近距离内射合集

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government began approving hundreds of millions of emergency relief dollars for New Mexico schools to help them through the crisis.

Since then, the state鈥檚 largest district, Albuquerque Public Schools, has been buoyed by the funding, receiving a cumulative $378 million, and has of putting the money to good use 鈥� such as spending it on brick-and-mortar improvements in schools, tutoring, counseling and pilot programs that provided more, and more enriching, time for younger students.

But next school year, APS expects much of that to go over a cliff.

In what district officials have described as the 2024-2025 鈥渂loodletting,鈥� the last round of federal dollars 鈥� known as the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, or ESSER 鈥� is going away, which could mean positions around the district being cut and treasured programs or other services being left by the wayside.

Superintendent Scott Elder said the district did its best from the outset to avoid using ESSER funds to hire too many people, instead aiming to buy more time from some staff or work with outside firms to provide services like counseling.

But even the potential loss of those services, he said, could have a profound impact on students.

鈥淲hat I think not just APS, but everybody鈥檚 going to struggle with is, 鈥� we had these kids that were showing some progress or getting support in these ways. And suddenly, that鈥檚 gonna go away,鈥� he said.

And APS did hire some people with ESSER funds, just generally not for positions like classroom teachers or counselors, Elder said. He added that the district is no longer hiring full-time positions with ESSER dollars and that those who did accept jobs funded with the federal dollars knew their positions weren鈥檛 on firm ground.

There are 53 full-time-equivalent positions funded by ESSER dollars, and 506 more people have stipends or pay differentials to work more hours or take on more duties that are paid by the federal funding, Chief Financial Officer Rennette Apodaca said.

Still, it鈥檚 not yet known how many of those people would be cut loose, she said, adding that figuring that out is a process that will play out over the course of this school year and as APS develops its budget for next year. Elder said if there were cuts, staff would know before May.

When put together, the full-time positions, stipends and pay differentials cost about $11 million, which Apodaca noted is just a small percentage of all ESSER funding.

APS officials say they鈥檝e done their due diligence 鈥� asking departments to analyze their budgets, building up cash reserves to absorb some of the salaries the district offloaded onto ESSER dollars and earmarking about 70% of the third round of ESSER funding.

The district also hopes to keep some of the positions that may go away, in some cases leveraging the 鈥渘atural attrition鈥� of staff as they retire or otherwise exit the district.

There will be positions APS cannot cut, officials say, and will need to be absorbed regardless because they are deemed critical to the wellbeing of the district. But what will make a position critical, Apodaca said, hasn鈥檛 been pinned down yet.

鈥淚n my opinion, I would say anything related to the classroom, to the students,鈥� she said, would be 鈥渃ritical.鈥�

What seems to be most at risk though, Elder said, are the services 鈥� tutoring, counseling, training for principals, etc. 鈥� and other programs, to potentially include some before- and after-school programs.

鈥淏efore you can really educate a child, that child has to feel safe, that child has to be fed, and they have to feel supported,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 lot of these supports that we鈥檙e going to have to let go are going to make that harder.鈥�

According to its website, APS also used $50 million in ESSER funds to stabilize its budget.

Elder frankly said he isn鈥檛 necessarily holding out hope for anyone swooping in to cushion APS鈥� financial cliff-dive.

鈥淭here鈥檚 never been any word about, 鈥極h, 鈥� it鈥檒l get extended,鈥� or, 鈥楾he feds are going to keep funding us,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we can expect anybody to ride in on a white horse and save us completely from it.鈥�

He does, though, think APS will be able to show lawmakers in Santa Fe that there were successful experiments the district conducted with ESSER dollars that they may be interested in investing in at the state level.

Legislative Education Study Committee Deputy Director John Sena said that analyzing how districts spent their ESSER dollars and possibly looking at ways to continue some of their initiatives is something the committee is working on ahead of next school year.

鈥淥bviously, it was a lot of money from the federal government, and so the state, I don鈥檛 think, is thinking of backfilling everything, but being pretty judicious about what鈥檚 working and what needs to be continued in order to serve student needs,鈥� he said.

Some of the things that may be backfilled, Sena said, could include efforts to improve attendance or for educators who support students鈥� mental and behavioral health needs.