SFPS Budget on Hold as 180-Day Lawsuit Pends

SFPS budget on hold as lawsuit pends

Ninth Judicial District Judge Dustin Hunter on Friday issued a temporary restraining order against the state Public Education Department’s controversial rule requiring all districts operate with a minimum of 180 instructional days beginning with the 2024-2025 school year. In announcing the rule in March, PED Secretary Arsenio Romero described it as “key to turning the tide on academic performance in the state.” The New Mexico School Superintendents Association and more than 50 school districts last month filed a lawsuit against PED and Romero seeking an injunction against the rule. Stan Rounds, executive director of the New Mexico Coalition of Education Leaders, which hosts the New Mexico School Superintendents Association, tells SFR the purpose of the lawsuit is to “get immediate relief from this rule for this year.” The lawsuit’s primary argument states the rule is unenforceable because it directly conflicts with state statute. Santa Fe Public Schools, which joined in the lawsuit, is now in a holding pattern in finalizing its budget—as are all school districts—pending resolution of the complaint. A hearing is slated for May 13. At an SFPS budget study session last week, Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez said the 180-rule, which he and others characterize as an unfunded mandate, is one of several factors creating a “perfect storm” as it relates to the SFPS budget. “We all want better student outcomes,” Chavez said during the meeting, “but when you’re not investing appropriately, it makes it difficult, because you’re going to have to make cuts.”

Meow Wolf CEO says company looking at LA & beyond

Meow Wolf CEO Jose Tolosa tells the LA Times the company remains “committed to a growth path.” Tolosa’s comments come amid a story unpacking Meow Wolf’s announcement last week of a new site slated for a vacant West Los Angeles movie theater complex in 2026, which followed a round of layoffs last month. Tolosa tells the Times those layoffs reflect the company’s increased understanding of its needs as it opens more locations—LA will be its sixth following a forthcoming opening in Houston—such as the decline in attendance 18 months after a new site opens. The Times also talks with Meow Wolf curator Han Santana-Sayles, an LA native who has returned home for the project and will be overseeing the process to incorporate LA artists into the new project. “I’m looking for a super broad range,” she tells the newspaper. “I want to include people who do wild projection mapping. But I also want to find people who do just pastels—really, really well. Or they’re painters. Or they draw. They’ve homed in on this one thing. We don’t want it to read as a theme park. We’re a contemporary arts platform.”

Sen. Heinrich announces educator housing bill

Among other provisions, the proposed federal Educator Down Payment Assistance Act would authorize the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to provide competitive grants to local governments and educational agencies to offer down-payment assistance to full-time public school educators who are first-time home buyers. US Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-NM, previewed the bill yesterday during events in Albuquerque. Educators would need to serve in their positions for six years—three before and three after receiving the grant, which can be up to $25,000 for educators who make up to 120 percent of the area median income or up to 180 percent of the area median income in a high-cost area. “Corporations and hedge funds are buying up significant amounts of our rental housing stock, causing rent prices to go through the roof, and creating a severe affordable housing shortage,” Heinrich says in a statement. “I’m taking action to crack down on corporate greed and help more working people move out of expensive rental housing and into homeownership.” His bill, Heinrich notes, “will give educators and school staff a shot at owning a home in the communities where they teach—growing the middle class.” In announcing the bill, Heinrich’s office cites data showing the average teacher can afford just 12 percent of homes for sale within commuting distance of their school. In the majority of school districts in a recent study, starting teachers pay more than 30 percent of their salaries on rent.

Ride on

Bike to School Week kicked off yesterday, one of a slew of events as part of Santa Fe Bike Month. A bike-to-school “fiesta” on the Tierra Trail kicked off at 7 am this morning on the Tierra Contenta Arroyo trail, and another will commence tomorrow morning. Homewise will host a celebration tonight in honor of a new Acequia Trail connection between Maez Road and La Cieneguita. Late last year, Homewise acquired a former investment property on Maez Road, and the Santa Fe Conservation Trust then created a temporary connection for the Acequia Trail through Los Hermanos Rodriguez Park, which will eventually lead to a permanent long-term connection plans Tonight’s group ride to the property begins at 5:15 pm at the Railyard water tower and culminates at Second Street Brewery Rufina, where there will be a bike valet. “The new Acequia Trail connection at Maez Road embodies the spirit of the City’s Bike Master Plan,” Metropolitan Planning Organization Officer Erick Aune says in a statement. “By linking neighborhoods with employment hubs, parks, and schools, this vital trail extension not only enhances accessibility but also brings us closer to our vision of a vibrant, interconnected network of multi-use paths and complete streets. With each mile traveled along this scenic route, we’re not just forging pathways; we’re forging connections, fostering health, and fueling our collective journey towards a more sustainable, inclusive, and bike-friendly Santa Fe.”

