News from the Superintendent: February 22, 2010

March 2, 2010

Good morning.

The New Mexico Legislature’s regular 30-day Session ended last week without resolution of the budget issue. However, legislators will be back at it Wednesday in a special session called by the governor.

We still don’t quite know what to expect. A budget may be presented on Wednesday. We’ve been told we may see anything from no cuts to a 5.6 percent cut. The latter would be huge, equal to about $35.1 million. When asked if we could live with a budget that included a 1.5 percent cut, I told those legislators no, because we’ve already cut 2.5 percent, or about $26 million, in the past 18 months.

Is there still some fat that could be trimmed? Maybe, but there are many non-classroom services that have to be considered essential. I doubt we’d get along very well without a payroll department or IT, for example. As for our essential mission to educate, we can’t improve this school district by spending less and less money.

Let me take a moment to thank our legislative team of Joseph Escobedo, Carrie Menapace and Art Melendres. They have done a phenomenal job up in Santa Fe. They’ve been up there at all hours advocating for our students and employees. I truly believe that the view legislators have of APS has improved because of them.

We’ll let you know when we have further news from the special session, and you can read more about other legislation affecting APS on the website at http://www.aps.edu/about-us/legislative-affairs.

Two very special events are happening this week that I’d like to remind you about. More than 700 students in grades 1-12 will participate in the Festival de Bellas Artes, a unique showcase of multicultural music and dance. It’s the brainchild of Washington Middle School chorus teacher Anne Marie Strangio, who has put together what should be an amazing experience for singing, dancing and instrumental groups. There are workshops and performances for school groups on Thursday and Friday, then a concert for the public at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the National Hispanic Cultural Center. Call Washington at 764-2000 for more information. Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry is scheduled to speak, and our own associate superintendent for middle schools Ruby Ethridge will give a solo performance.

The annual School to World program for eighth and ninth graders is set for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 27, at the Albuquerque Convention Center. It’s an opportunity for those students to start taking a look at career options with hundreds of representatives of local businesses available to answer students’ questions. Thanks to Join-a-School and Sandia National Labs for making this a great success each year.

Have a great week.

Winston Brooks