Another day, another “remedial” plan for NM education

Seven years after the Yazzie v. Martinez decision (another) judge has told the Public Education Department to come up with (another) plan to boost the quality of education it provides Native American and underserved students. To say that no one following education policy in New Mexico is surprised would be an understatement. If anything, New Mexico’s educational performance has only worsened since the Yazzie decision (and its remedial actions) was handed down.

Of course, as PED (rightly) pointed out, the Legislature has increased spending by $2 billion since Yazzie. Considering the precipitous drop in New Mexico’s student population during the same period there should be no financial issues at New Mexico schools, but  finances have never TRULY been the issue anyway.

So, what can we expect from this latest judicial edict? We KNOW PED under this Gov. has been in a state of chaos. We know that MLG has ZERO desire to embrace either school choice or successful Mississippi-style reforms. Of course Susana Martinez attempted to implement Mississippi-style reforms to no avail.

Unless this latest judge both understands education policy and is willing to force PED to embrace ACTUAL reforms that have been proven successful in other states, nothing is likely to happen. Of course, 2026 is an election year for Gov., so it is more likely that voters will have a higher likelihood of impacting New Mexico’s abysmal education outcomes than will the current intransigent Gov. and Legislature.