Today. Rio Rancho Public Schools (RRPS) takes a major step forward towards realizing its goal of opening a second high school to serve Rio Rancho students.

N.M. Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick Lyons joins Superintendent of Schools Dr. V. Sue Cleveland and members of the Rio Rancho Board of Education to formally hand over 140 acres of state trust land to the Rio Rancho school district. The land will be used for the new high school and other future district facilities, including a future home for the Rio Rancho Cyber Academy.

The Board of Education and Dr. Cleveland thank Commissioner Lyons for giving the district the opportunity to acquire the 140 acre parcel northwest of Paseo del Volcan and Westphalia Blvd. The land is in the same general area as Rio Rancho’s new City Centre, which will include the new City Hall, a multi-purpose arena, and the recently-announced UNM West campus. “This school will provide some exciting opportunities for us to design innovative educational programs for our students,” Dr. Cleveland says. “We look forward to working with our staff, parents, students, and the community to plan our new high school.”

The purchase price is of the land $2.520 million. Rio Rancho’s legislative delegation and Governor Richardson funded most of the purchase ($2.045 million) through capital outlay appropriations in the 2005 legislative session. The school district provided the balance of the funds.

The state has pledged $46.8 million towards design and construction costs for the new campus, contingent upon voter approval of matching funds in the school district’s February 7 bond election. Voters are being asked to pass a $39 million bond issue which includes the $25.8 million match, about 35% of the anticipated $72.6 million design and construction cost. If the bond issue is approved, the new school will open in 2008 or 2009. For more information about the bond, click here.

“Completion of the land purchase and the promise of state funding are significant steps on the road to a new high school, Dr. Cleveland says, “but if voters turn down the bond issue, the district loses the $46.8 million pledged by the state. Instead, Rio Rancho taxpayers would have to pay the entire cost of building a new high school sometime in the future, when construction costs will be higher. Approval of the bond issue is vital if we are to open the new high school in a timely manner and adequately serve the 5,000 9th - 12th graders we expect in fall 2009.”

The Rio Rancho district expresses its appreciation to Land Commissioner Lyons and his staff, to Governor Richardson, and to the members of the Rio Rancho legislative delegation for their bipartisan support. State Representatives Tom Swisstack, Jane Powdrell-Culbert and Thomas Anderson, and State Senators Steve Komadina, John Ryan, and Leonard Tsosie provided funding for the land. RRPS also appreciates the support of its community partners who have been and are active participants in the process, including the City of Rio Rancho, Sandoval County, the Rio Rancho Chamber of Commerce and business community, and the Rio Rancho Economic Development Corporation.

Rio Rancho welcomed more than 1,000 new students into its schools this year. The current student enrollment of 13,660 is an 8½% increase over the previous year’s enrollment. Rapid growth is expected to continue as a result of extensive new development in Rio Rancho. In the next five years, Rio Rancho will need to build three elementary schools, a middle school, and a high school to meet the needs of Rio Rancho’s children.