ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – For Albuquerque Public Schools students and parents, the next few years could bring a lot of changes as the district deals with a shrinking enrollment. “Many of our schools are operating significantly below their intended capacities,” said APS Deputy Superintendent Antonio Gonzales.
In the last decade, Albuquerque schools’ enrollment has plunged from more than 80,000 in 2015-16 to about 64,000 district-wide last school year. Today, most schools are hovering around 65% capacity. Gonzales attributes that to the falling birthrate. “The birthrate impacting our kindergarten enrollment over the last couple of years has been acute and pronounced. So that has been something we’ve realized, and matriculates throughout the system and goes through 12th grade,” said Gonzales.
As enrollment drops, the district is launching community meetings to talk about what the next steps look like. It comes on the heels of closing Taft Middle School last May. This time, APS hopes to get the community more involved. Gonzales said, “Two heads is better than one. Two hundred heads is better than two; if we can garner some great community genius for this process, we can think of ideas of how best to proceed as a school district in service to the public,” said Gonzales…