Long-time supply-buying plan to change in fall of 2017

It’s getting more and more expensive to send a child to public school.

And that reality is no more apparent than when it comes to school supplies in poor school districts. The cost of outfitting one child with the necessary array of pens and pencils can go as high as $70 per student. And some students require extra supplies.

Not anymore – at least not at Gallup-McKinley County Schools thanks to a very welcomed cost-savings initiative implemented by district officials.

“I spend more at back-to-school than at Christmastime,” Gallup-McKinley County school parent Crystal Kee said. Kee has two kids that attend Navajo Pine...

Plan replaces No Child Left Behind

State Education Secretary Hanna Skandera dropped in on members of the Gallup-McKinley County Board of Education, teachers, parents and Gallup school administrators at a May 25 meeting about New Mexico’s Every Student Succeeds Act education plan.

The just more than one hour meeting was the last leg of ESSA meetings throughout New Mexico. The meeting took place at the library at Miyamura High School.

“Twenty-one different subjects and grades were measured this year and our state went up in 19 out of 21 subject areas this year,” Skandera told an audience of a couple dozen. “That’s a huge credit to teachers,” she said. “That means kids...

McKinley County is one of the poorest counties in the state, which means that it’s also one of the poorest counties in the country. It sits near New Mexico’s northern border with Arizona. There are roughly 75,000 residents and 77.5 percent are Native American. Census data notes that 73 percent of people living there graduated from high school and only 11 percent hold a Bachelor’s degree.

The median household income is $28,000 – well below the state’s average. The average income per capita is about $12,000, and 34 percent of the county is living in poverty. Part of the sprawling Navajo Indian Reservation runs through the county, as well as the Zuni Indian...

Vote relates to bigger Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project

The Gallup City Council has unanimously approved an agreement with the U.S. Department of the Army that relates to the G-22 water settlement. The act took place at a special meeting on May 26 at Gallup City Hall.

City Attorney George Kozeliski directed the meeting which was called specifically to address the G-22 issue. There were little to no comments by council members on the matter. Councilor Yogash Kumar did not attend the meeting.

“This settles our G-22 water application with the last major protestant,” Kozeliski said after the meeting. “If we didn’t settle with them we would have had to go to a full hearing in...