Serving two masters? Not a good idea

Rudy Garcia has big decisions ahead. The Santa Fe County employee already was appointed to the Board of Education for Santa Fe Public Schools. Then, on Tuesday, Garcia won the Democratic nomination for the Board of County Commissioners — he likely could win, too, as there is no GOP opponent and just an independent candidate in the race.

Being elected commissioner would mean Garcia would have to juggle serving on both the school board and the commission. At least he won’t be working full time at the county, as he can’t really be both boss and employee.

Still, Garcia is unsure whether he wants to quit the school board to serve on the commission. He has said he thinks he can do both jobs. The board and commission both meet on Tuesdays, but on different days of the month generally, so he could juggle the meetings — barely.

But meetings are just the public face of the work elected officials do. The other duties — hours of reading reports, meeting with constituents and staying up to speed on the issues — are time-consuming, especially in the beginning. And Garcia is in the beginning of both elected positions. He only was appointed to the board late last year; then, he promised to serve out the term and run for election. He did not say he also would be running for county commission.

To be fair, it’s not as though people are clamoring for school board appointments. Garcia stepped up — one of only two people to apply for a seat vacated by state Rep. Linda Trujillo. Too many times, board members run unopposed. There is a bigger issue here — how can Santa Fe Public Schools attract capable people to run and serve on the Board of Education? These should be people, as President Steven Carrillo stated, who want to serve as school board members, not just as a path to a higher office. The question for current board members is: Who could they find to replace Garcia?

If he left, would anyone else volunteer to serve? At the same time, we find it difficult to see how Garcia can do the best job possible for both the county and the school district. It’s just too much work, especially with school board elections not taking place until November 2019 because of a new law that reset the dates for local elections. That would mean 10 months of a balancing act.

For now, Garcia can dedicate most of his time to his board service — and there’s a summer break, too, giving everyone a breather. He will be campaigning, of course (even as an independent, former Commissioner Mike Anaya is a formidable opponent). But Garcia also should be recruiting, looking for someone who wants to be on the school board and who could apply to represent south-side Santa Fe schools should he win.

That would be a lasting legacy — putting in the hard work while a board member and then helping recruit an able replacement.

After all, here’s what Garcia told reporter Tripp Stelnicki: “My dream has always been to be a county commissioner.”

With that dream in reach, it could be time to let someone else take on school board duties.