Special Audit Raises Serious Questions for Los Lunas Schools and State Rep. Brian Baca
A new special audit of Los Lunas Schools is raising concern across Valencia County, especially because some of the findings involve the district’s former Deputy Superintendent and overlap with his service in the New Mexico Legislature.
Rep. Brian Baca currently represents House District 8, which includes parts of Valencia County. He also served in a senior administrative role with Los Lunas Schools. According to the audit, Brian Baca had significant time-and-leave issues, including sick leave and regular paid workdays that overlapped with legislative roll-call attendance. Auditors estimated the possible overpayment at $11,365.82.
But the concern goes beyond payroll. The audit also found that Baca’s wife worked for years as a Gifted IEP Facilitator / Gifted Inclusion Support Coach without documentation showing she held the required
license and endorsement for that position. According to the report, the role required a PreK-12 Special Education License with a Gifted Education Endorsement, but she held a general K-8 Elementary License and had only one waiver year since 2015.
This was a position connected to IEPs, gifted education, special education support, and services for students who are entitled to qualified, properly trained, licensed, and credentialed providers. If the audit is correct, students and families were not simply affected by a paperwork error. They may have gone years without receiving support
from someone who was legally credentialed for the role she was assigned to perform.
The audit found $64,500 in stipend overpayments connected to that position. It also notes that her husband oversaw the district’s HR department, which was responsible for licensing compliance. Auditors said they could not prove intent, but they found that the licensure requirement and noncompliance appeared to be known to the employee and supervisors, including her husband, making an override of controls a reasonable possibility.
For families, this should be the heart of the issue. Public schools have a responsibility to protect students, especially students with IEPs and specialized learning needs. Those students deserve more than good intentions. They deserve staff who meet the legal and professional requirements for the services they are assigned to provide.
The audit does not make a final legal or ethics determination. But it does raise serious questions that deserve follow-up: Were students properly served? Were families informed? Were leave and licensure rules applied fairly? Did family connections affect HR oversight? And did district leadership do enough to protect students, staff, and public funds?
Valencia County residents deserve clear answers, accountability where appropriate, and safeguards to make sure this does not happen again. Rep. Brian Baca has not only given no answers, but he is also running again to represent our communities in Santa Fe without taking any accountability for his bad actions.
We need to tell Rep. Baca, and anyone else who seeks to enrich themselves on the backs of Valencia County taxpayers, that actions have consequences. We can do this with our votes. Rep. Baca faces a formidable opponent in November, Katherine Gauer. Learn more about Katherine here, and use your vote in November to tell Brian Baca that integrity and responsibility matter.
