Why taxes may pay for dishonesty

LET’S SEE if we have this right: A group of state legislators chastises the University of New Mexico for not requesting more money for athletics.

UNM’s finance chief claims UNM has asked every year for several years for an athletics appropriation equal to that provided to New Mexico State University.

A judge finds that the state is not meeting its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate education for at-risk children and directs the Legislature to come up with a plan by April, 2019 to fix the problem. Restating these issues:

Legislators should use taxpayer dollars to compensate for lousy, dishonest management of public funds and failure to meet federal diversity requirements.

The standard for determining the level of appropriation from the state treasury — i.e. taxpayer dollars — should be equivalency regardless of performance and accountability.

Forty-four percent of the state’s budget that is appropriated for public education — an amount that is at an all-time high — is not sufficient to meet constitutional requirements and must be increased to even greater amounts without reference to performance and accountability by local school districts and teachers.

Gee whiz. With these kinds of judgment and leadership, New Mexico will surely find itself rocketing out of last place in education. More money from taxpayers will fix everything.

I, for one, feel much better knowing that New Mexico’s fate is in the hands of folks like these. JO ANN MILAM Albuquerque