APS Budget Outlook Better

The budget outlook for Albuquerque Public Schools is rosier than it has been for the past several years, and administrators say they believe they can keep cuts completely away from schools.

But the good news comes with a caution:

“It’s important that you know that you’re not going to see class sizes shrinking next year,” APS Chief Financial Officer Don Moya told a group of parents Thursday. “There’s not going to be this huge change in the way school is being run from this year to next year. There’s not going to be a lot more teachers, and class sizes are going to stay relatively the same.”

Moya projected that APS will have to cut about $5.3 million from its 2012-13 operating budget, after factoring in the increased cost of utilities and of teachers moving up through the three-tier licensure system, entitling them to more pay. The expected cut is slightly less than 1 percent of the APS budget.

Moya, during a detailed presentation, said although APS is receiving more money this year than last, increased costs are outstripping the gains. APS is also set to lose some state money because enrollment fell this year by about 780 students.

Moya said the budget forecast means most schools will be funded at the same levels as last year, and the district will find other ways to cut the $5.3 million. Moya said the district may be able to cut $2.5 million by paying school nurses through the district’s Medicaid grant, which APS has done for the past few years to ease pressure on the operating budget.

Moya said there is additional money for education “below the line,” meaning it will not flow to districts through the state education funding formula but will be designated for specific programs by the state Public Education Department. That money will not be included in the APS operating budget, because the district doesn’t know how it will be distributed, or what kinds of restrictions will be placed on it. The money is earmarked for things like early reading programs or interventions in schools that received “D” or “F” grades under the new A-F school grading system.

Moya emphasized that despite the improved budget outlook, APS is “still under water,” after trimming a total of about $100 million from its operating budget in the past several years. While the district has avoided widespread layoffs, it has eliminated more than 500 teaching and educational assistant positions through attrition in the past three years. APS is operating with a waiver that allows it to exceed class size caps by up to 7 percent. This means some high school classes can have up to 32 students, while upper elementary classes can have up to 26 students. And because those are schoolwide averages, some classes may be larger.

Jay Zook, a parent who attended Thursday’s meeting and who ran for a school board seat last year, said he is disappointed schools won’t receive more funding. He said his daughter’s school is “barely hanging on” and doesn’t have enough staff.

He said he is concerned about schools having enough money for new programs, like the Common Core standards to be adopted in the next few years by New Mexico and other states.

“If you’re saying the budget next year is the status quo, we didn’t have enough money to train our teachers now,” Zook said. “Now we’re going to a Common Core that all the teachers are going to have to be trained on. And they can’t take it out of the current budget because we don’t have any increase in money.”
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal