Rio Rancho Schools Adopt New K-12 Math Materials Amid $1.5 Million Shortfall

Rio Rancho Public Schools' Board of Education approved new K-12 math instructional materials at its March 23 meeting, locking in a six-year curriculum adoption even as departing Superintendent Dr. Sue Cleveland told board members the district is approximately $1.5 million short of what it needs to cover the cost.

The vote came just days before a March 31 vendor purchasing deadline, leaving the board little room to delay despite the unresolved funding gap. The materials are scheduled to arrive in time for the 2026-27 school year.

For elementary schools, the board approved two programs: "Eureka Math2" from publisher Great Minds and "Illustrative Mathematics" from publisher Kendall Hunt. Joy Morales, RRPS executive director of elementary curriculum and instruction, presented the cost breakdown to the board: $2.2 million for the instructional materials and an additional $27,000 in professional learning to help teachers put them into practice.

Cleveland used the meeting to publicly press state lawmakers on the funding gap. "That's something that needs to be a legislative priority. Obviously, (instructional) materials should be paid for," she said. "When you don't get that money, that means it has to come out of your classrooms (or) from some other budget, (like the operational budget)."

The math shortfall is not a one-time problem. Cleveland told the board that RRPS was more than $2 million short in paying for science instructional materials last year, making consecutive adoption cycles a recurring fiscal pressure point for the district.

With the board's vote on record and the purchasing deadline days away, how RRPS closes the $1.5 million gap remains unanswered. District finance staff discussed procurement and budget implications at the March 23 meeting, but no specific plan was announced publicly. Those decisions, along with the broader challenge of sustaining multi-year curriculum investments, will land squarely on Cleveland's successor.