Rio Rancho schools announce affordable summer camps for grades K-8

Rio Rancho families looking for affordable summer coverage got two new options from Rio Rancho Public Schools, both priced at $80 per student and both tied to campuses that match the age groups they serve. Registration was open after the district announced the camps on April 28, and officials said spots are limited, making the timeline important for parents planning childcare, enrichment, and work schedules around June.

The Arts of Success Summer Camp will serve students in grades K-5 from June 8 to June 12 at Sandia Vista Elementary, a PK-5 public school in Rio Rancho. Families can choose a morning session from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. or an afternoon session from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. The camp is built around music performance, art, athletics, STEM, and library time, and RRPS said snacks and one meal will be provided daily. For working households, that meal and the extended hours may be as important as the activities themselves.

For middle schoolers, the district introduced Nexus Summer Camp for grades 6-8, set for June 1 to June 5 at Mountain View Middle School. That program runs from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. and also costs $80 per student. Its focus is STEM, robotics, art, and athletics, giving older students a structured afternoon option during the first week of June. Mountain View serves grades 6-8, so the campus lines up neatly with the students the camp is designed to reach.

The camps also fit into a larger district strategy. RRPS said fine arts is an essential part of its curriculum, that every school in the district has full-time art and music teachers, and that it runs an Arts Integration Pilot Program at Enchanted Hills Elementary and Sandia Vista Elementary. The district was created in 1994 and now serves nearly 17,000 students across 21 schools, which gives the summer offerings districtwide reach even though the camps are hosted on just two campuses.

The 2026 version also marks a shift from RRPS’s 2024 Arts of Success camp, which was free for K-5 students and held at Enchanted Hills Elementary in two one-week sessions. This year’s paid format, split into elementary and middle school tracks, suggests the district is still leaning on arts-driven enrichment, but with a sharper focus on pricing, age fit, and limited enrollment for families trying to lock in summer plans early.