Martinez presses for education accountability
Gov. tells business group she’ll continue focusing on her favorite issue
With a little over seven months left in office, Gov. Susana Martinez told a group of business leaders Wednesday that she will continue pushing to hold teachers and students accountable until the very end of her tenure.
The two-term Republican governor said New Mexico hasn’t done enough to prepare students for life after school.
“That is where my passion is, and I will never let it go,” Martinez said Wednesday as she addressed hundreds of business leaders gathered at Hotel Albuquerque for a breakfast meeting of the nonpartisan Economic Forum.
Indeed, even as her administration heads into its last few months, the state Public Education Department is pursuing initiatives that would grade the colleges that train teachers, hold back students who can’t read and intervene in poor-performing schools.
The governor’s education initiatives have often put her at odds with teachers unions and the Legislature, where Democrats hold majorities in both chambers.
Her administration, for example, is proposing a rule that would direct New Mexico public schools to hold back students who can’t read proficiently, in some circumstances. The proposal also would require additional, early help and services for children who cannot read at grade level.
But similar measures aimed at ending “social promotion” have repeatedly failed to win approval in the Legislature, where opponents say it’s inappropriate to base retention decisions solely on reading.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is questioning the administration’s authority to carry out the proposal without legislative approval.
The Public Education Department says the proposed rule is based on what’s already allowed in state law, not something new.
Martinez said Wednesday that allowing unprepared kids to move on to the next grade doesn’t do them any good. They end up embarrassed, ashamed and ready to drop out, she said.
Her 11-minute speech was largely dedicated to New Mexico’s budget situation, which has improved dramatically as oil and gas production has bounced back. The governor described the financial turnaround as confirmation that she was right to veto tax increases passed by the Legislature.
But Martinez was most enthusiastic when talking about education, as she fielded a few questions and comments from the audience.
“Shame on those who don’t put our kids first,” she said at one point. “Next question.”