APS police to lose 16 positions

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Albuquerque Public Schools Police will have to make do with 16 fewer positions next year.

News 13 has learned campus security positions will be slashed from next year's APS budget.

The district says it doesn't know how many current campus security aides will get their walking papers. It will depend on retirements and transfers.

Campus security aides are posted at schools across the district. There were 90 of them in the district last year when it was fully staffed. But, right now, there are only 75 due to retirements or transfers.

APS says it's been getting by with fewer security aides this year by having educational assistants fill in at those positions

The teachers union says this is just another piece of bad news.

"How is this really going to effect the kids?" Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein said. "We're losing the people who are teaching them, keeping them safe, and keeping them fed. This is a dire situation."

In addition to 90 campus security positions, APS police currently has 52 uniformed officers.

There are no plans to cut any of those positions.