School & District Management

Group Urging Shake-up in New Mexico

By Darcia Harris Bowman — September 13, 2000 2 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

A Sante Fe group is making waves with its recommendations to improve education in New Mexico by overhauling the public school system.

In a report released this month, members of the bipartisan organization Think New Mexico encourage state leaders to shift the power to hire teachers and other staff members, set curriculum, and oversee budgets from central district offices to individual schools.

The group also urges the state to allow more public schools to convert to independent charter schools, pass laws that allow parents and students to choose schools within and outside district boundaries, and create competition by tying education dollars to students instead of districts.

And starting at the system’s very top, the report’s authors call for letting citizens vote on abolishing the state board of education and making the state schools superintendent a member of the governor’s appointed Cabinet.

Also notable is what Think New Mexico does not endorse: vouchers.

“What we’re proposing is a third way between vouchers and the status quo,” said Fred Nathan, the group’s founder and executive director.

Vouchers for private school tuition are not workable in New Mexico for a number of reasons, according to Mr. Nathan’s think tank, partly because of legal obstacles posed by the state constitution. Among the more practical concerns, the group says, is that the state’s private and religious schools, which enrolled just over 33,000 students last year, simply can’t accommodate plans like Gov. Gary E. Johnson’s proposal to give a $3,500 voucher to any public school student who wants one.

More Choices

Think New Mexico does support expanded choice among public schools as a way to turn around low student test scores, failing schools, and high dropout rates.

New Mexico has nine charter schools, which are publicly funded schools that are free from many state and local regulations. But state law allows only five regular public schools each year to convert to charter status.

Lifting that cap and allowing students to cross district lines to attend schools of their choice—and sending state per-pupil funding with them—will force all schools to compete and ultimately improve, the group argues.

Think New Mexico says decentralizing decisionmaking authority in the public system is another way to strengthen local control and accountability. Larger districts tend to impose one-size-fits-all policies and neglect some of their schools, the group says, while smaller districts with less per-pupil funding struggle to cover their overhead.

The group proposes splitting the functions performed by central administrations, putting principals and local school advisory boards in charge of education policy, and leaving the financial aspects of running schools to a statewide purchasing consortium.

Events

Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Privacy & