News from the Superintendent: March 8, 2010

March 8, 2010

Good afternoon.

Some good news for public education to report today. The special session of the New Mexico Legislature ended late last week with a budget proposal that cuts education funding by about 1.2 percent for the next year. We will begin planning on how this cut will affect the district, but it could have been worse, with some versions of the budget cutting education by $35 million.

The budget bill still requires the governor’s signature to become official, and he may tweak some of the new or reinstated taxes included in it. However, it appears that public education has been cut. Let’s remember that we still have to be careful about how dollars are spent. I want to remind you that during the 2009 Special Session the district saw a 2 percent cut, or $12.2 million. In addition, I have cut nearly $15 million, mostly from administration.  This brings the total cuts over the past two years to about $27 million in the district. 

I would like to thank our legislators for their hard work and the time they spent finding ways to work around further funding cuts to education. This was not a simple task, and I appreciate their time and effort in listening to our concerns.

We don’t have all the details, but you can read more about other legislation affecting APS on the website at Legislative Affairs. The March 1 update has a link to a full list of the bills that APS tracked.

As we start to work on the APS budget for 2010-11, which is expected to be about $674 million, the public has once again been asked for input. The APS Budget Office is hosting a series of community meetings, with the next one scheduled for 7 p.m., Tuesday, at La Cueva High School.

We have received more than 200 comments about the proposed start and end times for schools next year. Again, we’re looking at having the elementary school day run from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 2:25 p.m.; high schools from 8:35 a.m.-3:10 p.m.; and middle schools 9:15 a.m.-3:45 p.m. Please feel free to continue sending comments to superintendent@aps.edu.

We will hold a series of community meetings later this month on school start times. They are scheduled for March 23 at La Cueva High School; March 25 at Cibola; April 6 at Highland; and April 8 at West Mesa. All will begin at 6 p.m.

Have a great week and a safe spring break.

Winston Brooks
Superintendent