New Mexico is going to be spending more on education in the years ahead, a lot more. But according to US Census Bureau data released this week New Mexico already spends more per-pupil than any of its neighbors, in some cases a great deal more. The Census data are from 2017, so they reflect spending towards the end of the Martinez Administration, but New Mexico’s educational results on a variety of metrics (most notably the important NAEP 4th grade reading numbers) are far lower than its neighbors.
A judge may say that NM’s education spending is “inadequate” and the Legislature may blindly approve tens-of-millions more dollars for education, but New Mexico is already spending more for worse results.
You can find data for all 50 states at the link above, but the Rio Grande Foundation broke the numbers down for New Mexico and its neighbors below:
New Mexico is now awash in spend happy politicians. The puppet Michelle is governor and if it involves spending she’s all on board. Tax hikes are all but certain for the 2020 legislature to support Michelle’s spending spree. Have never associated state spending on education to be related to student intellect. New Mexico is living proof, no matter how much a Bill Richardson or M Lujan spend on education, the students are just inferior to neighboring states. Michelle did away with the testing system so as to have nothing to compare with.
Well, not surprised. One of the problems in NM is that parents do not take a real interest in their childs’ education. I’m not talking about the kids who make the good grades, I’m talking about the ones whose parent(s) don’t show any interest in education. Sadly, until that happens, nothing will change.
To repeat a point previously made on this blog, the New Mexico Coalition for Literacy estimates that an astonishing 46% of the adults in NM are functional illiterates. Numbers like that can exist only if the you have one of the worst public school systems in the U.S. and the majority of adults just don’t care. Here’s the link:https://newmexicoliteracy.org/literacy-facts/