School candidates cool to idea of splitting up APS

A proposal to break up Albuquerque Public Schools into several smaller units failed to receive any explicit support from board of education candidates who spoke Wednesday during a public forum at district headquarters.

Nine candidates — five for District 3 and four for District 5 — addressed a wide range of audience-submitted questions during the meeting, organized by APS administrators to introduce the field. Both sets of contenders addressed the prospect of dividing up APS, which has over 85,000 students in 141 schools spread across nearly 1,200 square miles.

In District 5, representing the West Mesa area, three candidates did not support a division, while one, Kayla Marshall, told the audience she would need to study the issue more closely.

“Is it going to give us better results for our children and our taxpayers?” she asked.

Marshall said, regardless of district structure, she would like to see more control at the school level for principals and teachers.

On the other side, Annie BellRahman, a former educator, said APS needs to come together and boost unity rather than splitting apart.

“We need to have all schools with quality education,” she said.

Candidates Racheal Gonzales and Candelaria Patterson offered similar sentiments.

The pattern was similar among the candidates for District 3, representing the North Valley and Downtown neighborhoods.

Charles White, a retired administrator, said he “is not opposed” to considering a district break-up, but the real issue is educational quality.

“The key for me is what are we doing for our young people — what’s going to work?” he said. “Does it matter what size the unit is?”

White added that he has many questions about the logistics of a division, including how to handle the complexity of different tax bases in different neighborhoods.

Incumbent Lorenzo Garcia also pointed out that areas such as the Northeast Heights have higher incomes but smaller numbers of students. As a result, the Heights would benefit from becoming its own district, while a poorer area would lose out.

Candidates Ali Ennenga and Kathleen Chavez brought up other concerns about a divided district: Would students have to be bussed farther? Could it add up to more layers of

bureaucracy?

“I haven’t made a decision on this because there are a lot of things I need to look at,” Ennenga said.

Amy Legant sees an argument for better connections between the community and the district, though that wouldn’t require an actual division of APS.

The prospect of breaking up APS came up Sunday when City Councilor Dan Lewis announced his candidacy for Albuquerque mayor. Lewis, a Republican who has represented the West Side for two terms, said he believes a smaller district would be more accountable to the community.

On Wednesday, candidates also addressed questions across a wide range of subjects, including charter schools, budgets, teacher evaluations and standardized testing.

Over 100 people attended, though many were district personnel, family members and charter school leaders.

Board of education races have notoriously low turnout.

APS will hold a second candidate forum tonight at district headquarters beginning at 6 p.m. for Districts 6 and 7. For more information, go to www.aps.edu.

The election is Feb. 7.