On Feb. 1, voters delivered three new members to the Santa Fe Public Schools’ Board of Education. In District 1, Steven Carrillo handily defeated incumbent board member Mary Ellen Gonzales; Glenn Wikle and Linda Trujillo won Districts 2 and 4, respectively. 

Like Republican Gov. Susana Martinez—and even, for that matter, President Barack Obama—the winning candidates shared a clear campaign message: change.

“It’s a matter of guts and courage,” Wikle told SFR during his endorsement interview. “I’m ready for some change.”
But it’s easier to make political promises than it is to actually achieve them—particularly in a school system riven with budget problems, underachievement and a not-inconsequential level of community outrage.

Hence the need for SFR’s handy checklist, in which we offer the incoming school board concrete, achievable jumping-off points for the kind of change Carrillo, Wikle and Trujillo have said they want.