APS's lack of transperency a problem

In light of impending budget cuts from the state of New Mexico, Albuquerque Public Schools has responded as usual, threatening to file a lawsuit against the state. Funny how the school district has plenty of money for lawyers to take the state to court and for purchasing downtown property to build a performing arts school but there’s no room for any cuts. Funny, but I can think of two based on that last sentence.

There was a discussion the other morning on the radio, I forget which day because I just started graduate school basically on a whim and it has been a busy week, with callers offering up ideas for APS to trim a little. A reasonable idea considering the current unemployment rate coupled with rising energy and food prices are causing the people of New Mexico to tighten their own budgets. Unfortunately much of the proposals to help APS deal with its need to cut back were unserious.

One caller proposed the shutter of the English as a second language program and another echoed by decrying non-English speakers for not teaching their children English. The supreme court has ruled that the legal resident status of a student cannot be questioned when it comes to public schooling, never mind the fact that there are people in this country legally that do not speak English, the program is actually beneficial because it allows students to integrate into the greater school population instead of them continuing to be a distraction to other students for a dozen years, all the while slipping through the cracks.

Another caller proposed that APS rent out space in their twin high rise buildings located in uptown Albuquerque. The host noted that he didn’t know if there was even any space in the building to be rented. It’s probably correct that there isn’t any space, I was riding past earlier today and the parking lot was stuffed (it was before 3 in the afternoon so most people were still “working”) with some even parking in the thoroughfares about the lot. Besides that, lease rates are not very much right now and why any self respecting business would desire to be co-located with APS is puzzling.

What’s most appalling about the buildings and APS as a whole is that no one knows what the majority of those employed their do. No one is educated in those building yet there are many employees. Why are there so many people employed in a building supporting a school district in which no one learns anything? What duties do they perform and what programs and expenditures are they part of? No one knows. And that’s why when the public offers up ideas they’re trivial, it’s because APS’s operations are shrouded in secrecy, they are never made to account for why they need as much money as they need while at the same time doing an incredibly poor job of educating. Anytime they are called to account they file suit or protest. It’s about time that APS were forced to outline for the public in detail their operations and show why it costs as much as it does.