Superintendent earned contract extension

By extending the contract of Santa Fe Public Schools Superintendent Hilario “Larry” Chavez until February 2026, school board members did something truly important: They ensured stability with a leader who has shown both a steady hand and an innovative mind.

The new three-year contract takes effect Wednesday and comes with an annual salary of $200,000, replacing a two-year, $175,000 contract approved just last year.

Hired in 2021 to replace Veronica Garcia, Chavez had to take over in the midst of pandemic learning, a true challenge for even the most experienced of administrators. The three-year deal is a sign of confidence in the superintendent’s leadership, and it’s warranted.

Despite the real stress of operating schools during a pandemic, Chavez has continued to innovate.

The district is transitioning to standards-based instruction and grading, a system designed to ensure students master concepts as they move through the educational system. Santa Fe Public Schools operates a child care center for its employees — a first in the state and a retention and recruitment tool to attract teachers and staff. Work continues on expanding mentorship opportunities for students and offering nontraditional schools, such as Desert Sage Academy and the Early College Opportunities High School. School is no longer one-size-fits-all.

In August 2022, the school system was nationally praised for its best practices use of federal COVID-19 funding. Locally, the district used federal funds to hire a middle school restorative justice coordinator, paid for an additional day for school counselors and provided for additional school-based mental health services for K-12 students. All of this was designed to help students be in the best frame of mind to learn.

Chavez also has led the district to find ways to extend learning time in creative ways, adding special camps in the summer so students could remain engaged during those months and be ready for school in the fall. While refusing money for extended learning time — neither teachers nor parents wanted more classroom hours, an incomprehensible preference that flies in the face of complaints about public schooling in general and Santa Fe schools in particular — Chavez has developed for other methods of “moving the academic needle,” including voluntary academic sessions in the summer.

Going forward, the superintendent understands the challenges he and the district face.

The biggest one is improving student learning. Data shows too many children are not reading at grade level and have poor math skills. According to the most recent tests released in the fall, only 34% of students are proficient in language arts and 24% in math. The scores from the new Measures of Student Success and Achievement exams offer a new baseline for comparison going forward.

Santa Fe school leaders delved more deeply into the data to show how absenteeism is affecting performance. For students in grades 3-8 with daily attendance of 96%-100%, language arts proficiency was 44%, compared to 17% for students with an attendance rate of 80% or below. In math, students in the same grades with a 96%100% attendance rate had 35% proficiency; for students with an attendance rate of 80% or lower, proficiency was only 8%.

The district is focusing on improving attendance as part of improving learning outcomes. It’s a start, but only a start.

The job will be complicated by what likely will be smaller budgets going forward.

Federal funds will be shrinking. Santa Fe schools also have been losing enrollment for a variety of reasons, which also will mean less money coming in. Chavez’s job as superintendent will be to keep the budget balanced without cutting meaningful programs. He will be preparing for results of a reimagining education effort currently taking place, with community members and district employees and board members looking at how better to serve students — and, likely, making hard choices.

It’s a big job, but one that Chavez has shown he can do. A longer-term contract provides the time and space for innovations and improvements to continue. The statistics have long shown New Mexico children to lag behind when it comes to educational success.

For Santa Fe, having a capable superintendent with strong support from the community and school board is key to helping children reach their potential. This contract extension is the right decision.