Rio Rancho schools approve union contract, raise meal prices for 2026-27

Rio Rancho Public Schools approved a new labor contract and a higher school-meal price schedule as it heads into the 2026-27 school year, putting staffing stability and household budgets at the center of the district’s next financial year. The Board of Education signed off on both agreements at its June 8 meeting, with the union deal covering employees through June 30, 2027 and the food-service contract running on the same timeline.

The contract is the first negotiated agreement executed under Superintendent Dr. Robert “Robby” Dodd, whom the district hired in December 2025 after a national search. RRPS described Dodd as only the second leader in the district’s 31-year history, after Dr. Sue Cleveland’s long tenure. It also comes after a difficult budget season in which the board approved a $257 million spending plan for 2026-27 and district leaders said a 3% workforce reduction was part of the realignment needed to keep the system balanced.

For employees, the biggest immediate change is a permanent version of the sick-leave flexibility first tried in the June 2025 contract. Under the new agreement, workers can convert two sick leave days into personal leave, a move the Rio Rancho School Employees’ Union had pushed as a retention tool and a way to ease burnout. The agreement also formalizes stipends for special education and gifted teachers, two groups the union says carry especially heavy workloads.

Special education staffing carries the most detailed workload language. The agreement says a full-time 1.0 FTE special-education caseload is considered a complete workload, and no special education teacher shall be required to carry more than a 2.0 caseload. Stipends are calculated on the 40th, 80th, 120th and last day of school, with a maximum of $4,000 per calculation date for a caseload of 2.0. If that workload held steady all year, a qualifying teacher could receive as much as $16,000. The agreement also says caseloads are to be balanced based on student needs, not manipulated to change stipend amounts.

Union president Billie Helean said the changes were meant to help retention and reduce burnout, while board member Dr. Stephanie Miller stressed the importance of promoting available state retention bonuses. In a May 1 memo, Dodd and Helean told staff that every current employee would have a job next year, though some positions could shift through retirements and resignations.

Families will also feel the deal at the lunch line. RRPS’s contract with Southwest Food Excellence took effect June 1 and runs through June 30, 2027, with meal prices rising 3.8% for the coming year. The district says its schools meet or exceed local, state and federal nutrition requirements and USDA standards, but the higher charges ensure food-service costs remain part of the school budget conversation across Rio Rancho and Sandoval County.