The teachers’ union in New Mexico’s largest city will have fewer friends on the school board next year after three unions on board apparently won Tuesday’s elections.
The results of the early polls suggest that three out of four seats on the school board were won by candidates funded by corporate groups rather than the teachers’ union, the reports.
“There will be a new dynamic in the board. We’ll see if the board is divided on important issues, especially issues related to the interests of their employees, ”said Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation.
Albuquerque Public Schools is the largest county in the state and has around 74,000 students, about 20 percent of the children in New Mexico. It has a budget of $ 1.6 billion and employs approximately 12,600 full-time employees.
In local elections across the state, school council elections and mayoral competitions were decided on Tuesday. Voters in the vast majority of cities approved property taxes and bonds for schools, including about $ 630 million for Albuquerque schools.
The non-union candidates received funding from groups of companies including NAIOP, a commercial real estate association; the Association of Commercial Real Estate Development; and the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce. The races are non-partisan and have no primaries.
“The education committee should be the children’s union,” said Courtney Jackson, a Republican mother who is a school PTA director.
Jackson said the interests of teachers matter but was enraged this spring by the school committee meetings that downplayed student needs and delayed the school’s reopening. “Her interests were never raised, even after the state government said it was safe to go back to school.”
Corporate groups played a big role in supporting candidates like the Jackson campaign, while state GOP involvement was minimal. Democrat Danielle Gonzales, a nonprofit manager, relied on the same groups. One of them is Crystal Tapia-Romero, a day-care center that is not registered with a political party.
“NAIOP was wonderful with me. The teachers union, not so much, ”said Tapia-Romero. “But I look forward to working with you.”
One union candidate won: Democrat Josefina Dominguez, a retired teacher. She attributed her colleagues’ losses to a change in the election date that allowed higher voter turnout, as well as an influx of money from groups like NAIOP that had not supported candidates in the past.
“I take the long-term view. I think in the end more participation is good. In this particular case, it costs the union its slate, ”Dominguez said.
As a group focused on commercial real estate, NAIOP attracts members from across the construction industry, such as real estate agents, architects and other builders. It is in the group’s interest to promote good schools and attract companies and skilled workers from abroad.
“They all had children here in public school. So it was all about more transparency, more strategic goals, more say as a parent, ”said Lynne Andersen, President of the New Mexico NAIOP.
Anderson and Dominguez share a common idea for major educational reform.
Both would like vocational training to become more frequent in an education system which, in their opinion, is almost exclusively geared towards university preparation.
“I think we as a nation tend to denigrate trade. And I think it’s a disservice to our children, “said Andersen.
“I would like to extend the placement of students in craft trades to learn about plumbing, electrical work, or, you know, carpentry work, to our neighborhood schools,” said Dominguez.
Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed in any way without permission.
Comments are closed.