As night follows day and the seasons change you can just about set your clock to the fact that New Mexico’s K-12 schools are as bad as they come in the United States. Yet another data point can be found in the latest Wallethub report “States with the Best and Worst School Systems.” New Mexico comes in at 51st overall.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the report is the following chart which shows New Mexico to have the worst schools in the nation but ranked 29th in spending per pupil.

One can certainly argue about the specific methodology of the report, but when your dropout rate and median SAT scores are tied for dead last and your Math and Reading scores ARE dead last, it is pretty easy to see that your school system needs quite a bit of work. While improvements take some time, the fact is that New Mexico has had numerous opportunities to improve its schools. The latest is the Trump tax credit for school choice contained in the Big Beautiful Bill. Will New Mexico Democrats embrace that credit or continue to reject opportunities to improve New Mexico’s education system? We’ll be watching.

One argument that I occasionally hear about New Mexico’s manifestly failed public policies is that voters don’t want the State to grow too fast and take on attributes associated with places like Phoenix or Denver (crowding, traffic, outsiders moving there). That argument doesn’t hold water (of course) because New Mexico suffers from worse social and economic outcomes than ANY of our neighbors thanks in large part to the failed policies our elected officials have implemented over many decades (but especially recently).

However, the BIGGEST SINGLE THREAT TO NEW MEXICO is the loss of our young people. Check out the following chart from Wire Points Illinois. The chart shows the growth or decline of people 18 years of age and under in certain US states between 2020 and 2024. You can see the chart below. As can be seen, New Mexico saw the 2nd-biggest decline in its youth population during the time period.

Ultimately, we recommend that New Mexico politicians and those running for office highlight this demographic decline and its implications for the future. Of course a powerful question to prospective voters could be: If you want your kids and grandkids to remain in New Mexico we need to provide them good jobs and diverse economic opportunities and a functional education system. This is clearly not currently the case and it is the failed policies of those who have run New Mexico for decades who have failed us.

Noteworthy as well are the low tax, reasonable regulation states that see tremendous growth in their younger populations. Four of the top-ten have no personal income tax and are also “right to work” states.

There are many factors that make Gallup a unique place to do business.  Paul visits with Bill Lee of the Gallup Chamber of Commerce about the challenges and opportunities that businesses face.

We are pleased to announce that Albuquerque mayoral candidate (former Bernalillo County Sheriff and former Secretary of the New Mexico Department of Public Safety) Darren White, has completed and submitted the Rio Grande Foundation’s mayoral candidate survey. You can find that survey embedded below and linked to here. 

You can also find White’s campaign website here. 

Harold Pope is one of the most left-wing members of New Mexico’s VERY left wing Legislature. He tied left-wing Antoinette Sedillo Lopez with a -163 Freedom Index score in the 2025 session. It won’t surprise any of readers to know that he’s not our favorite legislator in Santa Fe even though he DOES “represent” RGF’s president (who resides on Albuquerque’s West Side) in the Legislature.

That said, we have plenty of disagreements with plenty of legislators and we don’t write posts about them in this space. So, what’d Pope do? Check out this opinion piece he wrote in the Albuquerque Journal. It is a lengthy diatribe about Trump and the recently-passed/signed Big Beautiful Bill. None of his critiques (like those of New Mexico’s other Democrat politicians) are especially insightful or unique.

In fact, the major difference is that Pope is a state legislator (Senator) and he happens to be running for Lt. Gov. Does he have any solutions (or tout any state-level successes?) No. Rather, we get just another leftist ranting about policies he has no control over and isn’t even running to change.

Pope is running against Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard in the Democrat primary for Lt. Gov., a position that has had very little impact in New Mexico dating back decades. Will Pope (or Garcia Richard) campaign on their accomplishments and New Mexico’s needs for this state-level position? Only time will tell.

The latest from Channel 13 KRQE reports on some of the massive increases in commercial real estate property taxes. Lance Sigman owner of Allen Sigman Real Estate Group reports a 76% increase in the values of our commercial properties.

According to Rhiannon Samuel, Executive Director of NAIOP New Mexico, “There’s a lot of folks who are deeply concerned and frustrated when they get a letter that says their property has gone up 704%.

