CIBOLA COUNTY, N.M. On December 3, Grants Cibola County Schools (GCCS) had their first Tribal Education Summit, with attendees including parents, alumni, and tribal leaders.
Loren Aragon, the 1st Lt. Governor of the Pueblo of Acoma stated “As a sovereign tribal nation, the Pueblo of Acoma approached this meeting with a profound sense of responsibility for the health, education, and overall well-being of our children.” Aragon continued by explaining that the responsibility of ensuring education opportunities for Native students is not merely discretionary but firmly rooted in the Pueblo’s sovereignty and legal rights.
Budget and Finance
The total budget for school year 2025-2026 is $377,143.
$369,600.14 of this amount was expended on staff salaries and $7,542.86 on student school supplies.
To ensure each site has adequate support, the district splitfunds the Title VI Liaison positions using an 80/20 funding model, allowing us to maintain a liaison at every school location.
Impact aid is a unique federal education program that is used to replace funding for lost local revenue. It goes directly to LEA’s, with no state “Rake-Off.” The funds are expended for the benefit of ALL students in the district. Most of this aid goes into the district’s general operating fund and may be used as the local school district decides or for any legal purpose under state law.
Chronic Absenteeism Facts
A law adopted in 2019 requires the state to look at the Chronic Absentee Rate for each school. All absences are considered lost instruction and are calculated in the absenteeism rate.
Only 17%% of students who are chronically absent in grades k-2 will be able to read in 3rd grade.
Students who are chronically absent in 7-12 grade are 7 times more likely to dropout of school.
Missing 18 days of school in a school year will result in a student being reported as chronically absent. A chronically absent first grader can fall 32 percentile points behind a peer who is in regular attendance.
Standardized tests results show that chronically absent students score 10-18 points lower on average in reading and math.
“Students who have higher levels of absenteeism have significantly higher reported anxiety and depression symptoms. Students who are chronically absent miss opportunities to develop social skills, making it difficult for them to navigate situations effectively.'
Special Education and Gifted Summary As of December 1, 2025: Special education students Acoma - 2.42% of the total enrollment or 75 students Laguna - 2.26% or 70 students Navajo - 5.03% or 156 students Gifted education students Acoma - 8 students out of 379 Laguna - 6 students out of 326 Navajo - 3 students out of 697 The total number of special education students in GCCS is 584 and gifted students 66.
Positions & Staff Demographics
Total employees = 505 Administrative = 28 Certified = 254 Certified EA = 75 Classified = 135 Drivers = 16 Male = 142 Female = 363 American Indian/Alaskan Indian = 84 Asian = 83 Caucasian = 132 Hispanic = 200 Other = 6 Per pupil expenditure for 2023-2024
“So I have a quick question.” An attendee stated “So how— or what is Grants Cibola County Schools doing to help increase the amount of funding that we get for impact state or for Title VI? The reason why I’m asking this, I’m looking at a school with about 250-260 Native Americans students getting more money than a school such as Grants Cibola with over what how much Native American Indian students are in their school?”
“1,472.” Someone responded.
“Okay. So, why is a school at a lesser 250 student count getting more in impact and Title VI funding and Grants isn’t getting that same amount. You’re getting a lot less for more. So what are you doing or what are you going to do to help increase that for those two?”
“I can answer that for you.” Someone answered “We recently sent out the impact 8 forms November 11, we sent out 3,000 forms to each school site per student count the numbers back but I guarantee you out of that 3,000 we finally got about 800 forms back. So those numbers directly impact a funding. So we submit out of that 800 now we [have] to separate them for being on the federal land… So we break that number down 800, and only 400 qualify… That’s the number we submit to. So that’s the amount of fund we get back and we [submit] on our part.”