Sabrina Pack, who was elected as chairman of the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce, introduced the speaker for the monthly luncheon on April 4, 2019.
Curtis Clough, Silver Consolidated Schools associate superintendent, said he has been in the job for about nine months. "I began working on a project almost as soon as I arrived. We could not have done it without chamber support and the hosting of our Community Dialogue groups at the (Grant County Veterans Memorial Business and) Conference Center."
"With New Mexico's new governor, Michelle Lujan Grisham, high school is not just a preparation for college, but also for workforce. I started my career teaching AP classes and I found out that AP wasn't for everyone, so I started working with at risk students in the classroom on computer skills and other skills. Those were some of my fondest memories in the classroom. I was state career educator in Alaska, a superintendent in Ohio and a principal in Arizona and in New Mexico. We are a mobile society. Silver Schools Superintendent Audie Brown wanted someone as associate superintendent with a career and technical ed background. It's why we did the Community Dialogue process. Got a lot of great information and great feedback. We want to align the school priorities with what the community needs."
He said they are focusing on several critical areas as determined by a survey of students at Silver and Cliff high schools. They include business and entrepreneurship, health care, technology, skilled trades, forestry, and hospitality and tourism.
"We had a Community Dialogue action plan meeting yesterday," Clough said. "Some of the things are starting to happen. The town of Silver City has hired Better City to work on economic development. There is synergy there. They hit a sweet spot. We are also working with Better City, Grant County and the other municipalities. Adam Hughes and Kelby Bosshardt have been here from Better City. I will talk with this this afternoon to get the committee together."
The committee will be a local voluntary task force to bring economic development back to Grant County.
He said one thing he learned when he went to his doctoral program was that the longer you wait, the sooner you lose momentum.
Clough noted that other things around education were going on at the state level. "We are waiting for the governor to sign the HB1 and SB 5 bills." [Editor's Note: She has signed both with some line item vetoes.]
"We will determine the school calendar dependent on the funding we receive," Clough said. "We know teachers got a pay raise, but we have to wait to know whether it is an average or a flat 6 percent. We are making strides to getting people to stay in the classroom."
He said the school has begun a Career Technical Education (CTE) pilot program.
"A professional development bill for teacher training will help the district help teachers develop more quickly," Clough said. "It will give the high schools and the university a bit more flexibility. A program in northeastern New Mexico is working on how to be more consistent and aligned, for instance, to make sure that English 101 is the same across the state. There's a lot of money in workforce. I spent two days at the legislative session. Grant County Day was a huge success and a great experience. I worked with Lt. Gov. Howie Morales and Sen. Gabriel Ramos."
He said the SB9 tax levy is up for renewal for Silver Schools. "It is critical that it be renewed for materials, vehicles, minor renovations and technology. The 2-mil tax levy is a renewal. It will not raise taxes. You will receive a mail-in ballot to return. I just bought a house, so I have committed to this community."
Clough said the schools have three funding streams, of which SB9 is one part. Another is HB 33, which provides funding for consumables, such as copiers, paper and pens.
"Three years ago, you passed a bond to building new and renovate old facilities," Clough said. "We also get state funding through a formula. We need all three streams. We got more money this year, but some is targeted to special education. The career tech money can only be used at the high school. Based on our evaluation, they raised the base student aid, but offset it by getting rid of the small school supplement, which affects two of our buildings, Cliff and the kindergarten."
He was happy to report that for the first time in several years, the enrollment count on the 120th day went up. "We are 30 ahead of last year at 2,514. It has stabilized our enrollment. We have a very dedicated staff. When we started talking to the staff, we found out that they knew we were here for them. We have allowed the teachers to attend more strategically targeted conferences. Few are trying to resign, but we do have more ready to retire. But we have a lot of good things going on, with good partnerships."
Clough said the schools are working with the Forest Service to bring the junior ranger program back to the schools. "We are working to build a forest apprenticeship. We have a partnership with the Forest Service in wildlife management, the environment, trail management and ecology and all the things they can do."