We talked to commercial real estate developer Doug Peterson about spiraling property tax assessments on a few recent episodes of Tipping Point NM as well. 

Residential property taxes also have their issues as this RGF supporter shared (he attempted to challenge his tax assessment). 

Recently, a friend of RGF emailed Bernalillo County Assessor to better understand how New Mexico’s property tax system works. Here’s his reply:

Clearly, if this is the case, New Mexico’s property tax structure is in need of reform (like the rest of our tax structure). And this doesn’t even touch all of the special “inducements” like Industrial Revenue Bonds (IRB’s) which are a massive property tax break, TIF’s, and other exemptions that impact property taxes.

New Mexico is low (34th in property tax burdens) according to the Tax Foundation. But that doesn’t mean the system works well or is fair to taxpayers.

According to CNBC’s “Best States for Business” 2025 report New Mexico is among worst states. That’s troubling, but what is really concerning is how fast it has fallen in the report over the past decade.

The US Supreme Court lets Trump fire Education Department employees. Is it finally the end for USDOE?

The recent Ruidoso flooding is yet another blow to one of New Mexico’s prettiest communities. Paul and Wally discuss.

Santa Fe tops Travel & Leisure list. Wally and Paul explain why Santa Fe performs well on tourism lists, but not in the data WE care about.

A recent KRQE story covers problems with the commercial real estate valuation situation. Paul also has received information from a residential property owner who recently challenged his property taxes.

Albuquerque is working to increase bus safety while the situation has deteriorated thanks largely to the “free” bus program. 

The Rio Grande Foundation is always on the lookout for interesting ways of ranking the State among the 50 US states when it comes to the economy, education system, and other social metrics. Sometimes we disagree with the measuring stick used, but we always look to explain the issue with each rating.

To that end CNBC recently published its “Best States for Business” Rankings for 2025. Not surprisingly the index ranked us 44th. Variables included (with New Mexico’s ranking in parentheses): Economy (46th), Infrastructure (29th), Workforce (31st), Cost of Doing Business (23rd), Business Friendliness (39th), Quality of Life (33rd), and Technology and Innovation (35th). New Mexico’s best ranking was 23rd for Cost of Doing Business and 46th on Economy. Check out the screen shot below.

But, this is a report that has been published for many years. We were curious what New Mexico’s performance looked like over time. So, we went back a decade to the 2015 version of the same report. This would be during the Susana Martinez Administration. The results were shocking. The categories then (along with New Mexico’s rankings) were Workforce (16th), Cost of Doing Business (23rd), Infrastructure (5th), Economy (24th), Quality of Life (24), and Technology Innovation (38th).

So, if you’re keeping score at home, in addition to dropping from 24th to 44th overall, we dropped from 24th to 46th on the Economy, Infrastructure fell from 5th to 29th, and Quality of life went from 24th to 33rd. Needless to say, things have gone in the wrong direction in this report over the last decade of MLG’s term and a more “progressive” Legislature.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Connor Boyak. Connor is founder and president of the Utah-based state think tank Libertas Institute (now the Libertas Network). Though Libertas works on a wide variety of issues Connor is the author of dozens of books and  targeted at bringing the ideas of liberty to the next generation. These, particularly the Tuttle Twins series, have been extremely popular including with Paul’s own daughters. Conner and Paul discuss these and other ways to reach the youth and ensure that the ideas of liberty do not die with the current generation. Check out this important discussion!

In its ongoing efforts to ensure that voters are fully informed about the views and plans of the various candidates for Albuquerque Mayor.

The latest candidate to respond is Eddie Varela. His survey can be found here. Varela’s campaign website can be accessed here.

You can also see images of Varela’s survey answers below:

On this week’s Tipping Point NM conversation Paul is on vacation in the Washington, DC area with his family, but Paul and Wally discuss the recent passage of the Big Beautiful Bill and what it really means for New Mexicans. They also discuss the broader policies contained in the bill especially the many conservative policy successes.

Of course, environmental groups and the wind/solar lobby are upset about eliminating green subsidies. But they also claim to be the cheapest source of electricity. Paul and Wally discuss the reality of the situation.

