Education Secretary: LCPS should have anticipated budget cuts, not awarded pay raises

Adults over children.

New Mexico’s Education Secretary told ABC-7’s New Mexico Mobile Newsroom that is the reason the Las Cruces Public Schools District was forced to cut 600 kids from its summer learning program.

The school board gave teachers pay raises in October before it knew the state legislature would cut millions of dollars from education.

“(The district) chose to give pay raises – and I’m all for paying our teachers and paying them well – but in tight fiscal times, I think our first priority should be our kids,” Skandera said.

“It’s surprising the secretary would say that because at the time we decided to give raises, primarily to our teachers, we did not know the state Department of Education was going to be cutting funds,” said Jo Galvan, a spokesperson with LCPS.

600 students won’t be able to participate in this year’s K3+ summer learning program. It allows children to spend extra time inside the classroom. This summer, due to budget cuts imposed by the state legislature, the district anticipates serving about 2,000 students in 18 schools.

The district says the program, that starts in July, is free and targets lower-income communities and at risk children. As a result of budget cuts, the public education department gave the district $300,000 less than last year, meaning seven schools, like Hillrise Elementary, won’t have the program at all.

“I’m really upset because I feel like this was taken away from our kids,” said Anna Farrell. Her two boys were part of the program at Hillrise last summer.

Farrell said the program was a great opportunity for her boys to continue learning and make progress while school was not in session. She says the program would normally start in July and go through August. She says the kids would spend about four days a week at school, learning, working on assignments while having regular activities like P.E.

Skandera told ABC-7 LCPS should have used federal funds to make up the cost.

Galvan says they did. “We, as a district, have taken on the obligation to try and serve more by supplementing the amounts with federal monies and grant monies,” the district spokeswoman said.

Galvan says that wasn’t enough. She says the board would’ve reconsidered giving teachers raises, had the district known children would pay the price.

“When we’re making tough decisions, they should preserve K3+ and make sure kids have the opportunity to extend the school day not prioritize adult issues over kid issues,” Skandera said.

“Skandera didn’t mention the fact that we didn’t know, at the time we gave raises, that we were going to be cut by the state,” Galvan said.

Galvan said currently, the district is requesting PED to allow students in a non-K3+ school to be able to register at a program where the program is being held. The district has not yet heard back to see if that will be allowed.