Despite cuts, two school open summer sessions

DEMING – It may have been a hot summer day, but for some it was also the first day of school.

On Friday morning, June 23, business was brisk at the front desk of Ruben S. Torres Elementary School. Principal Connie Maag greeted children and parents, many of whom attended other schools in the district.

Torres Elementary is welcoming over 200 students for 25 additional days of instruction and services intended to keep student progress from rolling backward during the long summer break.

In Columbus, enrollment at Columbus Elementary was considerably lighter at 130, with 9 classrooms in session after lunchtime. Under the Public Education Department’s grading system for schools, Columbus made a remarkable leap in a single year: from an “F” in 2012-13 to a “B” the following year, where it stayed for another year before falling to a “C.” School Superintendent Arsenio Romero says their success is partly attributable to these summer sessions – and the school’s falling grade follows cuts in funding.

“We had 947 students participate in 2015,” said Romero at his district office. “For a district our size, that’s a really good participation rate. When you compare our ratios with Albuquerque, we have a better participation rate.”

The program targets families in lower income and students who are falling behind. Data show a correlation between K-3 Plus programs, student performance, and school grades. Deming extended the concept even further by allocating some Title I funding to offer extra school days to students through fifth grade. As Romero recalled: “We saw there was a disconnect because fourth- and fifth-graders could not participate. If a family had a second-grader and a fourth-grader, and the second-grader had school and the fourth-grader didn’t, a lot of the time they just wouldn’t go. So, we started our own local initiative: K-5 Plus.”

Participation in the program initially required some persuasion, said Romero. “Over the years, we worked with a lot of families about why this was important: we know this is your summer and you have family vacations and other commitments, but this is important. We saw increased participation over the years until the height in 2014-15; that was also the height of the funding.”

Then came the budget cuts. Data provided by the Deming Public Schools shows drastic cuts over three years, amounting to nearly a million dollars from 2015 to 2017, along with corresponding drops in service:

• 2015 $1,418,410.98 947 students

• 2016 $928,302.00 820 students

• 2017 $528,670 429 students (projected, actual number lower)

Meanwhile, the K-5 Plus initiative is no longer available at all due to reduced federal funds.

Romero says that with cuts on this scale, even the remaining money cannot be spent as wisely. “There’s definitely a tipping point…You’re not able to do what that money is intended to do because we can’t fully implement the program.”

After building interest in the program and demonstrating its results, now the district needs to turn students away. Whereas four schools previously offered the summer sessions, now only Torres and Columbus Elementary schools, the northern- and southern-most schools in the district, are open – and enrollment is capped. The New Mexico Public Education Department told 50 districts participating in the program to prepare for annual cuts averaging 15 percent over the next three years, affecting at least 5,000 children statewide this summer.

“We were anticipating all year long that we should at least be in the same ballpark with the funding,” said Romero, “but when we saw there was another $400,000 drop, we had already done all of our budgeting for our federal programs.”

Romero was one of three superintendents invited to testify before the Legislative Education Study Committee in Santa Fe on June 14, along with superintendents from Santa Fe and Albuquerque. He spoke before the committee for three hours, and looking back he thinks legislators on the committee agree that PED has not handled the program’s cuts and distributions well. “Over the last 10 years, this has really made an impact and we’ve got data to support that,” he said. “This year we are seeing inequality with how these districts are being awarded these funds. I feel like Deming was on the short end of the stick…We were able to show that we used the funds properly, had a positive impact on our kids, and yet our funding continues to drop.”

He also pointed to a larger economic consequence for Luna County: the large majority of funding for K-3 Plus, minus materials and supplies, is spent on salaries, drawing more money into the local economy. “They are effectively cutting local spending by almost a million,” he said. “I tried to show them how this affects Deming.”

While Deming’s new superintendent fights the funding battle, for now, two schools are keeping classrooms open.

Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-546-2611 (ext. 2608) or adammassa@demingheadlight.com.

The cuts

Data provided by the Deming Public Schools shows drastic cuts over three years, amounting to nearly a million dollars from 2015 to 2017, along with corresponding drops in service:

• 2015 $1,418,410.98 947 students

• 2016 $928,302.00 820 students

• 2017 $528,670 429 students (projected, actual number lower)