MLG and other New Mexico Democrats are upset about the BBB passing, but they just sent $2 billion out of state.:

According to Forbes a solar magnate (not oil and gas titan) is once again New Mexico’s richest person and only billionaire ever.

An incredible opinion piece from ABQ Journal highlights NM’s education problems.

Among the MANY provisions contained in the “Big Beautiful Bill” is one that allows to claim tax credits for up to $1,700 annually for donations to Scholarship Granting Organizations (SGOs). These organizations provide scholarships that can be used for tuition, transportation, school supplies, and other educational expenses.

That is a big win for school choice that encourages donations to nonprofits that help families pay for private or alternative K-12 education. But, in a compromise, states will be able to opt in or out of the program. The question inevitably arises, will New Mexico join the program?

According to the plan’s lead legislative advocated Sen. Ted Cruz, “This tax credit provision will unleash billions of dollars every single year for scholarships for kids to attend the K-12 school of their choice.”

Under the bill, the credit is permanently written into the tax code with no expiration date or national cap on donations. Families earning up to 300% of their area’s median income are eligible to receive scholarships.

All 50 states could adopt the program immediately if the bill becomes law, but each state must choose to opt in. Currently, 35 states operate similar scholarship programs.

To qualify, SGOs must be 501(c)(3) nonprofits — not private foundations — and must award scholarships to at least 10 students attending different schools. They must dedicate at least 90% of donated funds to scholarships, keep eligible donations in separate accounts, and prohibit donors from earmarking funds for specific students.

With New Mexico’s education system objectively failing to educate our children one would think that the State’s politicians and interest groups would be thrilled with passage of this plan (whether they support the BBB or not). We shall see whether New Mexico opts in under MLG or whether we have to wait and hope for the next governor to act.

New Mexico’s richest person isn’t very rich compared to the richest in several other states. In fact, it is somewhat more difficult to be rich in a state that has so few publicly traded companies (3 at last count) and is generally hostile to business. But, one might at least think that with New Mexico in the midst of an unprecedented oil and gas boom that the richest person in the State might be from that industry.

You’d be wrong. According to Forbes, Ron Corio of Array Solar is not only New Mexico’s richest person, he’s also the State’s first-ever billionaire. You can find the full list here.

Considering the hostility of so many New Mexico elected leaders to earned wealth you probably haven’t heard them say anything about Corio as he is in a “favored” industry. Will the solar marketplace survive the elimination of so many of its subsidies thanks to the Trump Administration’s (and Congress’) Big Beautiful Bill (and Trump’s additional Executive Order)?

Only time will tell. Solar electricity isn’t going anywhere. There IS a market for it and many states subsidize or mandate it (like New Mexico). So, we’ll see in a year or two how Mr. Corio and his company are doing.

On this week’s interview Paul talks to Albuquerque Mayoral candidate Daniel Chavez. Chavez owns a company that manages parking lots, so Paul and Daniel discuss some of the issues facing that industry. Then they discuss the issues Chavez plans to take on in his campaign including permitting, crime, homelessness, and other critical issues facing the City. Don’t miss this important conversation!

Chavez recently completed his candidate survey which the Rio Grande Foundation has sent to candidates for mayor and city council. You can find that completed survey here and below.

There are plenty of reasons to dislike the Big Beautiful Bill (separate versions of which have passed both houses of Congress and now must be reconciled). We like the bills overall due to their tax relief and some good policies contained within them, but, for New Mexico’s leftist political elites any reduction in federal Medicaid spending costs them money (since the feds pick up 75% of New Mexico’s overall spending).

Go. Lujan Grisham has been particularly active in lobbying against the bill.

But the BBB as passed in the Senate doesn’t ACTUALLY cut Medicaid as the following chart from Cato Institute health care expert Michael Cannon notes:

Also, while RGF (and others) have repeatedly pointed out through this debate that New Mexico is sitting on $61 billion in oil and gas “savings.” The State Investment Council JUST sent $2 billion to investment firms out of state. Also, as the visual below highlights, revenue from New Mexico’s investments outpace revenues from the personal income tax. If New Mexico policymakers like MLG and others are SO concerned about federal spending cuts impacting New Mexico you’d think they could use this money to pick up the slack instead.

