The Academy for Technology and the Classics' best chance for survival might be to relocate within the next year. The move could save the school money and help it regain its charter, which was suspended last year by Santa Fe Public Schools after findings of financial mismanagement and other problems.

ATC is currently paying $45,500 per month in rent to its foundation for the four-year-old facility on Avan Nu Po Road south of town. According to the district, that's the steepest in the state for a charter school.

Relocating to cheaper accommodations -- the former Kaune Elementary School, for example -- would demonstrate to the district that the academy is working toward economic solvency and worthy of regaining its charter status.

The school's governing board and principal Susan Lumley met with about 100 parents, staffers and students Thursday night to discuss the situation. Carl Gruenler, chief financial officer for Santa Fe Public Schools, gave the assembly a recap of the events leading up to the school's financial dilemma.

Founded in 2000, ATC serves about 360 students in grades seven through 12. For seven years it leased space, first at the New Mexico National Guard complex and later in portables outside the Genoveva Chavez Community Center.

Around 2005, members of the school's nonprofit foundation and former principal Ruth LeBlanc secured an agreement with the Santa Fe County Commission to sell about $7 million in industrial-revenue bonds to finance construction of a permanent school. The foundation accepted a donation of 10 acres of land for the building.

The sublease agreement between the foundation and the school, signed on Jan. 1, 2006, makes it clear that the school can cancel the annual lease with the foundation with 30 days notice.

The 30,000-square-foot facility officially opened in autumn 2007. Critics have often observed that the school's lack of both a library and a technology/science lab contradict its title and purpose.

The school's troubles -- which have included turnover in the principal's office -- escalated last spring when Santa Fe Public Schools, responding to a request from both parents and Secretary of Education-designate Hanna Skandera, released a 30-page report detailing an array of concerns about the school's finances, leadership and oversight of human resources.

The district revoked ATC's charter after the governing council resigned en masse. In late June, the district appointed Lumley, a former principal, assistant principal and assistant director for its special-education department, as ATC's new leader. The school elected a new governing council in the fall.

The Santa Fe Public Schools Board of Education agreed to subsidize ATC for up to $215,000. So far, the district has allocated more than $100,000 to the school, mostly for financial operations and human-resource support.

ATC's annual operating budget is about $2.5 million and it expects to have only about $28,500left by the end of the school year, giving it little wiggle room to cover payroll needs, prepare for future economic challenges or develop new programming.

Gruenler noted that over the past few years ATC (like other schools) has been receiving about $265,000 less per year from the state.

Yet, lease payments this year are $537,558, with $275,752 coming out of the school's operating budget and $261,806 from the state's Public School Capital Outlay Council, which funds charter school rent based on a $730-per-student rate.

Under the current rental terms, by the end of 2013, ATC will be carrying at least a $60,000 deficit that will increase over time, making solvency difficult, Gruenler said.

On the other hand, Capital Outlay Council funds could easily cover the rent at Kaune under the state arrangement with charter schools leasing district-owned facilities, Gruenler said.

ATC has options, but little time

At Thursday night's meeting, some foundation members, as well as Chris Ryan, who said he represents some of the bondholders, said they would be open to renegotiating the monthly payments for the school if it stays on the current site.

The district wants ATC to present its plan by early March so it can make a decision on restoring the charter. The school can get out of its lease with 30 days notice come May and it makes senses to move over the summer.

Governing council president Tannis Fox said relocating into an existing school building -- albeit one designed for elementary-school, not high-school, students -- would make the transition easier. Kaune, which opened in the late 1940s, has been closed since 2010.

Though Kaune neighbors last year protested the idea of the private Desert Academy moving into the old elementary school, Fox said ATC leaders have already reached out to that community to ensure a smooth transition.

She emphasized that the district is bound by law to offer empty facilities to needy charter schools, suggesting that neighbors would have fewer grounds on which to protest. Gruenler said the Kaune option originated with ATC leaders, and not the school district.

Fox said the school's leaders are also in touch with city and county representatives, but no other public facility options have surfaced.

Regarding who would be left holding the $45,500-per-month bag were ATC to end its lease, Fox said the school's legal counsel is confident that it's not ATC.

Ike Pino, vice chair for the foundation, did not say outright whether the foundation would be held responsible for the monthly debt when he spoke Thursday night, nor did he return a phone call seeking comment on Friday. But during the school presentation, he asked the governing board to give him time to inquire whether the monthly rent could be renegotiated or whether the foundation could work with the school to set up a lease/purchase arrangement for the building.

Ryan echoed Pino's comments, leading ATC history teacher Jon Seyfried to chide the bondholders and foundation members for making money off the backs of staff and students. He noted that the school has had no money to pay for a late bus for students, needed textbooks or to reimburse teachers who work as tutors or coaches after hours.

"I really wish you had shown up and offered to help a year ago," Seyfried said.

Student Ansel Carpenter said that according to a poll of about one-third of the student body, close to 70 percent of them want to move. They are frustrated with the school's lack of cafeteria, library and technological infrastructure.

Student Anna Isenberg said that while she loves the current building, it has a faulty heating system, leaky water pipes and often requires a half-hour wait to load a YouTube video on a computer.

"We have no library, and my mom is the state librarian," she said. "I want a library!" (Her mother is Devon Skeele, the new state librarian.)

While a majority of the speakers seemed to be leaning toward a move, a few suggested the school explore the lease/purchase idea. One man told Ryan that perhaps the bondholders should give the school six to 12 months of free rent to entice it to stay.

Governing council member Gordon Lawrie told Thursday's group that he loves the natural beauty of the environment around the current school facility. But, he added, getting out of the lease is "a no-brainer. We cannot afford this ... the important thing is that this school continue and our children get the top education they deserve."

At the end of the night the council voted to move forward with finding a public building while giving the foundation until Friday to come up with a new financing plan.

"We'll see what the foundation can come up with, and if it's something we can work with, our board is willing to evaluate whether it's an option," Lumley said Friday.

"The walls are not what matters," she said Thursday night. "It's the kids."

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com