISD Chief Financial Officer Julio Cavazos said.

Cavazos says the district had to make cuts to afford the police department's nearly $500,000 startup cost.

“We also had a 5% reduction in our operating cost so all campuses and budget was also decreased 5%," Cavazos said, adding that 15 teacher positions were also cut through attrition.

About $160,000 for the startup cost is coming from the district's general fund, the rest is coming from state and federal funds.

So far, three police vehicles have been purchased. The district still needs to buy uniforms, guns, ammunition and hire officers.

Channel 5 News will update this story once we hear on the action taken by the La Feria ISD School Board on the proposed budget.