PE teachers included in new APS plan

Enrollment will still affect staffing in certain schools

Some elementary school principals from Albuquerque Public Schools breathed a sigh of relief after receiving an updated funding projection, which now includes their physical education teachers.

Earlier this month, principals across the district were given budget previews with a total of 31.5 full-time PE teachers unaccounted for.

After the previews were sent out, APS said the positions weren’t included because elementary PE programs were being further evaluated, saying a budget committee needed to review how schools were given a certain amount of teachers.

The APS Budget Steering Committee wrote to the Board of Education on Thursday that new letters would be sent out assuring principals their PE teachers will remain funded with the same calculations from the prior year, which allows most of the positions being looked at to remain.

But that doesn’t mean everything stays the same.

Three of the schools have been identified for possible position cutbacks due to enrollment changes.

Cochiti, Mountain View and Whittier elementary schools will likely see a reduction due to a drop in enrollment, according to documentation sent to principals.

Enrollment is a key factor in the funding formula that decides how many teachers — including PE teachers — a school gets.

And the three elementary schools aren’t alone; enrollment decline has been a district-wide problem.

In 2016, administrators projected there could be roughly 10,500 fewer students in 2020 than in 2010.

The list shows Cochiti, Mountain View and Whittier are each expected to get a 0.5 reduction

in full-time PE employees.

APS Chief Financial Officer Tami Coleman said the district may not know how the decreases affect individual teachers until the beginning of next year.

“Vacancies happen, people ask to move to other schools and positions — it’s part of the process, and these are just two to three of the puzzle pieces of a 12,000 piece puzzle,” Coleman wrote in an email to the Journal. “Bottom line is these teachers will have options.”

Mountain View principal Anthony Lovato said he was glad and relieved to have gotten the new document from APS.

The original budget preview showed Mountain View would go from two full-time PE teachers to one part time. But the new information showed the school would go to 1.5 PE teachers next school year.

“We are very happy with this decision,” said Lovato.

And Reginald Chavez Elementary School is anticipated to see a 0.5 increase in its allocation because of an uptick in enrollment.

“The budget process is just that, a process. Often, changes are proposed and then adjusted based on school, department and board input. That’s what happened in this case. The process will continue until the budget is approved by the board in May and then approved by the Public Education Department in June,” said APS spokeswoman Johanna King.