Rio Rancho Public Schools in need of more than $378M to fix facilities

RIO RANCHO, N.M. — Rio Rancho Public Schools recently completed its five-year Facilities Master Plan, and through that process, learned it would need more than $378 million to fix all of the district’s current maintenance and facility issues.

“The findings were, in order for me to get everything up to par, $10 million a year. Again, my budget’s $3 million, is what I get,” said Melanie Archibeque, executive director of facilities at RRPS. “The idea and the reality is, we can’t get that done in five years, because we don’t have the money.”

Rio Rancho High School needs the most work.

“Rio Rancho High School is the one with the most monetary needs, and that would make sense when you think of the age and the scale of that campus,” Archibeque said.

In case the district does receive funding from the state, Archibeque said her office already submitted a plan to keep up with maintenance work, before it becomes an emergency.

“So we can see if something’s wearing out, we can know that the life expectancy is coming,” she said. “I call it controlled chaos. So if I know something’s coming in, it needs to be replaced, it’s going to be a priority depending on what it is.”

Most of that work would be scheduled during the summer when students are not in class, but again, that can’t happen without the budget for it.

The spokesperson for the district said they will continue to work with legislators to provide essential funding to keep their facilities maintained for years to come.

RRPS provided the following statement to KOB 4:

“This past year, Rio Rancho Public Schools completed our five year Facilities Master Plan, facilitated by the New Mexico Public Schools Facilities Authority. Throughout this process, it was identified that RRPS would need over $378 million in order to complete the current maintenance and facility issues that exist across our district. While we work very hard to address our maintenance needs with the resources we have available, we do not receive adequate funding to address all needs. This inadequate funding often results in deferred maintenance, which then results in more expensive repairs down the line.

While we do not receive enough funding from the state to address all our maintenance needs, we are very fortunate to have a community that continues to support our bonds and levies which provide much needed resources and assistance to address our priorities. We will continue to work with our legislators to provide essential funding so we can continue to ensure our facilities are well maintained for years to come.”