You wouldn’t know it driving through Española or Rio Arriba County but there are school board races in “full swing” from Española to Chama and the Jemez Mountains.
While the City of Española chose to keep its traditional March elections and pay its own way, school districts fell in line with the new state law that moved them from February to the first Tuesday in November in odd number years.
In the mix are two uncontested races in the Española School District and one contested. Current Board President Gilbert Serrano has had enough and is not running in the District 3 race. So newcomer Javin Coriz needs one vote to replace Serrano.
Brandon Bustos is running unopposed in District 2.
The only contested race is sitting Board member Matthew Casados running against newcomer Katrina Martinez. Casados was appointed to his current position in late June so he had to run for the office in the next election.
The Española School Board has been plagued by bad decisions, scads of secret meetings where decisions are made but the public is left in the dark and lacks leadership. Its acrimonious decision-making takes a briefly logical discussion and turns it into finger-pointing and mindless regurgitations of real or imagined past injuries by one board member to another.
To make matters worse the Board seems split between basketball supporters versus outdoor sports supporters. Both sides spout educating children as their priority as they advocate for their favorite sport.
Martinez made a sage comment in her interview with the Rio Grande SUN. “Right now, everything is focused on our sports,” she said. It’s supposed to be about educating children.
Except for Board member Jeremy Maestas we question whether other Board members come to meetings prepared to discuss issues, contracts, spending and projects. The Board has tried twice to hold a civil conversation about serious erosion problems behind Española Valley High School and both times it devolved into arguing about sports.
Federal Grants Administrator Holly Martinez tried to make the point to the Board during a September meeting. “We received the same amount of ESSR funds (federal COVID funds) as Rio Rancho,” she said. “Look at what they have and what we have.”
Once again, the point isn’t funding. It’s raining cash on school districts everywhere right now. Teachers are paid more now than ever before. What are we getting for all our spending, which is the school Board’s primary purpose: fiscal agent?
The next Board will have a new face, possibly two. There’s no telling if one or two new members can put the Board on a unified path to better educate students. Saying the right thing and doing the right thing are rarely the same when it comes to politics.