Perhaps the most under covered, but absolutely critical story in New Mexico is the precipitous decline in the number of students attending the State’s largest district: Albuquerque Public Schools. KRQE Channel 13 did an admirable job covering the story, noting that “the district has seen a massive drop in total enrollment, with about 27,000 fewer students this year compared to 2010.” The decline from a student population of 88,096 down to 61,982 represents a decline of 30% in just over 15 years.
More details are available in the APS budget presentation. Here are the takeaways:
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- This is not a trend confined to APS as the State saw a decline of 7,500 students in public schools throughout New Mexico last year.
- New Mexico/APS are not alone in seeing student population declines, but the problem is more severe here than in most states due to our State’s overall population decline which is being driven by a shift towards retirees with younger people leaving…