Public invited to Albuquerque Public Schools forum for school board candidates

The nine candidates vying for seats on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education will have the chance to make their case to voters at a forum Wednesday at the district’s headquarters.

This November, voters in APS Districts 3,5, 6 and 7 will elect representatives to the governing body of the largest school district in New Mexico.

Among those nine are two incumbents: District 3 Board Member Danielle Gonzales, the board’s president, and District 7 Board Member Courtney Jackson, the board’s vice president. The current District 5 and District 6 representatives are not seeking reelection.

The forum will be held at the Alice and Bruce King Educational Complex, 6400 Uptown NE, in the John Milne Community Board Room from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.

At stake is control of the board by either union or corporate interests.

The Albuquerque Teachers Federation has endorsed a candidate in each race except for District 5. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a candidate in all races, including the two incumbents.

Currently, each faction has three members on the seven-member board. There is one board member, elected in 2023, who was not endorsed by either faction.

The candidates will answer questions submitted by the public.

“All nine candidates will answer the same questions. Because there will only be enough time for about 10 questions, similar questions will be combined to allow for the greatest variety of questions,” according to APS’ website.

Until 2019, the district held its own elections separate from the general local elections in November. Then, the Legislature passed the Local Election Act, requiring school board elections to take place in conjunction with other municipal races.

As a result of that change, the landscape around school board races has changed, said Brian Sanderoff, a longtime local pollster and the president of Research & Polling.

“Under the old system, when the school board candidates were running in a separate APS election, there were so few people who voted that you could actually gain access to those people who traditionally vote in those 5%-10% turnout races,” Sanderoff said. “Now, with an estimated turnout of one-third of the voters in the district, it’s harder to reach them.”

He added that because of the broader scope of people turning out, the campaign cost has increased. As the cost and voter turnout have changed, so has the balance of power on the board.

Historically, endorsements and funding from the local teachers union or the metro area’s business community power players have been key in the battle for power on the APS board. Before the charter change, the teachers’ union had an easier time getting its candidates on the board.

“Under the pre-2019 system, where voter turnout was much smaller, I think APS employees comprised a larger proportion of the voters, and oftentimes the APS employees were supporting the teacher federation candidate,” Sanderoff said. “I don’t think the business community was as mobilized. The teachers’ unions were mobilized, and the proportion of the electorate was much smaller.”

In 2021, when Districts 3,5, 6, and 7 were last up for grabs, the business community backed candidates won three of the four open seats, gaining a majority on the board. Prior to the 2021 election, union backed candidates held the board majority for at least a quarter-century.

District 3 covers the city’s north-central corridor and stretches across the river to Corrales, bordering Rio Rancho Public Schools. District 5 encompasses the city’s central and far West Side, bordered on the east by District 3.

District 6 accounts for the foothills, part of Uptown and the lower end of the Northeast Heights, stretching to the East Mountains. District 7 covers the northern part of the foothills and the north end of Northeast Heights. It is bordered on the west by Interstate 25.

Election Day is Nov. 4. Early voting begins Oct. 7 and ends Nov. 1.