With enrollment declining in Albuquerque Public Schools, Board of Education members are looking for the best way to spend the district’s money and improve student outcomes.
At Wednesday’s meeting, board members asked administrators about budget plans, programs and their effectiveness.
Tutoring programs
Board Member Courtney Jackson had questions about Paper, an online tutoring program designed to help students outside the classroom.
Administrators said some 30,000 parents gave consent to use Paper, though 50 of the district’s 143 schools have yet to complete initial training. Joyce Gormley, APS’ assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, said district leadership will be talking with those schools to get them on board.
She also said the district has a full-time customer service specialist who goes to schools and provides the training and is looking to hire a second.
The program is effective among those using it, she said, and she has seen students’ interaction with tutors on the platform and noticed students being guided as they figure out how to complete assignments.
She said she’s hoping to have parental consent for Paper use embedded into enrollment paperwork next school year. APS has purchased about 52,000 licenses for the program, Gormley said. That’s enough for every student in grades 3 through 12.
When Jackson asked about whether she felt Paper was a good use of district dollars, Gormley said she did.
“Had I not been able to witness the responses from the tutor. I may not be as encouraged as I am,” she said. “But so far, Paper’s extremely responsive to our needs. They’re doing everything that we request, and so we just need to keep in contact with them.”
She said APS may be able to reduce its costs by looking at fees based on usage, rather than just paying for a certain number of licenses.
Paper, along with Transformational Opportunity Pilot Schools — which have a longer school day, and are aimed at improving student outcomes — are among programs identified by district leaders as priorities as APS looks for ways to continue programs for which outside funding is no longer available.
Enrollment drop tightens budget
The discussion came as part of a budget update in which administrators talked about the district’s spending plans for this fiscal year and 2024-2025.
District officials have said the budget will drop from $2.167 billion for the current fiscal year to about $1.9 billion for 2024-2025.
Rosalinda Montoya, the district’s executive director of budget and strategic planning, said the budget team projected a 2% decline in enrollment in the fiscal year 2022-2023. The actual drop was 5%, she said, resulting in a $2.5 million reduction in revenue from the state.
Montoya said administrators will bring a budget adjustment reflecting the deficit to the board later this month. She said declining enrollment is a reality across the country.
One more budget update is scheduled for discussion purposes before the board approves a 2024-2025 budget at its May 29 meeting.
‘Hard decision’ on NMSBA award nominee
The board also voted Wednesday to nominate Angelina Olivas, a senior at Atricso Heritage Academy High School, for the New Mexico School Boards Association 2024 Student Scholarship.
Board member Janelle Astorga, who sat on the nominating committee, said Olivas was chosen from the 24 students previously named Selfless Seniors by their schools. She said the committee evaluated each candidate on factors that included leadership, academic achievement, community involvement and extracurricular activities.
“This was a very hard decision,” Astorga said. “There were some amazing students (who) did a lot of work. You can just tell that they were very committed to their education.”
Annabella Beck of Cibola High School and Sinachi Oaxaca of Albuquerque High School were named as alternate nominees. The award recipients will be named in May.
Get involved
The Board of Education next meets at 5 p.m. Wednesday, April 17 in the John Milne Community Board Room at district headquarters, 6400 Uptown Blvd. It will also be viewable on the APS Board of Education YouTube Channel.