SFPS misses out on over $1M from state

Inaccurate reporting of teachers’ education credentials to blame

Financially strapped Santa Fe Public Schools lost more than $1 million in state funding during the current fiscal year because it supplied incorrect personnel information about some teachers’ educational attainment, according to newly obtained public records.

The errors occurred between 2013 and 2016 when the district reported some of its nationally board certified teachers had earned master’s degrees though they only had bachelor’s degrees, according to Public Education Department documents obtained by The New Mexican in a public records request.

Educational attainment plays a role in determining the district’s share of State Equalization Guarantee support, which accounts for more than 95 percent of funding for public school districts.

According to a letter sent to the district by the Public Education Department, the discrepancy cost the Santa Fe school district $1,014,554 in its 2017-18 budget.

Superintendent Veronica García said Monday the decline in revenue was slightly offset by a boost in state funding midway through fiscal year 2017-18 but, “Nonetheless, the district was out a million dollars, and I was not happy about that.”

The state held back those increased funds by about $720,000, then reduced the district’s budget by about another $280,000 over the course of the last six months, García said.

While that $1 million loss did not impact any current programs, she said it did limit the district’s ability to hire new employees because most of the reduction was absorbed by not filling job vacancies.

“The net impact is that I did not have that extra revenue,” Garcia said.

The district recently approved a $265 million operating budget for 201819 following weeks of hand-wringing over the need to slash some $1.5 million to $1.6 million in projects and people as it planned for the upcoming school year. The board chose to utilize one-time funds generated by the sale of school property to initiate some new programs and offer bonus pay to employees.

The back-and-forth correspondence between the school district and the education department on an issue known to educational insiders as the Training and Experience Index, indicate that Pamela Bowker, then deputy director of the education department’s budget and finance analysis division, told the district’s former Chief Business Officer, Carl Gruenler, in a December 2012 email exchange that the district could not equate national board certification with a master’s degree.

Some teachers undergo a rigorous professional development program to become nationally board certified, but that designation does not mean a teacher went through the same training it takes to earn a master’s degree, according to the state’s training and experience guidelines.

Though García never cited Gruenler by name in her letters to the education department, she said in a May 7, 2018, letter to that the district’s “chief business officer … promoted the development and adoption” of a board policy to allow such credits.

The board approved that policy in 2015. It was revoked in 2017.

Gruenler joined the district in 2008 and worked in a variety of financial oversight positions, working his way up to chief financial officer. He abruptly resigned from his position in early May as the district was still drafting its final operating budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. At that time, García declined to comment on his departure, citing it as a personnel issue. She declined to comment on Gruenler again on Monday.

The education department also said in its February 2018 report that the district lacked adequate internal controls to process and manage its electronic personnel records. It found, for example, that at least 79 personnel files lacked documentation to prove the work experience reported, and that at least three teachers lacked a license as reported.

In a Feb. 9, 2018, response, García asked the education department for more specifics on those staff members so she could investigate further. As of Monday, the education department had not provided those details, she said.

District spokesman Jeff Gephart said the district does not know which three employees the education department believes do not have licenses, for example, because they were not named in the audit.

In a May 7 letter, the superintendent told the education department that the district will address concerns by establishing “appropriate internal controls” and working with “outside experts to ensure that we have strong alignment and a quality control business,” when it comes to calculating the Training and Experience Index.

School board President Steven Carrillo said Monday, “There may have been some discrepancies [in reporting] that I am certain our district will get to the bottom of — and do so being fully transparent.”

Efforts to reach Gruenler for comment were unsuccessful.