Boosting our state’s opportunities
It is critical that we work to give New Mexico’s parents the help they need to ensure their children succeed. We know parents are the No. 1 indicator of student success in the classroom. However, children really become active learners after they are safe and their basic needs are met outside the classroom.
I am looking forward to improving student outcomes by addressing the needs of children outside of the school day. As with many of the challenges we face in New Mexico, there is no single answer. We can add more funding, more bureaucracy and new laws, but none of that is the right solution. Give our children real solutions and then we will see real results.
To accomplish this, we do not need new agencies but bipartisan leadership. In many cases, the reform we need can be accomplished through reform to rules and regulations. Areas I believe need immediate attention include the foster care system (including kinship guardianship), behavioral health, rehabilitation vs. incarceration, and strengthening the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department’s early child-
hood services.
The next critical step is a real look at New Mexico’s tax code. For years members of my party worked to bring comprehensive tax reform to place our state on a better footing and boost innovation needed all over New Mexico. Those efforts were met with delays and posturing, which means we are still operating under a tax system that does not work for New Mexico.
There is now movement to once again reform our tax code, but it must be real reform that expands our economic opportunities. I do not know of a single New Mexican who believes standalone tax increases are true reform. We have stood against tax increases for years, and now New Mexico enjoys an incredible surplus that can create change for everyone.
Boosting New Mexico’s economic opportunity will help us fund support for outside-the-classroom programs, which, in turn, can combat the poverty and hopelessness so many children face.
Rebecca Dow is the Republican state representative for New Mexico District 38. She lives in Truth or Consequences.
The next critical step is a real look at New Mexico’s tax code.