Thank goodness the midterm elections have finally concluded. No more mudslinging for at least the next two years.
As you may know, all state Legislative House seats were up for grabs in 2022. After all was said and done, the Republicans and Democrats each picked up two seats, leaving the House exactly as it was prior to the 2022 election cycle, with 45 Democrats and 25 Republicans. Also, there are currently 27 Democrats and 15 Republicans in the Senate.
The 2023 Legislature opened on Tuesday, January 17, for 60 days, ending on Saturday, March 18, at noon. Some of the legislation of particular interest to the NMBA that we expect to be introduced includes:
- Creation of a state bank
- Paid family and medical leave
- Repeal the state’s prohibition on rent control which would allow municipalities and counties to consider the issue
- Major state tax reform, including gross receipts, corporate income tax and personal income taxes
- Additional funding for the state Financial Institutions Division
- Increasing and updating bankruptcy and debt collection exemptions, including the homestead exemption
- Trust legislation to clarify conservator’s liability
- Mandatory course in financial literacy as a requirement for high school graduation
- Financial exploitation of elderly, disabled or vulnerable adults
- State budget (It is estimated that the 2023 Legislature will have $3.5 billion in new money to appropriate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2023.)
We anticipate there will be more than 2,000 bills introduced during the 2023 Legislature, as there is no limit on legislative introductions during a 60-day session.
Education Reform
In meetings with business leaders, we are constantly reminded that New Mexico needs to drastically improve our public education system. Our education system often renders our workforce less than competitive. That said, I have to praise the Santa Fe think tank, Think New Mexico, for its most recent report. It provides a 10 point plan and various legislative recommendations to improve the performance of the state’s struggling public education system, which has been ranked last in the United States in valuations by Education Week, U.S. News and World Report, Forbes, Kids Count and Wallethub. Historically, Mississippi held the lowest ranking among states in poverty, child welfare and education. However, in the past 10 years, Mississippi has jumped ahead of many states on national reading and math testing, improving from 49th in the U.S. for fourth-grade reading in 2013 to 29th in 2019. And in fourth-grade math, students improved from 50th to 23rd. In New Mexico, this year’s statewide assessments found only 34% of third through eighth graders proficient in reading and only 25% in math.
The state became acutely aware of the deficiencies in our public education system when, in 2018, a judge in the First Judicial Court (Santa Fe) issued a decision and order in the Yazzi/Martinez v. New Mexico case that the vast majority of at-risk children finish each school year without the basic literacy and math skills needed to pursue post-secondary education or a career. The funding provided by the state legislature was ruled insufficient based on the State Constitution. The court noted that the Public Education Department failed its audit and its supervisory role to ensure school districts are adequately spending the funds that are provided to them to effectively provide students with proper education. The court ordered the state to ensure opportunities for students to be college and career-ready, as well as remedy deep inequities for low-income Native American, English-language learners, and students with disabilities. The court ordered the state to develop a court-approved plan for quality education for at-risk students and called for extended learning for all students enrolled in high-priority schools.
The recommendations in the Think New Mexico report respond to the Yazzi ruling and directly benefit New Mexico’s students. It should be pointed out that, in all fairness, the state has already begun to take positive steps, such as substantially raising teachers’ salaries to the highest among our surrounding states and increasing access to early childhood education.
It should be pointed out that, in all fairness, the state has already begun to take positive steps, such as substantially raising teachers’ salaries to the highest among our surrounding states and increasing access to early childhood education.
- Optimizing Time for Teaching and Learning. It recommends increasing minimum instruction time for students and adopting a balanced calendar to shorten summer vacation. Shockingly, the State Legislative Finance Committee estimated that students lose approximately 32% of instructional time each year to non-instructional activities such as parent-teacher conferences, home visits, early release, and teacher professional development.
- Improving Teacher Training. The research is clear that the single most important factor in a student’s success is the effectiveness of the student’s teacher. As noted in the report: “If American teachers – unlike athletes or manufacturing workers – haven’t got much better over the past three decades, it’s largely because their training hasn’t, either. … [T]eacher training in most of the United States has usually been an afterthought. Most new teachers enter the classroom with a limited set of pedagogical skills, since they get little experience beforehand, and most education courses don’t say much about how you run a class. Then teachers get little ongoing, sustained training to help them improve.”
- Revamping the Colleges of Education. Why are potential teachers pursuing alternative rather than traditional pathways into education careers? One reason is that the curriculum at the state’s colleges of education too often emphasizes abstract theory over the practical, skills-based learning that is most valuable to future teachers. There are eight colleges of education in the state. The curricula at the different colleges are not aligned, and they have not generally evolved to keep up with new research about best practices.
- Enhancing Principal Pay and Training. After teacher quality, principal quality is the second most impactful factor in student success, and the two are closely connected: principals are the key to recruiting and keeping excellent teachers. The state’s high teacher attrition is likely linked to our high rate of principal attrition. A 2018 report identified New Mexico as one of the 10 worst states for principal retention, with principals staying an average of well under four years in a position. The cost of replacing a principal is estimated at $75,000. As to why principals leave their jobs, the top reasons were inadequate preparation, insufficient professional development, and low salaries.
- Upgrading the Quality of School Boards. New Mexico should increase the annual training requirements for all school board members from five hours to 24 hours and focus on how school board governance can improve student outcomes.
- Smaller School Districts, Schools, and Class Sizes. New Mexico should revise the public school capital outlay funding formula to incentivize school districts to build smaller schools: 900 or fewer students for high schools and 400 or fewer for elementary and middle schools. Smaller schools tend to have higher graduation rates, higher student achievement, and a higher level of satisfaction among students and parents. Smaller schools also tend to be safer.
- Maximizing the Benefits of Charter Schools. There are 98 charter schools in New Mexico, with an enrollment of 29,219 students. The report encourages the Legislature and Governor to provide greater oversight of failing charter schools and enhance the mission of academically successful charter schools.
- Providing a Relevant, Rigorous High School Curriculum. New Mexico must make the student curriculum more relevant. The state should make the high school curriculum more engaging by adding a semester course in finance (financial literacy) to the graduation requirement. We should also maintain a course in government and require a course in civics. The state should require two credits of foreign language for high school graduation.
- Depoliticizing Student Assessments. School testing has become a hot-button political issue over the years. In some cases, student test results can be used to reward or punish teachers. The Think New Mexico report noted: “Achievement tests were not designed for the purposes of promoting or grading students, evaluating teachers, or evaluating schools. In fact, connecting these social functions to achievement test data corrupts what the tests are measuring. When a score has been connected to a teacher’s pay or job status, educators will inevitably be drawn toward teaching to the test, and schools toward hiring to the test and paying to the test, rather than making sure students get the well-rounded education they deserve.”
