Melissa (last name not specified in transcript) presented the board’s budget adjustment requests (BARs) Oct. 23 and said the package includes operational, federal, state and capital bars. She described transfers covering supplies, professional development, additional compensation and technology, and said the largest operational driver is staff costs.

On federal BARs she explained two increase bars were needed to align budgets to final award amounts received from the New Mexico Public Education Department. On the state funded bars she said three new initial budgets had arrived for structured literacy (early literacy support) and for programs supporting teen parents and childcare at select high schools. "The 8,000 is specific for childcare at Las Cruces High," she said of one grant allocation.

Board members raised questions about moving funds out of capital into instructional budgets; staff replied funds had been set aside in capital and reallocations were planned so that capital work would not be hindered. Chief budget staff said the capital set-aside had been used previously for rolling stock purchases, and remaining funds were being reallocated to meet current needs.

The subcommittee also heard a detailed explanation of a student recruitment agreement with a vendor identified as KSAK 12. District staff said the vendor’s outreach has already helped enroll about 239 students back into the district and the vendor is paid on a performance schedule tied to count-day retention. "It's kind of a front investment, and then we reap the benefit of the investment in next year's budget," the superintendent said. Staff explained the vendor receives half the invoice after the district’s 80th school count day and the remainder at the 120th day if students remain enrolled.

Board members asked whether the recruitment cost would be offset by per-pupil funding gained from returned students; staff estimated that recruiting the students can yield substantially more revenue than the vendor cost and said the program had brought back roughly 239 students to date with more pending.

Subcommittee members thanked staff for clarifying the purpose of BARs and the recruitment effort; the BARs package and related items were placed on the consent agenda for board approval.