Public forums on APS budget can shape spending priorities
Awell-known quote says, “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old but on building the new.”
That is precisely what the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education is trying to do.
It started with adopting goals and guardrails in 2023, then developing a new five-year strategic plan for the district, and, just last month, hiring a new superintendent committed to “building the new.”
Now, we’re turning our attention to the APS budget.
As the chair of the APS Board of Education Finance Committee for the past two years, I know spring can be a contentious time for district leaders and school board members. It’s when we must decide how to balance the books and where to spend taxpayer dollars.
The APS finance team, like the Board of Education, is also changing how it does business, engaging national experts like Edunomics Lab, a leader in the field of education finance, and ERS, a nonprofit that partners with district leaders to transform how they use resources, including people, time and money.
Part of our commitment to change is to engage the community more in our decision-making, which includes getting better at talking to you about our budget.
That’s why the Board of Education and the APS Finance Department are co-hosting two public forums this week to provide more information about the budget process and to listen to you as we build the 2024-25 school year budget.
The schedule for the events is: 6-8 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 26, at the Berna Facio Professional Development Complex, 3315 Louisiana Blvd. NE. This event will also be livestreamed on the APS Board of Education YouTube Channel.
6-8 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 28, at Lyndon B. Johnson Middle School, 6811 Taylor Ranch Dr. NW.
Research from Georgetown University and our experience show that we need to communicate about money in terms of what it does for students and how it aligns with our goals for student outcomes. This requires a culture shift. The budget conversation needs to be less about our challenges and more about the trade-offs we’re willing to make to empower school leaders and central office teams to strategically realign resources to create desired learning opportunities for all students.
As a board, we are committed to:
Offering the public meaningful opportunities to weigh in on the budget
Finding out what budget trade-offs you’re willing to make to improve student outcomes
Talking to you straight, avoiding business lingo and education jargon, and, most importantly,
Following through on what we hear.
We won’t just be talking at you during Monday and Wednesday’s events. Those who attend will be invited to play a Budget Tradeoffs Game where they’ll debate the gives and takes that school districts like APS face each year. We’ll also have opportunities to share your thoughts at the events and online.
With declining student enrollment, rising costs and an increasingly volatile political environment, we need to build more trust. Our district has some tough decisions to make to ensure our students – especially those historically underserved – improve in reading and math and graduate high school with the skills, habits and mindsets for life’s success.
We want your thoughts on leveraging our limited resources to protect what matters most for our students. Please join us this week.