Rio Rancho school board approves legislative priorities

RIO RANCHO — Funding for buses, cybersecurity resources and special education positions were just a few priorities from the 2026 legislative session that the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education approved Monday.

The board passed eight resolutions, each covering different priorities following an Aug. 25 meeting in which they were first discussed.

The board members’ action came on the same day the New Mexico School Boards Association ended its call for all school districts to submit resolutions, which will be used to help form NMSBA’s priorities for the next legislative session — limited to budget and finance matters.

Joe Guillen, executive director of the New Mexico School Boards Association, confirmed in an email to the Observer Tuesday that the SBA received resolutions from Rio Rancho schools.

Here’s a look at the priorities the school board approved:

“Adequate” busesRRPS and school districts throughout the state are calling on the New Mexico governor and Legislature to fund all transportation costs for public and charter schools since not all school districts received enough money to transport their students to school in a timely manner, a resolution said.

RRPS, which released an outside study on its multi-tiered bus schedule earlier this year, stated in the resolution that it needs at least 25 more buses just to cover elementary school students on one tier.

“I think you all know the crazy schedule we have, especially for elementary,” Superintendent Sue Cleveland said during the meeting. “We would like to see that challenge eliminated for our district and others.”

Career-technical

educationThe resolution calls on permanent, per-student funding to cover “the increased costs” of career-technical education operations as well as start-up costs for facilities and equipment.

The funding emphasis should be placed on “future job market needs,” including IT or cybersecurity and trades in which current shortages exist such as “HVAC certification, construction trades, auto mechanics, teaching, and health care,” the resolution states.

The resolution coincides with the opening of RioTECH, the district’s CTE school, at the start of the new school year.

Teacher licensure

advancementAn option within New Mexico’s three-tiered licensure advancement system for teachers ended during the 2023-24 school year, according to an RRPS resolution. That loss put into the spotlight how micro-credentialing limits the number of teachers able to complete advancement requirements, among other issues, the resolution said.

On that note, RRPS would like the Legislature to revive the lost professional development dossier option until a new licensure advancement system can be developed, as well as form a task force to create a new advanced licensure system.

Special education

positionsRetention and recruitment of special education teachers is a challenge due to the nature of their role — and compensation for existing specialists is not commiserate with their duties, according to a resolution.

During Monday’s school board meeting, Cleveland noted that RRPS has 15 special education positions it has not filled and there is “nobody on the horizon” who has applied.

“Then, we end up going out and contracting — and those contractors end up making more money,” Cleveland said.

The resolution calls on the Legislature to increase funding for special education teachers and work with schools to develop a retention and recruitment strategy.

Capital improvement fundingAs construction costs increase, school districts don’t have enough money to meet their construction needs — and putting them off only increases costs, an RRPS resolution stated.

That’s why the school district and others want the Legislature to increase funding for construction projects and decrease the local match requirement allocated to each district.

“We have so many needs that far exceed our ability to bond,” Cleveland said, noting the bond to be placed on the ballot Nov. 4.

Technology counts as a capital project, she said. Cleveland would also like to tear down and replace the aging Rio Rancho Elementary School and Lincoln Middle School.

Cybersecurity and

computer refreshEven as schools face an average of more than one cybersecurity incident per day, many school districts “struggle with insufficient IT resources” and “cannot single-handedly identify and prioritize emerging threats,” according to the resolution.

Cleveland stressed the urgency of the problem, in part, by bringing up the technological difficulties that caused Monday’s school board meeting to have a late start.

“We live and die by our computer system,” Cleveland said. “We need to be sure we can protect our district.”

She added that the school district has a “really strong team” of information technology experts, but it needs funding to “stay ahead” of challenges.

In terms of the computer refresh issue, Cleveland said many of the school district’s machine are “aging out in very large numbers” and an investment between $5-6 million is needed.

“We’d love the state to help with the refresh process,” Cleveland said.

SEG funding formulaRRPS believes the state equalization formula — a decades-old funding mechanism meant to provide “fair and equitable support for all students” — needs to undergo a review, similar to one in 2008.

“The review should specifically consider increased sustainable funding for instructional materials, teacher professional development, and new factors to address school safety needs and to support social workers and related personnel,” according to the resolution.

Cleveland, who helped craft the 2008 review, said in an interview said changes to SEG will take a “real commitment” by the governor and the Legislature.

She noted House Bill 63, which made changes to the formula, was signed into law by the governor earlier this year.

“(The bill) was a help, but it doesn’t even begin to cover all the safety and security needs in the state,” Cleveland said.

Insurance coverage for school districtsThe resolution urges a “comprehensive review” of insurance coverage provided to public schools through the New Mexico Public Schools Insurance Authority and consider legislative or regulatory measures of public school insurance coverage.

The call comes as NMPSIA “recently proposed imposing significant deductibles (up to $500,000 per occurrence) on school districts when school districts are already paying steep premiums that increase every year,” according to the resolution.

Cleveland said she does not believe school districts should be liable for up to $2 million in cases where districts “did everything right” and it could not have known of a problem before it happened.

“Then, I don’t think we should be liable, and I think that’s what insurance is for,” Cleveland said. “If we saw a child being abused and we knew it and didn’t report it — OK, you’re probably going to get hit.”