It’s time to fully fund education — for the children

As our children enjoy the last days of summer vacation, a trial that could change the future of public education in New Mexico has wrapped up. A group of families and school districts have sued the state for failing to provide a constitutionally sufficient education for our kids, and a ruling is expected this fall. Unfortunately, media coverage of the trial, including a recent Journal editorial, has largely focused on school funding to the exclusion of the children.

Each day, experts in the trial have been testifying that our education system is failing our students and is in dire need of change. Our state currently ranks dead last, 50th, on the “Chance for Success” ranking in the 2017 Quality Counts Report, which compiles factors including academic outcomes, parent employment rates, and poverty rates. Two-thirds of our state’s students are not reading at grade level, three-quarters cannot do math at grade level, and the few who actually graduate high school and make it to college need remediation.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Our New Mexican children are just as intelligent, just as capable, and possess just as much potential as children across this country, but they’re swimming upstream against very real challenges, including an education system starved of resources.

Witness after witness testified that our students need evidence-based educational programs to succeed, including pre-K, extended learning opportunities, and reading interventionists. All of our students need access to these services. Currently, the state only provides them to a small fraction of our students. I would ask how much lower do you want our students to fall before taking action to provide them the basic supports they need to have any chance at success?

Yes, these programs and supports cost money, and, contrary to the Journal’s editorial, the money does not have to come from other state programs. As Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, testified, the past two governors chose to give hundreds of millions of dollars in tax cuts to corporations and the wealthiest New Mexicans. Some examples include a 2003 personal income tax reduction for New Mexico’s highest earners that totals over $300 million per year; a Martinez corporate income tax reduction worth $12 million to $14 million a year if frozen at current levels; and a health care industry tax reduction worth $80 million per year. Our current budget woes are not solely due to lower gas and oil revenues, as the Journal asserts; they are self-imposed as state leaders chose other interests over the needs of students.

This current state of schools is unacceptable — for our kids, for our communities, and for New Mexico’s future success. While state officials and the Public Education Department continue to pass blame to teachers, individual school districts or students themselves, the final responsibility lies with them.

It’s time to stop the handwringing and false narrative that “there’s just not enough money.” It’s time to focus on the solutions that will turn our schools around. Many programs have proven to help kids learn and thrive. For example, economically disadvantaged children who participate in pre-K experience improved school attendance and academic success, are more likely to graduate from high school, and are less likely to engage in criminal activity. But in New Mexico, 13,000 4-year-olds in need of pre-K didn’t get it in 2016.

There is also a serious shortage of supports that mitigate the impact of poverty on learning. Students provided with wrap-around services such as social workers and counselors, tutors and oncampus health care services are more likely to stay in school and experience improved attendance and academic achievement.

In a state where the majority of students are Latino and Native American, dual-language programs have proven to help close the achievement gap. But only 115 out of 900 public schools offer them.

These programs and supports do have a cost to them, but we cannot continue to try to nickel-anddime our way out of 50th. There is no greater investment that we can make for the future health and vitality of our state than in the education of our children. As officials wrangle over money, our children’s lives are hanging in the balance.