Eliminate elected school board at APS

ELECTING BETTER-QUALIFIED and less-criminal Albuquerque Public Schools board candidates, as suggested by Ali Ennenga’s op-ed (“APS board needs to do better for students,” Oct. 27), is a step in the right direction. But so long as school board members are elected in a separate, low-turnout election, the teachers’ union will continue to control the schools and APS performance is unlikely to improve.

One solution is to reschedule school board elections to coincide with state and federal elections. The school board now represents around 18,000 people, fewer than 7 percent of registered voters, who turn out for school elections. The 15,000 APS employees make up a disproportionate share, perhaps a majority, of those voters. Moving this vote to a general election would give us a school board that represents more than 100,000 voters. Higher voter turnout will reduce the influence of special-interest groups such as the teachers’ union.

A better option is to eliminate the elected school board entirely and place schools under the control of the mayor, as a number of cities have done. While that may pose jurisdictional issues where city and school district boundaries do not coincide, voters could hold the most widely elected public official accountable for the school system.

Results of mayor-directed school systems have been mixed, but most have implemented reforms and made significant progress in student outcomes. It’s hard to see how such a move could make APS results any worse.

Best of all, making the mayor responsible for the schools would put educational issues on the front burner. Where they belong. JAMES A. MCCLURE Albuquerque