New Mexico keeps passing the buck of education reform

New Mexico is arguably the worst state for public school students.

Only 21% of the state’s 4th graders are proficient in reading, with 19% proficient in math. It’s even worse for 8th graders, who are 18% and 13% proficient, according to 2022 NAEP scores.

But New Mexico stubbornly refuses to implement meaningful education reform and continues to pass the buck – this time to the state’s new attorney general, Raúl Torrez.

Torrez recently announced he would be taking control of the ongoing case, Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico, a five-year-long lawsuit regarding students’ education rights.  

Article XII of the New Mexico state constitution requires the state maintain a “uniform system of free public schools sufficient for the education of, and open to, all the children of school age.” 

In 2018, and the court agreed with the plaintiffs that New Mexico did not uphold its constitutional burden by failing to provide “at-risk students with the programs and services needed for them to obtain an adequate education.”  

The lawsuit defined “at-risk” students as those who were low-income, English Language Learners, Native American or disabled. The definition includes roughly 80% of the state’s schoolchildren.  

However, while the state’s public schools aren’t beacons of success, the lawsuit hasn’t done much to improve them.  

“The ruling was basically that the New Mexico education system is inadequate and that we had to spend more money,” Paul Gessing, president of the Rio Grande Foundation, told The Lion. “As broad and sweeping as that was, there was never a specific demand by the judge as to what adequacy would look like.” 

New Mexico has spent more money, but has little to show for it.  

Between 2018 and 2022, the state’s K-12 spending increased from $2.7 billion to $3.8 billion. And in fiscal year 2024, public education is slated to receive $4.1 billion.  

While the Land of Enchantment doesn’t top the charts in per-pupil spending – New York gives public schools $25,000 per student – it manages to fare much worse than other states that spend less. 

States with the best NAEP reading scores include Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. New Mexico spends roughly $10,500 on average per pupil in public schools. Utah spends $8,000; Idaho, $8,000; Colorado, $11,000.  

In contrast, the average private school tuition in New Mexico is just $8,700. Even private high schools only cost $10,000 annually. 

But despite dramatic increases in education funding, public schools are still failing students, and Gessing isn’t optimistic that Torrez will be able to sue the public education system into being successful.  

“From my perspective, nothing that he is going to call for or impose is anything especially new or innovative,” Gessing told The Lion.