Los Lunas Schools Special Audit, Part 1
On Wednesday, May 20th, 2026 Jaramillo Accounting Group (JAG) presented the Los Lunas School Board with the findings of their Special Audit, which was conducted during the 2025-2026 school year and covers the dates from July 1st, 2023 through May 31st, 2025. The audit was presented by Audrey Jaramillo on behalf of JAG, where she is a Certified Public Accountant, a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Certified Municipal Officer, and a Core Forensic Examiner. The firm is owned by Ms. Jaramillo. JAG is also Los Lunas Schools’ annual auditing firm. State Auditor Joseph Maestas was also present in order to address any procedural questions, alongside Shawn Beck who is the Director of the Special Investigations Division of the Office of the State Auditor.
Let’s back up a step before we get to the details. This special audit was initiated by State Auditor Joseph Maestas on April 11th, 2025 at the request of the New Mexico Public Education Secretary Mariana Padilla. Sec. Padilla made the request after concerns were raised about procurement (purchasing of goods and/or services) by the Los Lunas Schools Board of Education, as well as the potential misconduct of members overstepping their role. After receiving the notification of the special audit, Los Lunas Schools contracted with JAG to perform the audit, with the approval of State Auditor Maestas.
The meeting itself was pretty straight forward. As with all public school board meetings, it is available to rewatch on the Los Lunas School Board’s YouTube channel. However, what the video recording doesn’t easily show is who was in the audience to hear this report presented to the school board. I was in attendance (the News-Bulletin’s cover photo for their article on this presentation has a lovely view of the back of my head) for this meeting, and the audience mainly consisted of Ms. Jaramillo’s team, Auditor Maestas’s team, school administrators, News-Bulletin staff writer Ken Rodriguez, our local NEA representatives, and a few other concerned citizens like myself. Noticeably absent was Representative Brian Baca and his wife, Jennifer Chavez-Baca. Considering the fact that the major headlines of the report concern Rep. Baca and his wife, I find it reasonable to question why they were not in attendance.
I whole-heartedly encourage you to go read the report yourself. It is available directly on the State Auditor’s website (click here; scroll down and click ‘Get File’), but for an unknown reason, the report won’t open on mobile devices, which is why I’ve downloaded the report file and uploaded it to my website (click here). Even though I was in attendance at the meeting where Ms. Jaramillo did an excellent job presenting the information in the report, I've taken the time to read the report myself, and from here on out, I’ll be sharing my own interpretation (please note: 1.) I am NOT a lawyer; and 2.) I am NOT a Financial Specialist) of what is in the report. Please hang in here with me- this is going to get LONG!
First up: understanding the format of this report. The Special Audit Report has several different sections that Ms. Jaramillo explained in the meeting, but those explanations don’t translate well in the report. While the explanations aren’t integral to understanding the report, they do help to support understanding of the report, which is why I’m including them here.
Report of Independent Accountant’s Special Audit Consulting Report- this is a letter from JAG explaining what they were contracted to do, and how they did it.
Executive Summary- this is a short summary of the purpose of the audit, the scope of the audit, and what JAG found during the investigation.
Special Audit Procedures- this is a short summary of the procedures JAG used to evaluate the scope of the work.
Scope of Work- this section explains in detail all of the things JAG investigated during the audit.
Findings- this section explains the results of the audit, alongside JAG’s recommendations to ensure future compliance.
Definitions- this section provides some much needed clarification on specialized terms used throughout the audit.
Perceptions- this section was included to remind readers that there are a multitude of different filters that each reader may interpret this information through, and that in order to achieve understanding we may have to question whether or not our perceptions are impacting our understanding.