Listen up

Santa Fe Institute presents “Animals in Translation,” a conversation that grew out of an SFI workshop of the same name focused on what it would take to decode conversations between other species. That workshop, organized by Interspecies Internet, with representatives from XPrize, will ultimately be published. Tonight’s conversation at the Lensic Performing Arts Center between SFI President and William H Miller Professor of Complexity Science David Krakauer and Hunter College Psychology Professor Diana Reiss will include recorded interviews of participating researchers. The free event (find tickets here) also will be live-streamed on SFI’s YouTube channel.

Museum of Spanish Colonial Art announces name change

The Museum of Spanish Colonial Art yesterday is now the Nuevo Mexicano Heritage Arts Museum. The name change, announced yesterday, followed surveys conducted by third-party contractors and “is actually part of strategic planning we adopted in 2021,” the museum’s Executive Director Jennifer Berkley tells SFR. “It was about finding the right name so we can better communicate with our constituents.” Berkley acknowledged ongoing post-colonial critique of New Mexico monuments and landmarks, but said that did not play into the decision. The new title, she says, “is simply a better reflection of our collection and we hope we’ll attract more visitors to this museum that I think is really the only one of its kind in New Mexico.” Curator Jana Gottshalk agrees the name “definitely reflects more of what we’re trying to do here. The conversations I’ve had with people have been that they don’t know what to expect from our former name, and it was hard to host contemporary shows with that name.” This Friday, the museum kicks off Gottshalk’s newest exhibit—The Ugly History of Beautiful Things, featuring artists like Terran Last Gun (Piikani), Patrick McGrath Muñiz, Daisy Quezada Ureña, Vicente Telles and more. “I’ve often said of New Mexican art that it’s hard to talk about it without historic context,” Gottshalk tells SFR. “That’s true of a lot of art, but this exhibit is about exploring the often complex stories behind something that is beautiful to look at—that it doesn’t just mean a beautiful piece of art, it’s about how the art was treated, how the people making the art were treated.” The Santa Fe New Mexican reports the news has rankled those who see the name change as another attempt to erase Spanish history.

SFR wins five awards in 2024 SPJ contest

SFR food, opera, crime and health stories all received awards in this year’s Society for Professional Journalists’ Top of the Rockies Competition, administered by SPJ’s Colorado chapter and open to media in New Mexico, Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. This year’s competition garnered more than 1,900 entries from more than 80 news media outlets and 30 freelancers in all four states. SFR competes in the medium newsrooms division. SFR Culture Editor Alex De Vore received first place in the Arts & Entertainment and Food news and feature category for his cover story “Yes Chef,” which profiles Santa Fe Chef Dakota Weiss and the multi-concept micro food hall Capital Coal Neighborhood Eatery. SFR Art Director Anson Stevens-Bollen received a first-place award in front-page design for his original illustration “Taking Cover,” for a feature story last year on the City of Santa Fe’s plans for erecting pallet homes to help serve the unhoused. The paper also received a first-place award in arts criticism for last season’s coverage of the Santa Fe Opera; second-place for breaking news coverage from last year’s Española shooting at an Oñate monument protest; and third-place for health news for staff writer Mo Charnot’s story on a push for global health care budgeting.

Wind up

The National Weather Service has issued both a wind advisory and red flag warning starting mid-morning today, with west wind 15 to 25 mph increasing to 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon and gusts as high as 45 mph. NWS also forecasts “patchy blowing dust” after noon. Otherwise, it should be sunny, with a high temperature near 75 degrees.

Thanks for reading! The Word is saving the livestream of yesterday’s Pulitzer announcements for when she gets off deadline (but you can read the list here).