Schools are failing students in New Mexico by not producing satisfactory academic student achievements. Running for cover, our Public Education Department (NMPED) has announced it will no longer require testing for students to graduate from high school. The PED blames poor results on COVID and schools having to shutter and not administrative or teacher failures.
No doubt closing schools was a factor and done at the demand of Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, who pretty much dictated to the Center for Disease Control the guidelines by which teachers would teach. Our governor cooperated.
Mike Pompeo, former congressman, director of the CIA and secretary of state has often called Ms. Weingarten “the most dangerous person in the world.”
While “dangerous person in the world” may be a relative term, Mr. Pompeo qualifies his statement by saying, “Who’s most likely to take the republic down? It would be the teacher’s unions, and the filth they are teaching our kids, and the fact they don’t know math and reading or writing.”
Ms. Weingarten may be a national figure, but she is the face of public education, which includes her influence here in New Mexico. Her AFT union is joined here in New Mexico by the National Education Association (NEA) who together demand educational guidelines to our elected education officials.
Education should not be a partisan issue, but they have made it one by supporting Democrat Party run PACS and Democrat office candidates. The AFT and NEA donated $40 million to elect Democrats in the 2022 national elections.
Teacher’s unions represent teacher’s issues and not students. They often dictate curriculum and train their teachers in indoctrination techniques. Gender orientations and other WOKE decrees receive preference over reading, writing, math, history and civics and our kids are being social graduated, without the education most of us over 40 received.
I have a good friend who teaches in our public schools. She immigrated to the US and became a citizen. She knows more history of our country’s founding and past than her kids were learning in school. She removed them from the public school system and put them in private school and home schools to supplement.
Government has long had a role in public education and anything the government touches becomes political and therefore grows political agendas. However, the real power lies at the local level, with local school boards and with state legislators.
Unfortunately, being elected to a local school board often requires political connections and backing, instead of parental and student concern. Therefore, there is a hesitancy for well-intentioned citizens to get involved in the political quagmire.
Our legislators have the power to improve primary and secondary education by voting for school choice and or vouchers. Under school choice, parents could send their kids to schools with the best student achievement records, including magnet schools. Vouchers could be used to fund a portion of private school tuition, but the argument arises over giving public funds to private institutions over which the government has little control.
Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have voucher programs. Twenty-two states, the District of Columbia and Douglas County, Colorado have school choice.
NMPED Secretary, Kurt Steinhaus is asking for $4.1 billon to fund education in 2024, which is an increase of $200 million over 2023.
In 2023, education in New Mexico will consume 45 percent of the state budget. Now, our governor is proposing a free lunch program for all K-12 students.
More money is not the answer. The answer is complex, but lies first at the local level. Parental involvement with local school boards and revitalizing Parent-Teacher Associations in local schools would be a good start. Then, getting concerned citizens elected to school boards would be better.
Secondly, more charter schools and school choice for parents. The teacher’s unions don’t like charter schools because most are not unionized. Schools are for children, not teacher’s unions. We should never let their political agenda usurp the agenda of a good education.
When Dr. Veronica Gonzalez was superintendent of Santa Fe schools, of which many had failing achievement scores, I asked her what she said to school administrators and faculty of those failing schools. Her reply was basically, we encourage them to do better the next year.
To me, that is not an acceptable answer. In the real world, you either achieve your goals or you move on.
We need to change this teacher’s union supported – political system and that change must begin with citizen involvement at the local level and reach to informing our elected officials that we are requiring real solutions and not more lip service and money thrown at political agendas.
Tom Wright is a Santa Fe writer and investor in El Rito Media, LLC, owner of the Rio Grande SUN.