Areas of Risk Tested- this section delineates in great detail the topics that were investigated, how they were investigated, and the results. This is where the bulk of the information is found, and is broken down into five sections, as follows:
Board of Education Procurement Testing- Legal Services- this specifically looks at an incident where the Board of Education was contracting legal services
Other Procurement Testing- this section looks at all other purchasing of services and supplies by the school district
Board Involvement in Day-to-Day Operations- this section acts as a Question and Answer section to address specific concerns expressed by the Board of Education
Time and Leave Testing- this section examines three specific employees’ usage of Sick Leave, Paid Time Off, and Family Medical Leave Act leave.
Other Miscellaneous Items Addressed- this section addresses several other issues that were investigated but were not expansive enough to warrant their own section
Corrective Actions to Date- this section outlines the actions the Board of Education and school district have already taken to correct the findings in the report.
Conclusion- this section is a summary of the report as a whole.
Los Lunas Schools Special Audit Consulting Procedures Exit Conference- this is a list of all the people who were in the closed meeting where this audit was first presented.
Exhibit 1- these pages outline the evidence found during the investigation.
Exhibit 2- this is the results of an anonymous survey all staff of Los Lunas Schools were asked to participate in.
I didn’t realize that list was going to be that long. But, it took me a while to figure this structure out- even with hearing Ms. Jaramillo’s explanations- and I don’t want y’all to struggle in the same way when you read the report. Moving on…
There is a lot of interesting information in this report, but the headline that I want to dig into in this post is found in the ‘Time and Leave Testing’ subsection of the ‘Areas of Risk Tested’ section. This section is all about three specific employee’s time and leave usage during the period of examination the Audit covers (remember this is July 1, 2023 - May 31, 2025). The report doesn’t officially name the employees in question, however it does provide enough information to easily identify each individual.
The first employee is identified as the ‘Former Deputy Superintendent of Human Resources, Athletics, Transportation, and Safety/Security. This is State Representative Brian Baca, who is currently up for reelection this Fall. Rep. Baca officially retired from Los Lunas Schools during the Summer of 2025, and is no longer employed by the school district.
The audit found that, of the 425 working days (this doesn't include weekends and days the school district was closed) that occurred during the period of examination of the audit, Rep. Baca used 269 days of paid leave. That is over half of the days included in the audit (425÷2=212.5). Of those 269 days of paid leave: 126 were sick days, 72 were FMLA days, 67 were vacation days, and 4 were personal days.
Now, the whole reason Rep. Baca was investigated is because questions were raised about his paid leave while he served in the state legislature. The audit found that of the 93 days the legislature was in session during the examination period, attendance was taken in the House on 65 of those days. Rep. Baca was found to be present 63 of those days. When compared to his attendance at Los Lunas Schools, the following was found:
12 of the 63 days were either weekends or other non-contract work days (meaning Rep. Baca would have been off of work even if he wasn’t serving in the legislature).
13 of the 63 days were reported as vacation days.
13 of the 63 days were reported as sick days.
19 of the 63 days were reported as FMLA days.
6 of the 63 days were not reported at all- meaning Rep. Baca was serving in the legislature AND was reportedly at work for Los Lunas Schools at the same time.
Now, 25 of these days (the weekends/non-contract days and the vacation days) are not in question. Rep. Baca- like the rest of us- is free to do what he pleases on his days off, and vacation days are meant to be used in whatever manner each employee chooses.
Here’s where the problems come in:
The Collective Bargaining Agreement between Los Lunas Schools Administrators and Los Lunas Schools Board of Education specifically states that employees may not use sick leave in order to receive pay while serving in the state legislature. We already know that this is exactly what Rep. Baca did because he was counted as ‘in attendance’ at the state legislature on these days. To his credit, Rep. Baca did attempt to get this policy amended but was unsuccessful.
The Family Medical Leave Act allows employees to take extended leave from work- with or without pay; it’s at the employer’s discretion- without losing their jobs for medical reasons. In order for this to be approved, a medical doctor has to fill out paperwork to be submitted to the employer first. I don’t presume to know why Rep. Baca was approved for FMLA; there are many reasons why a person can be approved for FMLA. However, it does raise the question- especially when combined with his use of sick leave- that if Rep. Baca had a medical situation that prevented him from attending his full-time job, how was he able to serve in the legislature on those same days?
