Judge: State cheating its at-risk students

State leaders must take steps by April to ensure schools get resources they need

In a decision that could have long-term ramifications for New Mexico on both the educational and budgetary fronts, a state district judge ruled the state is not providing enough funding to ensure a good education for its at-risk public school students.

First Judicial District Judge Sarah Singleton ruled Friday that New Mexico’s schoolchildren are “caught in an inadequate system and will remain there … if better programs are not instituted.”

In her ruling on a lawsuit brought in 2014 on behalf of a group of students, parents and school districts, Singleton gave both sides 28 days to file an appeal.

Singleton did not convey any specific orders for how state leaders, including the Legislature, should address the issue. Rather, she gave the defendants until April 15 to take steps to ensure the state’s schools receive the resources they need to provide students with an education that will prepare them for college and career.

The decision is a blow to Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration, which has argued for years that its various educational reforms and additional investments in public education are making a difference.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs hailed the decision as a major victory.

“It means that the courts of New Mexico have ruled for the first time ever that the constitution provides for children to have a fundamental right to education,” said Martin Estrada, a lawyer for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represents one set of plaintiffs in the case. “This is not just something aspirational but something that requires action by the state.”

Daniel Yohalem, a lead attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which also represented several plaintiffs in the lawsuit, agreed.

“She is saying this is a completely broken system and she will give the executive and legislative branches eight to nine months to fix it,” he said.

The plaintiffs said the state is not fulfilling its constitutional mandate to ensure a uniform system of public education “sufficient” for all children. The case played out over eight weeks in Singleton’s courtroom in the summer of 2017.

wrote in her 76-page decision that the defendants have “violated the rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a uniform statewide system of free public schools sufficient for their education.”

She also said the Public Education Department failed to meet its requirement to “assure that the money that is provided has been spent so as to most efficiently achieve the needs of providing at-risk students with the programs and services needed for them to obtain an adequate education.”

It’s unclear if lawyers for the state of New Mexico will appeal the case.

Emilee Cantrell, a spokeswoman for Martinez, did not respond to an email and text query sent late Friday night.

Lida Alikhani, a spokeswoman for the Public Education Department, said in an email that her agency “is in the process of reviewing the opinion.”

Public schools in New Mexico are supported by a per-student funding formula using money from the state’s general fund. The formula is a complicated equation that uses a complex set of factors to determine how much money each student in the state gets.

New Mexico almost always ranks near or at the bottom of national studies on public education. The state’s graduation rate is one of the lowest in the country and, based on recent PARCC score results, just over 1 in 5 of its nearly 215,000 students in grades 3 through 11 passed the math exam this spring. Thirty-one percent passed the test in English language arts, according to results released July 12.

Lawyers for the state have maintained New Mexico is doing everything it can to support public education and that money does not matter as much as how that money is spent by individual school districts.

In fiscal year 2018-19, New Mexico is expected to spend $2.8 billion of its $6.3 billion budget on public education. That does not include federal funding that goes to individual school districts.

State Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in the case, said Friday that she was “gratified” with Singleton’s decision.

“I rejoice in it,” said Stewart, a former educator. “And yes, we are gonna have a hard time finding the revenue to fund the public schools.”

Veronica García, superintendent of the Santa Fe school district and a former Public Education Department secretary who also testified for the plaintiffs in the trial, said Singleton’s decision was good news for students.

“This is a great day for public education in New Mexico,” she said. “Fighting for sufficient funding has been an uphill battle.”

Santa Fe Public school board President Steven Carrillo said he hopes the state does not fight the ruling.

“I hope they don’t drag this out in appeals,” he said. “For God’s sake, just do the right thing and fund public education.”