Las Cruces Public Schools board adopts $353.3 million FY26 operating budget, prioritizes safety and instruction

The Las Cruces Public Schools Board of Education voted 5-0 on May 20 to adopt the district's proposed fiscal year 2025-26 operating budget, a $353.3 million plan that district staff said increases the share of dollars devoted to in-class instruction.

Board members approved the budget after a presentation from Budget Director Matthew Saenz and Chief Financial Officer Alex Liu and a public review process that included an independent survey and two town-hall sessions. The motion to approve the proposed operating budget was made by Member Tonorio and seconded by Secretary Wofford; the vote was recorded as 5 ayes, 0 nays.

District leaders told the board the budget was built from a year-round process and public input gathered through a shorter, student-accessible survey tool. Officials reported more than 2,000 total survey responses and said 77 percent of the district's operating expenditures would be allocated to classroom instruction and direct student services under the proposed budget.

Why it matters

Board and staff framed the budget as an effort to concentrate resources in the classroom while responding to community priorities identified in the survey: campus safety, health and wellness, and instructional resources. Officials said the FY26 plan preserves recurring support for athletics and fine arts while adding funds for weapons-detection software and staffing, building access control upgrades, and expanded school nursing and counseling capacity.

Details from the presentation

- Total proposed operating budget: $353,300,000 (FY26 proposed). The district said the overall general-fund package represents about a 3% increase from the working FY25 budget figure presented earlier in the process. - In-class instruction (functions 1000, 2100, 2200): roughly 77% of the operating budget. - Safety projects (district estimate): $10,700,000. Items listed by staff included weapons-detection implementation (software and recurring staffing costs), district-wide badge/access upgrades, targeted camera upgrades, two-way radio replacement and track renovations at high schools. - Instructional resources (estimate): $11,000,000. Staff proposals included expansion of the STEM outreach program, K-12 science textbook adoptions, continued licensing for i-Ready math and reading platforms, and mandated secondary structured literacy training. - Health and wellness (estimates): health (nursing and athletic trainers) at approximately $7,000,000 and wellness supports (counseling, social-emotional learning and contracted supplemental counseling/social workers) near $10,700,000. - Insurance and compensation impacts: staff summarized legislative changes (House Bill 2 and other session outcomes) that increase base pay and affect minimum teacher salaries; the district said it expects a 4% salary increase statewide that it will implement and monitor against grant-funded positions.

Board discussion and context

Board members asked for clarifications about the role of federal funds for food service (staff said those accounts are funded separately), the use of central-services funds, and how the district intends to sustain campus upgrades. Finance staff explained some reductions in central-services line items reflected planned equipment rotation schedules and one-time capital refreshes that freed dollars for classroom priorities.

The superintendent and finance team emphasized that the plan would be filed with the New Mexico Public Education Department for final review before the statutory deadline and that some figures remain contingent on final state allocations for grant-funded positions.

Ending

After the vote the board thanked the finance staff and budget survey volunteers for the expanded public outreach and analysis. Staff said the district will proceed with submittal to the state and return to the board with any required follow-up adjustments.