The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce held its sold-out Annual Meeting at the Albuquerque Convention Center on Oct. 30.
The Chamber welcomed Robert Pondiscio, American Enterprise Institute senior fellow, as the keynote speaker where he focused on the future of education.
Pondiscio opened with a question on how many people went to traditional public school versus private, parochial, homeschool or some other form. Few if any raised their hands when he asked “charter school?”
He then explained that today, about 40% of children are attending a type of school other than a one in a geographically zoned public school district.
“That is a remarkable shift that has occurred within the lifetime of everybody in this room,” Pondiscio said. “Our perception of public education is evolving.”
He told the group that the forces of disruption have come for education as they have in other economic sectors.
Pondiscio elaborated on his “disruption” argument by using the term “peak oil,” which describes the irreversible decline of oil production after reaching its peak rate.
“We have not yet reached ‘peak oil’ — we might not in our lifetime — but we have hit peak public education, peak public school,” Pondiscio said. “There are some, too, who believe it will leave a disaster — and maybe it will.”
Home school, charter school and private school attendance have all gone up, he said, but he also cited chronic absenteeism — when a student misses 10% or more of the school year — as an issue that has hurt public schools nationwide.
He noted New Mexico has some of the worst rates of chronic absenteeism in the country.
The disruptions have led Pondiscio to believe that by the end of the decade, half of American children “will do something else” for their education other than attend a traditional public school.
In attendance was Albuquerque Public Schools Superintendent Gabriella Durán Blakey and several members of the APS Board of Education, as well as UNM President Garnett Stokes.
The charter school arena was represented as well, with several charter school leaders along with Public Charter Schools of New Mexico.
Before ending, Pondiscio advised the group to “avoid the temptation to pit private and public entities against each other.”
Prior to Pondiscio’s keynote address, Terri Cole, president and CEO of the Chamber; Del Esparza, GACC chairman and founder and CEO of Esparza Advertising; and Mike Canfield, past Chamber board chairman and president and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, introduced two new companies which joined the Chamber at the Leadership Circle level — Capra Bank, represented by New Mexico President Andres Garcia, and Ezee Fiber, represented by General Manager Carlos Rosas.
Canfield also recognized three other new Chamber members:
- Caring Hearts Senior Housing Advisors, which offers assisted living, independent living and memory care in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and surrounding areas.
- Kingdom Glow Beauty, which offers a range of luxurious services to pamper and enhance natural beauty.
- And Unitek, which believes that access to education defines the future of health care.
Cole and Esparza then talked about the Chamber’s initiatives going into the next year and brought attention to the Chamber’s Plan of Action.
Esparza said the Chamber believes that when businesses grow and succeed, jobs are created and our community attracts new investment, new families and new workers.
“It’s a good thing for everyone,” Esparza said. “Business growth is essential to building a better, stronger city.”
He continued to say that the Chamber is a “community-minded” organization.
Esparza and Cole said the Chamber’s priorities fall within three Bold Issue Groups:
- Public Safety
- Education
- Downtown revitalization
With all the Chamber’s work — in the three Bold Issue Groups, in the Legislature, with Leadership Albuquerque, Albuquerque Reads and NM Roadrunners, Cole said the ask to the audience is to plug into the Chamber’s work.
“We want your help and need your voice behind us. We have an ambitious agenda, but it’s necessary and important, and there is strength in numbers,” Cole said. “On the big challenges we face, it is easy to get discouraged. I ask that you imagine the possibility of a safer community, with stronger schools and a vibrant and bustling Downtown — it is absolutely achievable if we join forces to improve this place we love so much.”
