Local Schools Benefit from Spaceport America Tax

Local school districts in New Mexico are benefiting from a sales tax that voters in two counties approved to help support the construction of Spaceport America:

Local schools received about $1.9 million from a Spaceport America sales tax over the past year — money officials said pays for a host of science, math and aerospace activities for students.

Officials from the Las Cruces Public Schools, Gadsden Independent School District and Hatch Valley Public Schools reported to county commissioners Tuesday about how they spent the money over the past year.

LCPS officials said they’ve invested dollars in expanding learning, inside and outside the classroom, including through robotics competitions and summer programs and a pre-freshman engineering program. Also, a portion of dollars have gone toward teacher training to boost the numbers of Advanced Placement courses, they said…

Of the $1.9 million collected from the tax between July 2011 and June 2012, roughly $1.2 million went to LCPS, $677,000 went to Gadsden and $65,000 went to Hatch schools, according to a county report.

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