News from the Superintendent: March 1, 2011

March 1, 2011

Good afternoon.

We’re just past the halfway point of the New Mexico Legislative Session. Though we don’t have firm numbers from the state Legislature just yet, our budget picture has looked a bit better in recent weeks.

First of all, APS’ budget shortfall appears now to be about $26 million, but please remember, this is a fluid number that could change at any time. Even that number seems daunting when it comes to cutting costs, but it’s more manageable than the $41 million we had been looking at. According to the Finance Department, the rise in electricity costs does not look as severe as it once did. We are still projecting $10 million less in state funding, and a $16 million increase in fixed costs like utilities, insurance and increases in teacher pay because of the tier system.

Finance has worked out a formula in which non-school departments will need to cut 12.8 percent from their budgets, with a 5 percent cut for schools. It’s not ideal to be cutting at the school level again, but we believe we’ve found a balanced point that makes the least impact on schools. In other words, we could raise non-school cuts to try to lower the burden for schools, but it doesn’t offset as easily as you might think. For example, if we raised non-school cuts to 16 percent, that would only reduce school cuts to about 4.75 percent.

As I continue to say, the money is in the schools. That’s where it should be.

The plan right now is for schools to receive the budget call the week after spring break. The district will, then, begin reviewing school budgets in early April.

That’s where we stand at the moment. The next few weeks should tell us more. Until then, we will continue to monitor progress in Santa Fe and make projections based on the best information available. The latest budget information is posted on the APS website.

Thank you for your continued feedback and support.

Have a great week.

Winston Brooks
Superintendent