He said he recently became aware of an 18-hour certification for water, wastewater management and water infrastructure. "Those jobs can pay $60,000 a year."
"There are so many options—welder, dental hygienist, radiation tech," Clough said. "So many students could make more from a certificate than from four years of college to be a teacher. They can make twice as much. We will be developing our action plan."
John Sterle asked Clough about the issue he had heard that the school year would be extended by 12 days.
"There are conflicting ideologies depending on which party read the bill. We have three options for school districts to consider," Clough said. "The first is to add ten days more of instruction. Probably not a good option, because the teacher's union will not be happy if we increase the work load and don't increase the salary. They gave the teachers a 6 percent pay raise, but if we add 10 days, the net affect will be a 2 ½ percent raise. The second option is to extend the school day by up to three hours to extend instruction time. Our elementary schools are already in session, including lunch, for about 8 hours. They get out at 3:15. If we extended the day to 6:15, that means the teacher has a work day from 7:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. The third one, which so far is more palatable to most school districts is to add 80 hours of professional development. We already have 40 hours of professional development. We would have to add five additional development days. What that means to us, if we decide to keep things as is, we may not be eligible for extended school funding. It is also tied to another program called K-5plus, which provides educational hours in the summer. We can't start it in June, because the funding doesn't come until July 1. After year 2, we would have to go to year-round school. There are a lot of intricacies and the governor may veto parts."
Sterle noted that the American legion supports Boys' State and Girls' State programs and they are already set for this summer.
Clough said he heard at the legislative session questions about summer programs and what happens to them.
"There is no evidence that extended hours work in elementary school," Clough said. "Studies found burnout in students. We have a calendar committee that has not yet been able to create next year's school calendar, because of all the unknowns."
He said April 15, he believed was the deadline for notice on line-item vetoes.
Bruce Ashburn, representing PNM locally, said the company presented $85,000 to the schools for their energy audit and upgrades. "The payback time for the changes they made will take only 1.6 years."
He also noted that Santa Fe was good at handing out unfunded mandates. "Is there any funding for career tech? How are you going to pay for them without taking money away from other programs?"
Clough said the schools had been told there was an increase in the student-based aid, but it was so far impossible to find out the numbers.
"The PED (Public Education Department) bill has no money attached," he said. "We use Title II federal funding to pay for professional development. And additionally, the state pulled out $178 million from the reserve, the Permanent Fund, but they didn't say what they dedicated it to. They said it was to education but didn't say where it was going. And we still have two unfunded mandates left from last year that they were supposed to take care of this year, so we'll see. We're fiscally conservative to build a carry over. We have a $1.1 million carry over from several years. When it comes to budgeting, we usually have it done by now. But we have to wait until we get the PED numbers. We know that a lot of the funding is tied to specific programs, like special ed and to extended year. We have to decide what to do and may have to commit to programs long-term up to eight years. Yes, we have unfunded mandates, so we have to talk to legal and plan our budget."
Ashburn said what was most disturbing to him was that "all these things happened when the state had a $1.2 billion surplus. What happens the next time oil and gas price goes down?"
A woman asked if it would be possible to get employment experience for the students.
"We're already looking at pre-apprenticeships, on-the-job training, and job mentorships," Clough said.
The rest of the meeting addressed announcements from members.
Ashburn said PNM by 2040 plans to be generating electricity using 100 percent carbon-free sources.
County Assessor Raul Turrieta said that notices of valuation had gone out. "The protest period runs from April 1 to May 1. Those eligible for valuation freezes can come to my office any time."
A career fair will take place April 30 at Western New Mexico University with 30 businesses to be present.
Silver City Mayor Pro Tem and WNMU Museum Director Cynthia Bettison thanked Chamber president and director Scott Terry for bringing in the seminar with Glen Shepherd. "It was a great seminar to show us how to work with millennials."
Terry said he would try to get him to come back for a full-day seminar.
The next chamber luncheon on May 2 will feature representatives from Virgin Galactic.