Back to school roundup: mediation to solve 4/5 day school week, students offer policy solutions

It’s Back to School time throughout New Mexico. If you’ve been following the battle over the Gov.’s attempt to force districts across New Mexico you may be aware that the issue has been tied up in court. That makes it unlikely that the Gov. will be able to impose her will before the school year kicks off. Would she demand schools suddenly switch mid-year (if she wins)? It is hard to say.

What IS strange is that the matter is now in mediation according to the Albuquerque Journal. Apparently the judge handling the case wanted a mediator. It is a strange request. Allowing 4 days or not allowing it and forcing schools to go 5 days a week is a fairly binary decision. The Legislature explicitly rejected a 5 day mandate as have more than half of New Mexico’s school districts. The question is whether the Gov. (acting without the Legislature) can impose a 5 day mandate. This strikes us as a judge wanting to avoid making a (politically) tough decision against the Governor. FWIW the judge is a Susana Martinez appointee.

On another note the Albuquerque Journal asked students what they thought of the schools they go to. The results are noteworthy. Some discussed a “lack of individualized learning.” Others decried “a lack of engaging, practical activities in the curriculum.” One said, “many of our young students are unmotivated to go to school.” One student rightly highlighted the harms of MLG’s COVID lockdowns stating “I think it’s caused such a discontinuity that it’s really inexcusable. They harmed a whole generation so much that we’ll be seeing those effects for years to come.”

As you’d expect the kids’ opinions are all over the place. What IS easy to see is that New Mexico is dead last in education. The existing system is not getting the job done. Mandating a 5-day school week is not going to improve things. Far-reaching reforms like school choice and Mississippi-style reforms are needed.