If the Española Military Academy survives the fight to keep its doors open past June 30, it will face a second battle — to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in legislative funding it has received to secure a permanent location.
The Academy’s future lies in the hands of state Education Secretary Veronica Garcia, who has until March 9 to either uphold or overturn the state Public Education Commission’s ruling to revoke the school’s charter (see related story on page A5).
Under a bill pending before the legislature, the Academy would lose $439,000 in unspent pork money. The money was primarily awarded to the Academy by Sen. Richard Martinez (D-Española) in four appropriations — most of them intended to help procure a permanent school site — between 2005 and 2008, and Martinez said he’s trying to salvage it.
“My only chance is probably gonna be to talk to the governor,” Martinez said.
Martinez said the Academy’s outstanding funds were targeted for two reasons — first, the Española School District hasn’t taken action to approve the appropriations. It’s not in the District’s interest to do so, since a portion of any pork money is subtracted from their future school-construction awards. Without the District’s approval, the funds have stagnated.
Secondly, the Academy might not exist past June, thanks to the state’s denial of its charter renewal. Martinez said he spoke with the Legislative Finance Committee, which initially recommended that the funds be revoked, and asked them to hold off until the Academy’s appeal was complete. But the Legislative Committee went ahead, and now the bill is in the hands of the Senate Finance Committee.
If Martinez can’t convince that committee to remove the Academy’s items from the chopping block, and the bill passes both legislative chambers, then a line-item veto from Gov. Bill Richardson is his last hope to maintain control of the money. Otherwise, it reverts back to the state.
“What that means for us is we’re asking the legislature to appropriate this money, most of it for land, but also for housekeeping issues like uniforms,” Academy Governing Board President Patrick Trujillo said. “If we don’t get the money, then we’ll just continue on the road we’re on.”
Trujillo said that means the Academy would stay in its current location, at the National Guard armory building and a handful of adjacent portable classrooms on Industrial Park Road. Trujillo said at a recent meeting that the Armory Board has agreed to let the school stay there for another year. But Armory representatives have made it clear the school is expected to move out in the future.
The Academy had hired lobbyist Nick Naranjo for $33,000 in December to lobby legislators for roughly $700,000 in new appropriations to purchase land for a new campus. Securing new funding has since taken the backseat, and the Academy has instructed Naranjo to make saving the appropriations targeted by the bill his first priority, Trujillo said.
SUBHED
If Martinez does get to keep the money and the Academy is not able to use it, there would be plenty of people waiting in line for it. Española Mayor Joseph Maestas said the reauthorization of old awards could be the city’s “salvation” in what’s shaping up to be a very lean year.
Martinez said he’s interested in helping the city build a new library, and he has asked city Planning Director and lobbyist Cyrus Samii to make a list of all of his — Martinez’s — outstanding pork projects to identify any that may be stalled. Martinez said he was given a list of outstanding pork projects by the Legislative Finance Committee, but he can’t find it.
The Academy isn’t the only one under pressure from the legislature — it’s an unusual year for state pork. Normally, agencies receiving awards have four years to use the money. If they don’t, it reverts back to the legislator who authorized it for a one-time redirection. But this year, the state has gone hunting for extra money to cover its budget shortfall. The Academy’s appropriations were part of a larger effort to pull $104.9 million back into the state’s general fund.
And more projects may still be vulnerable. Martinez said legislators are waiting for the governor’s own target list, and Richardson has given some indications that the Cultural Affairs Department and the Public Safety Department have excess money in their budgets.
Rep. Nick Salazar (D-Ohkay Owingeh) said he’s heard rumors that any unspent appropriations of $50,000 or less could be revoked. Salazar said he keeps on top of the projects he funds, and the only one that’s vulnerable is a $20,000 award to the Chamita acequia, from 2004.
“I’m not concerned about the other ones,” Salazar said. “Most of my appropriations are small.”