Better still, New Mexico should have constrained spending, improved its economic policies, and diversified/grown its economy so as to not NEED so many federal dollars in the first place.

This opinion piece from the Albuquerque Journal can only be described as incredibly sad and frustrating. It was written by a New Mexico teacher who lost his job because he actually tried to get students to learn at grade level and even held some of them back if they couldn’t or wouldn’t do the work necessary to graduate. Here is one particularly disturbing paragraph:

What does it mean when a school has one of the highest graduation rates in the state, as Cuba High does, but among the lowest test scores? It means it is graduating students without educating them. Nearly 85% of students at Cuba High graduate in four years, but only 14% can read at grade level and just 5% are proficient in math. Such a disparity should be a crime. I had high school juniors and seniors who could barely read. One didn’t know how to look up a word in a dictionary. Many other students did not turn in a single homework assignment. Yet such students pass every year and graduate in Cuba.

We are working at RGF to have this former teacher on the Tipping Point NM podcast, but it certainly appears like the sort of thing that SHOULD be a scandal in New Mexico with robust media coverage. Unfortunately, spending tens of thousands of dollars on education annually to NOT teach children effectively appears to be acceptable to New Mexico’s political classes. The results of Nearly all measures of educational performance in New Mexico are universally awful, but for the political classes education isn’t and will not be a priority until voters make it a priority.

It is always amusing when the “renewable” energy crowd starts whining about he elimination of their subsidies. Here is an opinion piece that appeared in Sunday’s Albuquerque Journal from the head of New Mexico’s Renewable Energy Industries Association in which he claims that plans in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” now moving through Congress to eliminate subsidies for “renewables” from the Inflation Reduction Act will “devastate” New Mexico’s renewable industries.

Meanwhile, advocates for so-called “renewables” simultaneously argue that they are actually cheaper than fossil fuels. So, which is it?

The reality is (not surprisingly) wind and solar ARE more expensive especially when required backup sources are considered as energy expert Bjorn Lomborg points out. In reality as New Mexico is already finding out thanks to its Energy Transition Act, there is no such thing as cheap wind and solar.

In a recent New York City primary election self-identified socialist candidate Zohran Mamdami won and appears to have the inside track at becoming New York City’s next Mayor. Mamdami believes in things like city owned and operated grocery stores, rent control, steep new taxes, and “free” public transportation. While NYC is definitely a bastion of left-leaning politics, Mamdami appears to be a political outlier in the Big Apple.

But the real issue is the continued shift leftward by Democrats across the United State. In New Mexico we went from tax-cutting, pro-gun, pro-market Democrat Bill Richardson to “progressive” Michelle Lujan Grisham and now Deb Haaland is looking to take the Democrats even further left (by opposing outright oil and gas development as she did as Secretary of Interior). Democrats in the New Mexico Legislature which voted to adopt Richardson’s tax cuts back in 2003 have moved further left over this time frame as have Democrats up and down the line. Even as recently as 2024 so-called “progressives” captured several legislative seats previously held by moderates.

Will Democrats nationwide or in New Mexico move back to the center? They show no signs of doing so. Deb Haaland is the fundraising champion in the early primary for Gov. (over her moderate challengers). It is up to Democratic (and now those who register as DTS under New Mexico’s new “open primaries” law) to move the party back towards the center. The new law could help by adding new, moderate voters to the mix in primaries, but candidates will need to make a concerted effort to reach out to these voters and get them engaged in primary elections.

Considering how long and thoroughly Democrats have maintained control over New Mexico’s politics it is a question that will have real implications in the Land of Enchantment.

Reducing the scope of Medicaid provider taxes is one of many provisions contained in the Big Beautiful Bill now moving through Congress. The Rio Grande Foundation has argued in support of eliminating them because they allow states like New Mexico (and others) to “game” the Medicaid system. In fact, New Mexico’s Legislature passed an additional “provider tax” to help the State leverage an additional $1.5 billion of federal dollars in the 2024 session.

