Martínez/ Yazzie suit takes aim at inequality
The statistics during the 2020 coronavirus pandemic have brought to our attention the racial and wealth inequalities in the United States. The concurrent protests over the death of George Floyd also came as a result of those inequalities.
New Mexico had its own revelatory shakeup with the 2018 Martínez/ Yazzie lawsuit decision. Under Judge Sarah Singleton, the court found that New Mexico was violating its constitution by not providing a sufficient education for four groups of students considered at risk: English language learners, Native American students, special needs students, and economically disadvantaged students. This suit is considered one of the most comprehensive education lawsuits in the country.
Remedies suggested include increased per-student funding, increased teacher pay, changing the funding formula to give more weight to at-risk students, extended learning time, K-5 Plus (increase learning time in early grades), Indian education, standards-based assessments (evaluating a student’s mastery of a skill), teacher/administrator evaluation improvement (move from a punitive model to a model where struggling schools are given additional training and help), culturally relevant curriculum materials, improved monitoring of programs (both fiscal and program monitoring) by the Public Education Department and improved early childhood education opportunities.
Some of these remedies have begun to be implemented: teacher raises, changes to the funding formula, early childhood education access. Many have not been adequately addressed. The state is currently going to court stating it has complied with the court’s orders. Not only has the state not complied, but also, with the current economic shortfalls brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the financial remedies implemented are in danger of falling by the wayside. The decision stated that “lack of funds is not a defense to providing constitutional rights” and provided 11 sources for more revenue sources available through legislation or amending the constitution.
Many people have the mistaken attitude that the lawsuit was about increased financing for the schools. It was definitely about much more than that; it is about making sure student needs are met. One aspect of student needs not being met which costs little or no money is the attention to a culturally relevant curriculum.
During the trial, Dr. Joe Suina, a professor from Cochití Pueblo, opened by stating that public schools have been the enemy of Native American students. The same can be said of Hispanic students (including both students whose ancestors settled New Mexico and recent arrivals from Mexico or Central America). During the trial, it was revealed that 72% of New Mexico’s students fall into what is called “minority” and that most of that 72% fell at the bottom of graphs of student achievement.
Addressing cultural relevance does not require increased financing. It requires increased focus. Currently, districts are being required to establish equity councils. Many complain that there are no materials available. Not true, but it takes extra work to find them. Sometimes local communities have designed them internally. (I once attended a dinner in Zuni for students who were interviewing their elders in various fields of interest and putting together a curriculum based on those interviews.) An important source of cultural knowledge is elders (both Hispanic and Native American). Even in districts with a majority of students from the dominant culture, understanding the cultures around them is important for better interaction as they move into the community.
The focus on the dominant culture in curricular materials is an example of institutional racism. It is taken for granted that this is what students need to learn without consultation from local non-dominant cultures. Imagine how a student feels walking into a classroom where none of the staff looks like him/her, talks like him/her, nor has an understanding of his/ her cultural points of reference. One professor in Mexican American Graduate Studies at San Jose State University quipped once that it is like trying to play a game without knowing the rules. He further added that the sane ones are the ones who drop out. I also think of a Navajo legislator who grew up with the Dick, Jane and Sally readers. He told me he couldn’t express how much he wanted to have a house with a white picket fence.
I also think of one Hispanic child with cerebral palsy saying, “More” after I sang Allá en el Rancho Grande to her. When I shared that with her regular (dominant culture) teacher, the teacher’s response was she knew that the child could say “more.” Tone deaf.
The Martinez/Yazzie decision revelation of inequalities does not result in physical death, but non-compliance can definitely result in the death of a soul.
Georgia Roybal of Santa
Fe is a retired teacher who spent 20 years (with Roberto Mondragón) developing bilingual educational materials based on the cultures of New Mexico. Help with this essay was provided by: Dr. Diane Torres-Velasquez (UNM), Dr. Luis Quiñones (retired educator) and Jonathan Alvarado Romero (tour guide to historic sites in Mexico City).