The school district has 144 schools and 73,000 students, down from 85,000 six years ago.
The report from the powerful Legislative Finance Committee recommended that Albuquerque Public Schools let go 400 of the district's 12,000 employees, but didn't specify how many of the district's increasingly empty schools it should shutter. (AP) - Albuquerque's K-12 schools should cut staff and think about downsizing its footprint because of dwindling enrollment and spend more for the education of low-income students who fell further behind their peers during this school year, according to a report from the New Mexico Legislature made public Wednesday. Elder agrees that some staff need to be cut, as funding declines tied to loss of enrollment are leaving the district with a projected budget shortfall.
Elder pushed back against a recommendation in a report released Wednesday urging the school district to close schools. Comments Albuquerque Public Schools superintendent Scott Elder speaks to members of the state Legislative Finance Committee at the Capital on Wednesday April 27, 2022, in Santa Fe, N.M.