It’s not JUST conservatives who oppose provider taxes and consider them a “scam.” Check out the quote below from Joe Biden on the medical provider tax scam .

Recently, I tweeted about the “evergreen nature” of the following post: “Increase in ____ spending has yet to deliver results”

It didn’t take long for another such headline, this time from the left-wing Source NM site. I’ve posted the headline below:

Is there a more evergreen New Mexico news story headline than the one in today's @ABQJournal? No surprise they changed it online. "Increase in ______ spending has yet to deliver results" @bobkkob @NMHouseGOP @NMSenate_GOP @NMSuncast @TheNewMexicoSun @1housestrauss @oak4nm pic.twitter.com/NuXsF9JHrO

— Paul Gessing (@pgessing) June 26, 2025

Of course, this is the massive spending we are talking about (below). We have pointed out the failure of Medicaid spending to improve health care outcomes before.

Why does New Mexico, rich in resources and culture, remain poor in economic freedom?

That’s the question I explore in this week’s Let People Prosper Show with Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation. Paul brings nearly two decades of insight into New Mexico’s political and economic trends, offering a sobering look at why the state is falling behind and what must change to turn it around.

New Mexico has a shrinking population, high poverty, and a growing dependency on government, despite a $61 billion sovereign wealth fund and booming oil revenues. The problem isn’t money; it’s policy.

On this week’s Tipping Point interview Paul sat down with Rio Rancho Mayor and GOP candidate for Gov. In this discussion Paul and Gregg discuss his major accomplishments as mayor and why those and other experiences in business make him qualified to be New Mexico’s next governor. Paul and Gregg also discuss some of the top economic and education policies of the Rio Grande Foundation like the gross receipts tax and school choice and his stances on those critical issues. Tune in!

New Mexico has a LONG track record of attempting to solve (or at least appearing to try to solve) problems by simply throwing money at a government program and calling it a day. It hasn’t worked. Not only hasn’t it worked, but in the area of childhood health and well-being (as with so many others) New Mexico is dead-last. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count report is just one recent example.

But, a troubling new opinion piece written by the head of a child care center based in Farmington and the Republican Senate Minority Leader attempts to portray New Mexico’s child care situation as a “success.” How so? The article cites  the fact that “infants, toddlers, preschoolers and school-age kids now have access” to state-funded child care programs. There is no data backing up the point aside from the sheer number of children being involved.

Not surprisingly the Gov. took to Twitter to highlight the opinion piece. This is exactly what MLG is talking about when she talks about New Mexico’s “cradle to career” plans for its citizens.

Sadly, the connection between government-funded child care programs and childhood outcomes is tenuous at best. According to the Legislative Finance Committee, “evidence linking participation in child care with long-term impacts on educational
outcomes is lacking.”

Government programs have been tried repeatedly in New Mexico and elsewhere and have had limited success in improving childhood outcomes. What is particularly frustrating is that Sen. Bill Sharer signed onto the op-ed.

What COULD help is for New Mexico to:

• Reform its economy to by adopting lower taxes, right-sizing regulations, and using other reforms to reduce overall and of course childhood poverty. 6 of the 16 Kids Count variables are poverty-related.
• Improve its education system through school choice or even the Mississippi Model (MS is now ranked 16th on education by Annie E. Casey in Kids Count). 6 of the 16 Kids Count variables are education-related.
• Focus on reforming/reducing welfare programs to encourage cohesive two-parent families (yes, even liberal Annie E. Casey includes that as a variable).

As can be seen below, while Mississippi struggles overall  (like New Mexico) it has made great strides in education while New Mexico hasn’t. New Mexico COULD and should be following Mississippi on education AND enacting free market economic policies, but we aren’t. Focusing on the supposed success of “free” child care is a cop out whether you have an “R” or “D” by your name.

The following was shared with us by a legislator on the Legislative Finance Committee. One shock is the 400% subsidy the State hands to those receiving health care through ACA (ObamaCare) marketplace health plans.

The other is that New Mexico is currently developing a subsidy program for illegal immigrants (see highlighted text). These are fungible resources meaning the State COULD use these same resources to help businesses afford health care for their workers or they could be used to address the medical provider shortage. But that’s not what they’re doing.