Albuquerque Public Schools board members are set to finalize the budget for next school year at their May 29 special meeting.
The budget the board will decide on includes $2.15 billion, which covers both APS operations and those of district-authorized charter schools.
The budget includes a 3% raise for all employees, as approved by the New Mexico Legislature earlier this year.
Preparation of the spending plan began shortly after the Feb. 15 end of the legislative session.
District officials provided preliminary information to the board at its Feb. 7 meeting. After that came steering committee meetings, and individual schools and departments within APS then submitted their budget requests.
Principals attended budget workshops in late February, and district officials made presentations to the board on various budget areas at the first meeting of each month since then.
Charter changes
The proposed budget shows substantial changes for six charter schools.
- William W. & Josephine Dorn Community Charter School will “pause” for a year; its budget was $843,928 for fiscal year 2023-2024.
- Voz Collegiate Preparatory Charter School’s expected state aid is up 85.36% to $1,365,290. The school is expanding into high school over the next four years, starting with the addition of ninth grade in 2024-2025.
- Siembra Leadership High School is expected to see enrollment increase from 359 this school year to a projected 380 in 2024-2025. That will mean its allocation from the state will rise from $3,537,978 to $5,138,537.
- An increase in program units at Coral Community Charter School means its state aid will rise 25.94% to 2,833,872.
- Decreases in program units mean New America School and Robert F Kennedy High School will see their state aid drop by 15.8% and 14.14%, respectively.
Program units, under state law, are used to calculate the cost of educating a student. The Legislature’s glossary defines a kindergartner’s seat in a classroom as 1.44 program units, while each student in grades 7-12 is counted as 1.25 program units.
Bigger APS role on intergovernmental commission
The board will also be asked to consider the approval of an intergovernmental agreement with Albuquerque and Bernalillo County that would recreate the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Government Commission as the Local Government Coordinating Commission. Currently, APS holds two advisory seats on the city-county commission.
Board of Education President Danielle Gonzales said earlier that the change will make the district a voting member of the commission.
Members Courtney Jackson and Heather Benavidez would continue to represent APS on the new commission.
Calendar change
The other action item on the agenda is a slight change to the 2024-2025 academic calendar. If the change is approved, the second semester would begin Jan 7, one day later than planned and a staff professional development day would be moved from that day to May 30, 2025, which is the last day of school in the calendar approved in February.
Channell Segura, chief of schools, wrote in an action report included in the agenda the recommended change is in response to concerns about the last day of school being a full day.