Officials speak for troubled charter school
Local elected officials rallied for La Promesa Early Learning Center on Tuesday morning, appealing to the Public Education Commission to give the embattled charter school a chance to fix its serious financial problems.
Bernalillo County Commissioners Steven Michael Quezada and Debbie O’Malley and Albuquerque City Councilors Ken Sanchez and Klarissa Peña argued that the PEC should give La Promesa time and hold off on pulling its charter. “This is about fairness,” O’Malley said. Earlier this month, the PEC voted 5-3 to hold a charter revocation hearing in March, citing a recent audit from the Office of the State Auditor. The audit listed nine findings for La Promesa, including missing or inaccurate documents, overpayments and late payments.
According to State Auditor Tim Keller, the school’s books were so sloppy that he could not render a judgment about its finances for fiscal year 2016.
But Sanchez said La Promesa is responding to the criticism and working to change. New administrators have taken over and improved practices, hiring an experienced business manager and Governance Council president.
“The team that is here today. They deserve an opportunity to succeed,” he said.
Quezada, a former Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education member, stressed that La Promesa is filling a critical need by offering dual-language curriculum for about 360 students in kindergarten through eighth grades. The school — located at 7500 La Morada NW — serves the West Side, which struggles with overcrowded classrooms.
“We don’t have room for more kids,” Quezada said. “We are building a brand new school down the road, and that will be at maximum when we open it.”
But New Mexico Public Education Department spokesman Robert McEntyre said the state must hold all schools to high standards. La Promesa, which has an F report card grade, has struggled with its finances and academics.
“Our kids can’t wait, and they don’t deserve to have their education put on hold while adults fix problems that never should have happened in the first place,” McEntyre said in a prepared statement. “We’ve always supported high-quality options for New Mexico’s parents, but they must be high-quality and we’ll continue to hold our charter schools to a high academic and financial standards — regardless of where they are or who runs them.”
PED took over La Promesa’s finances in August and recommended that the commissioners pull its charter.
Chris Jones, La Promesa executive director, acknowledged that the audit findings are serious, but he said he has taken the initiative to improve bookkeeping.
The issues occurred under former executive director Analee Maestas, who is no longer associated with the school, Jones said.
Maestas, an Albuquerque Public Schools board member, is facing fraud allegations that could lead to criminal charges and the loss of her education licenses. Keller determined that she had written over a receipt to receive improper reimbursement for maintenance work done at her home, not the school.
Dan Garcia, grandfather of a La Promesa second-grader, told the Journal he feels confident Jones can fix the issues.
“If it is just accounting, lots of places have accounting problems,” he said.
Garcia plans to attend the PEC hearing in Santa Fe to speak out for La Promesa.
The school will be shut down this summer if it loses its charter.