School funding decision a win for kids

The children of New Mexico won an important victory last week when District Judge Sarah Singleton ruled that the state does not fund education sufficiently, especially for at-risk children.

The ruling makes it clear the children do have a fundamental right to a decent education, agreeing with plaintiffs in the suit that the state is falling short of its state constitutional mandate to ensure an education that is “sufficient” for all children.

In a 76-page decision, Singleton made it clear that the state is violating “the rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a uniform system of free public schools sufficient for their education.”

The Public Education Department, she said, is not making sure 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 need for them to obtain an adequate education.”

What this means at the ground level, in classrooms around the state, remains to be seen. First, we will see whether attorneys for the state plan to appeal the decision — they have 28 days from the ruling on Friday to decide. The judge has set an April 15 deadline for the state to figure out how to repair what Singleton basically calls a broken educational system. Importantly, Singleton is not telling state leaders and bureaucrats what to do or how to do it; she simply made the point that what is being done is inadequate. Remember, a 2008 study of the state school funding formula found that New Mexico was underfunding education to the tune of $300 million-plus a year.

Considering that New Mexico spends $2.8 billion of its $6.3 billion general fund budget on public education, the notion of inadequacy is hard for some people to swallow. In a poor state, they ask, how much more can be spent? Critics of the decision also claim that New Mexico — last in so many educational measures — is not receiving enough of a return on its investment. Spending more money could be throwing good dollars after bad, they say.

That’s the wrong way to consider this decision. First, Singleton’s point that the system needs repair is the key one to keep in mind. Between now and her deadline, we encourage the smartest educational minds in our state to start figuring out the best way to spend the dollars we have. The funding formula, designed to equalize education, needs a hard look — it must be made easier to understand, for one thing.

Policymakers have to look at what the formula covers, too, and make it more difficult for state bureaucrats to divert dollars to a governor’s pet project.

Clearly, with so much emphasis in the last eight years on standardized testing, grades for individual schools and cumbersome teacher evaluations, money has not always gone where it is most needed (with the important exceptions of more money for K-3 Plus and preschool education).

That does not mean that student progress should not be assessed, that parents should not have information about schools or that teachers do not need to be evaluated. However, this ruling should be the impetus to start zero-based budgeting for schools.

What are adequate salaries for teachers, the kinds of paychecks to bring in and retain more of the best and the brightest? How can we fund and support charter schools without shortchanging traditional public schools?

How can districts adequately pay for wraparound services — social workers, tutors and other support for at-risk children — so that they don’t start out and stay behind? What role does early childhood education play in leveling the playing field? What do teachers in the classrooms want and need to do a better job? Reform should start from the ground up, for a change.

We cannot talk about upending education in New Mexico without being honest about poverty, hunger and other social ills. Unless solutions help compensate for poverty, we will make no progress no matter how many dollars we spend. That’s why more money alone will not solve our educational ills.

Singleton’s ruling is the wake-up call New Mexico needs to rethink our educational system so that all children can succeed. We must rise to the challenge.