APS

Albuquerque Public Schools is holding community forums this week as it stares down budget cuts. While the numbers aren’t finalized, administrators Monday said they expect to be working with around 13% less next fiscal year. They broke down the various pots of money the total will get split into and asked community members which programs they’d prioritize over others. Some participants were displeased, saying they wanted more specifics and more money to work with.

Amid low test scores, sagging enrollment and graduation rates, and a court mandate to provide a more sufficient education to students who’ve been left behind, Albuquerque Public Schools Monday named its next superintendent. Gabriella Durán Blakey was the only internal finalist for the job and said her long history with the district is an asset.

Dozens of families are living at a transformed hotel in Albuquerque, where the unhoused can find refuge and their kids have room to thrive.

Albuquerque Public Schools is seeking the public’s input on the search for its next superintendent. It’s hosting in-person “community conversations” this week and has also posted a survey online. APS is asking community members about the qualities they want to see in the district’s next leader.

Albuquerque residents have several bonds on their ballots this election related to education. Central New Mexico Community College, Albuquerque Public Schools, and city libraries and museums all stand to receive millions in public funding for capital projects. The largest of the three, which will appear on Bernalillo and Sandoval County ballots, is for CNM, which stands to receive $80 million for campus improvements.

Albuquerque Public Schools officially introduced its 5-year strategic plan at a summit Wednesday. Around 200 community members attended the event to hear about the goals and strategies that came out of a year-long process, during which a panel of students shared their thoughts on the plan and other ways APS could improve.

APS has set out four goals in its new strategic plan, Emerging Stronger. The district says it will track its progress toward achieving them over the next five years. But one may be more difficult to measure than the others.

Albuquerque Public Schools has released a 5-year strategic plan for improving student outcomes. The district says over 2,000 students, staff and community members weighed in on the document and it’s the first time its administration and school board have collaborated in this way. Several of the goals focus in on the state’s most underserved students identified in the Yazzie-Martinez ruling.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued an executive order in May creating a new Office of Special Education after a bill stalled during the legislative session. Advocates applauded the move, but the state’s largest school district recently announced it’s cutting certain special education classes.

As students and educators continue to grapple with the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state’s largest school system is seeking public input on its next five-year plan. KUNM’s Taylor Velazquez spoke with the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education president about why this process is different this time around and what issues most concern parents.