It’s uncommon for Public Education Commission (PEC) races to be very competitive. Commissioners are unpaid, and although the work is similar to that of a statewide school board, the agency only evaluates the charter schools it authorizes.
“We get to see the fruits of our labor,” said current PEC Chair Patricia Gipson, “more than traditional school board members get to see the actual changes that are going on and the effects on individual students.”
But after 12 years on the Commission, Gipson is leaving the Commission in part, she said, because “there's challenges with how the PEC is structured, as we're financially attached to the PED [Public Education Department].”
The PED oversees the funding for all of New Mexico’s public schools through the state's per-pupil funding formula. The New Mexico Legislative Education Study Committee maintains the state-chartered schools overseen by the PEC get their funding allocations directly from the state. Of that funding, two percent of it goes to the PEC. But the PEC doesn't get unfettered access to that money, which, this fiscal year, amounted to $5.7 million.
“PED has traditionally used it as a rainy day fund of several million dollars,” said Gipson, “and our being able to access that money, have control over our staff, have a say in who our staff is, has been a constant source of frustration.”
Candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties filed to replace her seat in District 7, which represents Las Cruces and the surrounding area south to the border. But in PEC District 3, which overlaps with central and western Albuquerque, the Democratic Party’s candidate choice prompted a former Democrat to run with the newly certified Forward Party.
“Your budget is your moral document,” said Democrat Jacob Trujillo, who is similarly frustrated. He has been sitting in the District 3 seat since June, when the governor appointed him to fill the seat vacated by the former commissioner’s resignation. “Right now [the budget] doesn't show that we have a whole ton of morals.”
Trujillo is chair of the Bernalillo County Democrats. So when he decided to run for the District 3 seat going forward – terms are 4 years – he quickly secured his party’s consent.
“There's a lot of things that we can do to improve the PEC,” said Trujillo, “and just make the entire thing more professional.”
His opponent, Dennis Dinge, switched from the Democratic Party some years ago, and made it on the ballot through the newly certified Forward Party. To Dinge, the two-party system is flawed and that’s why the Forward party is necessary.
“When you disagree with your party,” said Dinge, “you should have an option of someone to vote for, who isn't someone you would never vote for.”
But Dinge’s disagreement with the Democratic party’s choice doesn’t extend to Trujillo himself.
“I'm not going to say anything bad about him,” said Dinge, “because I don't think anything bad about him. I think he's the same way, and that's the way an election should be. It should be a competition of ideas.”
As far as those ideas, the candidates have a lot in common: both see charter schools as places to experiment with different approaches to education; both candidates also think the PEC needs to improve communications so that lessons learned about what works in one school gets transferred to other schools. Where the candidates differ is in how they would evaluate charter schools and improve communications.
As a long-time scientist, Dinge seeks data to solve problems, so he wants the PEC to employ more data-driven decisions. Trujillo, a field representative for Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury, thinks commissioners should be doing school visits.
Outgoing PEC chair Patricia Gipson said the priority should be gaining more independence from the state’s Public Education Department.
“It's always having to ask ‘Mother may I,’” says Gipson. “We're an elected body. We should be able to function completely and thoroughly as any other agency.”
That could take an act of the legislature. But it would at least mean revisiting the official memorandum of understanding between the Public Education Department and the Public Education Commission, which was last updated in 2021.
Please note: Prior to airing this story – first on Monday, November 2, before Trujillo won – the PED did not respond to a request for comment about the department’s alleged use of PEC’s allocation as a rainy-day fund. KUNM will update this post if they do.
