We threw millions more at K-12; they threw it back

Remember when Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming and chairman of the Legislative Finance Committee, cautioned that given the annual increases in spending on public schools — the budget is north of $3 billion this coming fiscal year — the state did not have the infrastructure or staffing to responsibly spend even more on K-12 education? He’s too much of a gentleman to say it, so we will: told you so. More than 100 Albuquerque Public Schools campuses were approved to participate in the new $62 million extended learning time program this summer. The Legislature approved the funding this spring.

But only a fraction of those that qualified will end up participating.

Make no mistake, extended learning time sounds good. It adds 10 days to the school year, 80 hours of teacher professional development time and academic after-school and extracurricular programs.

But it also requires teachers and schools to develop a curriculum and to staff those days. The extended learning school year at APS starts July 29, and with little time to put that together, many districts said it simply was not feasible.

At APS, with 143 schools, only eight will provide the extended learning for all students, while 10 to 12 will provide it for part of their student populations.

Antonio Gonzales, APS associate superintendent for leadership and learning for Zone 2, says “it was a trick, the time to be able to get these programs out. That’s not to say we aren’t interested in future opportunities.”

Hope springs eternal that more schools will participate in the 2020-21 school year, but the similarly cool reception to $90 million extra for K-5 Plus does not bode well.

K-5 Plus, which expands the learning year by 25 days, requires that students have the same teacher in the summer portion as in the rest of the school year.

So Truth or Consequences passed in favor of possible sports camps because, as the superintendent says, “our teachers are tired.” Ditto for Silver Consolidated, the superintendent explains, because it’s “a huge problem in regards to trying to keep staff for that.” Santa Fe Public Schools is still trying to get teachers on board. APS has 20 schools in limbo and may fund its own version without the same-teacher requirement.

And that was exactly Smith’s concern — spending just to spend, not to get results.

Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque and vice-chairwoman of the Legislative Education Study Committee, says the same-teacher requirement is data-driven. “If you do the program with that type of fidelity, you get tremendous growth. If you do the program like a summer school with a different teacher, you get some growth but it doesn’t stay over time.”

Stewart says she expected “some issues with implementation because the program still relies on teachers volunteering.” But she is absolutely right to ground education spending in increasing academic growth.

On Wednesday, the NEA-New Mexico teacher’s union sent out a news release applauding increased spending and less-rigorous teacher and school evaluations. There was no mention of “student academic progress” or “accountability to taxpayers.”

And so, as millions in unused funding reverts to the Public Education Department, it is doubly important to heed Stewart’s insistence on implementing programs with fidelity and Smith’s still relevant warnings. Because if the 2019 Legislature showed nothing else, it’s that simply throwing more money at education doesn’t work.