It’s time for equal access, excellence in our schools
From the quality of teachers to children’s total well-being, the task is large and well overdue
Unequal access to a high-quality education in this country is one of the great civil rights issues of our time, and no one has stepped up to take on the responsibility of fostering excellence and equal access for students in New Mexico. Accomplishing this requires that we enact policies that are informed by complete understandings of the opportunities and challenges our students and teachers face every day. For too long our leaders have ignored the root causes of our shortcomings and instead have mistaken the symptoms for the disease. I’m ready to change that to move us all forward.
My work in federal education policy has shaped my understanding of the myriad intersectional issues that impact a student’s ability to learn, teachers’ ability to teach in safe, well-resourced classrooms, and the role that members of Congress and the federal government must play, along with the states, in shaping policy which addresses all of these areas. We must improve in two primary areas: reshaping how we support, evaluate, and reward teachers for maximizing student learning inside the classroom and alleviating the challenges outside our schools that impact long-term outcomes.
No other school-based factor has a greater impact on student learning than the quality of one’s teachers. That’s why in Congress I will work to support the states in developing accountability systems that foster professional growth and development for teachers, while also allowing them to focus on teaching instead of high-stakes standardized tests that all-too-often serve as a basis for refusing to sufficiently fund or to close schools. I will defend against efforts to use student test scores as the majority component of teacher and principal evaluations and, instead, pass funding legislation that recognizes the multidimensional nature of teaching and school leadership.
Alongside championing our teachers, we need to support caregivers and communities. We must begin to focus on how what occurs during the 16 hours of the day outside of the classroom impacts a student’s ability to learn — including the detrimental effects of children living in hunger, poverty or environments of trauma and violence. Education cannot be fixed inside a vacuum in the state ranked No. 1 for crime, childhood hunger and poverty. As the only candidate in this race with federal educational policy experience and a degree in pre-K-12 education, I know that continuing to ignore the root causes will leave our state unnecessarily poor, crime-ridden and without hope for a better future. In Congress I will work to fully fund SNAP and WIC programs to lower childhood hunger rates, pass legislation such as the Paycheck Fairness Act and expand Earned Income Tax Credits to lift hardworking families out of poverty, and, finally, address the deficits of both our current criminal justice system and our struggling economy that together sit as the root of criminality.
Next fall, thousands of 5-year-olds will walk into kindergarten classrooms across New Mexico. As you read this, only about 50 percent are expected to make it to graduation, with those that do matriculating through the 49th worst system in America. And every day we, as New Mexicans, elect leaders without the backgrounds and skills needed to move our schools forward is another day that the greatest pipeline of inequality continues to drain the hopes and dreams of hundreds of thousands of children, our greatest and most precious resource. By voting for a leader focused on education this Tuesday you can ensure that every New Mexican student gets their voice heard in Congress.
I want each of those 5-year-olds to graduate from high school in New Mexico having had the very best education in America. I know that failing to take a new approach to education is failing our kids. I’m here to make sure that doesn’t happen. Their future is why I run for Congress. I hope you will join me.