The remaining 6 days- where Rep. Baca was serving in the legislature when he was ALSO supposedly at work- are effectively Time Card Fraud. Rep. Baca was most definitely in service at the legislature as the roll call- which happens daily while the state legislature is in session- indicates on these days. New Mexico generally does not allow remote participation in House sessions by legislators unless the Representative has prior approval, so unless other evidence is forthcoming, it is safe to assume Rep. Baca was physically present in Santa Fe, and not in the Central Office Administration building of Los Lunas Schools.
At this point I believe it is important to point out that Los Lunas Schools- along with every other school district- allows its employees to serve in the legislature full time, so long as they serve while taking leave without pay. This is done because public school school employees are government employees and state law prohibits government employees from simultaneously receiving pay while receiving the per diem that legislators receive while actively serving during legislative sessions.
Ultimately, the audit found that Rep. Baca was most likely overpaid $11,365.82 for these 38 unexcused and misreported days of work, while he was also receiving the $202/day per diem ($7,676 for the same 38 days) that state legislators receive.
While this information is incredibly detailed and insightful, it does leave me with more than a few questions:
Is there a way to account for Rep. Baca’s whereabouts on the 28 days attendance wasn’t taken at the state legislature in order to determine how he reported those days on his Los Lunas Schools time card?
Rep. Baca also served in the state legislature during the 2022 and 2023 legislative sessions before his retirement from Los Lunas Schools; is it possible to do the same analysis for those years?
Does this extend further back than the years Rep. Baca served in the legislature while also employed by Los Lunas Schools?
What happens now that the fraud has been uncovered? Will Rep. Baca face civil or criminal charges?
What did our students have to do without because of this fraud?
What did our classroom teachers have to do without because of this fraud?
How were our support staff affected by this?
How could a career educator- someone who presumably knows how underfunded public education is- stoop so low as to steal from the school district he worked for?
At this point, no decisions have been made about next steps- to my knowledge- so we’ll have to wait and see what happens next.
Works Cited
"Brian Baca Chosen for N.M. House of Representatives." Valencia County News-Bulletin, 20 Jan. 2022, www.news-bulletin.com/news/brian-baca-chosen-for-nm-house-of-representatives/338793.
Collective Bargaining Agreement Between Los Lunas Schools and NEA–Los Lunas Certified Staff, 2025–2026. Los Lunas Schools and NEA–Los Lunas, 2025.
Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). United States Department of Labor, www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla.
Jaramillo Accounting Group. Jaramillo Accounting Group. Jaramillo Accounting Group, www.jag.cpa/.
Jaramillo Accounting Group LLC. Los Lunas Schools Special Audit Consulting Report: July 1, 2023–May 1, 2025. Prepared for Los Lunas Schools and the New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, 15 May 2026. PDF report.
"Los Lunas Board of Education Accepts Special Audit." Valencia County News-Bulletin, 27 May 2026, www.news-bulletin.com/news/los-lunas-board-of-education-accepts-special-audit/3050415.
House Rules. New Mexico House of Representatives, n.d.
New Mexico Legislature. New Mexico Legislature, n.d.
"New Mexico Public Education Department Leadership." New Mexico Public Education Department, web.ped.nm.gov/nmpedleadership/.
Office of the New Mexico State Auditor. New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, www.osa.nm.gov/.
Per Diem and Mileage Rates. New Mexico Legislature, www.nmlegis.gov/Publications/Per_Diem_and_Mileage.
"Section 2-1-3. Members of Legislature; Civil Office During Term Prohibited." New Mexico Statutes, Justia US Law, law.justia.com/codes/new-mexico/chapter-2/article-1/section-2-1-3/.
"Special Audit Presentation to the Los Lunas Board of Education." YouTube, uploaded by New Mexico Office of the State Auditor, www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUOW-1ZUjxo.