Wallethub: New Mexico K-12 schools ranked 51st

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.