Arsenio Romero resigns from PED, pursuing NMSU job

New Mexico’s public education secretary, Arsenio Romero, attended the Albuquerque Public Schools’ superintendents “state of the district speech” on Wednesday, posting photographs on social media from his visit including a picture of himself with state lawmaker.

At some point during the same day, he handed Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham his resignation from the cabinet position he has held since February 2023.

A press release from the governor’s office linked the resignation to Romero’s position as a finalist for the presidency of New Mexico State University, and thanked Romero for his service. The resignation took effect immediately.

The list of five finalists at NMSU had been announced less than two weeks prior, and Romero, a graduate and former NMSU regent, was the only New Mexico candidate on the list.

The governor’s spokesperson, Michael Coleman, confirmed that link when he told the Albuquerque Journal, “Gov. Lujan Grisham gave Secretary Romero a choice to either resign and continue pursuing the NMSU position or stay on the job and withdraw his candidacy at NMSU.”

Romero was the fourth education secretary to serve under Lujan Grisham. The Belen native began his education career as a classroom teacher in the Las Cruces Public Schools, moving on to administrative positions at LCPS and the Roswell Independent School District before serving as superintendent of the Deming Public Schools and the Los Lunas Schools. He served on NMSU’s board of regents from 2020 to 2023.

NMSU’s board of regents are not set to announce their selection for the university’s next president until sometime in September. This is the second slate of finalists for the position that has been vacant since April 2023, when Chancellor Dan Arvizu departed. The regents passed on the first list of finalists and restarted the executive search nearly six months ago. Currently, the university is led by interim president Mónica Torres.