Native language teachers will enrich education
Legislation that would allow equal pay for Native language teachers should pass the Legislature and be signed into law. It’s precisely the sort of initiative New Mexico needs as it seeks to improve educational outcomes.
House Bill 60, sponsored by Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo, appropriates $1.25 million — it could end up being more if teacher salaries increase — to pay Native American language and culture educators a salary equal to those earned by teachers licensed in the middle tier under New Mexico’s three-tier system of paying its K-12 educators.
Proficiency for this credential, called a 520 certificate, will be determined by individual tribes and pueblos, not the state.
The bill unanimously passed the House of Representatives on Friday, a bipartisan endorsement of legislation that recognizes credentials can be gained elsewhere than in a college classroom. Credentials can come from experience. If passed and signed into law, it means an elder who did not attend college can teach language at school and be paid fairly. This will bring more Native adults as teachers into schools, something that is necessary if New Mexico is going to do a better job educating its Indigenous children.
About 100 people in New Mexico have Indigenous language certificates endorsed by their tribes and administered by state education officials. More are needed in a state where 7,200 students take part in Native American language programs, according to the Tribal Education Status Report.
Currently, there’s a significant gap between the percentage of students in the seats and Native teachers. Some 11 percent of students in New Mexico identify as Native, but only 3 percent of teachers share their identity. Allowing more people to teach — with the proper skills, if not a bachelor’s degree — means Native children will have more adults in the classroom who look like them and understand their situations.
The context of this legislation is the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit, the landmark case that ruled the state has failed to provide a sufficient education to many groups of children, including Native boys and girls.
One solution for curing the inequalities in the public education system listed in case findings would be to expand access to culturally and linguistically relevant education. Improving such access also is part of the Tribal Remedy Framework designed to address the Yazzie/Martinez findings. These proposals are endorsed by all 23 tribes, pueblos and nations in New Mexico.
Should the legislation pass the session and be signed into law, Native adults will be able to share their knowledge in a formal setting. As for some who worry such a program might benefit workers like school bus drivers, that’s hardly concerning. After all, rural routes are long and might be a useful setting for additional language lessons on top of what is happening in the classroom.
This legislation recognizes the importance of language and culture to support a Native child’s education. It needs to become law.