A handful of members from the UNM community offered their takes on the ramifications of voters' decision last week to overwhelmingly reject the Albuquerque Public Schools bond issues.
We were inundated with misconceptions on both sides, with proponents arguing that the school district should not have been punished because of the fiasco surrounding the termination of superintendent Brad Allison. Others said the bond issue would only hurt Albuquerque residents paying way too much in taxes, a common misconception in a community that assumes that bond increases automatically prompt a raise in taxes.
The truth is that the school district is dire straits.
Regardless of how you look at it, children in Albuquerque Public Schools are suffering. It's doubtful that the "mandate" that voters sent will be of much good to more than 50 percent of freshmen at Rio Grande High School who won't make it to see their sophomore year. It won't help students who suffer in portable classrooms, trying to make the most of a bad situation. It won't help overworked, underpaid and rarely appreciated teachers who are the backbone of an already fledgling system.
The vote certainly did open the eyes of board members and administrators, who were certain the issue would pass. After a week of squabbling over Allison's leadership, they neglected to take a look in the mirror at the image they were projecting for voters.
It says a lot that APS could not convince a community that knows schools and students are suffering that the district needs more money. Belen and Los Lunas school districts both saw comparable bond issues overwhelming approved the same day Albuquerque's failed.
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It also says a lot about a community that rejects bond issues for libraries, schools, art museums and performing arts centers but complains about its high dropout and teen pregnancy rates.
APS leaders are heading back to the drawing board, preparing for another election that will cost voters more money but hopefully yield different results. Let's hope both sides can learn from their mistakes so that Albuquerque children don't have to keep paying for them.
Iliana Lim¢n
Editor in chief
