Best Special Needs Schools in Los Lunas, New Mexico (2026)

Del Rio Academy is an accredited private nonprofit school in Los Lunas serving grades 2 through 8. It sits on the Sandhill Center campus in Valencia County and functions as the educational component of Sandhill, a residential program for children with significant emotional challenges. Many students arrive after struggling in a traditional academic setting. The school is small by design. Enrollment runs around 29 students against roughly two and a half full time teachers, which works out near a 12 to 1 ratio. One structural choice is worth understanding before you visit: teachers rotate between classrooms while students stay put in a familiar room, which removes the between-class churn that a lot of these students find hardest. Lessons and assignments are adapted to each student's learning style rather than delivered to a single pace. Classroom work is paired with applied learning, including monthly field trips through the Bosque Ecosystem Monitoring Program. The calendar runs 200 days, longer than a standard year, with breaks aligned to the local public school calendar so families with children in both systems are not juggling two schedules. Del Rio Academy is nonsectarian and coed. Admissions can be reached at (505) 553-6800. Tuition is not published.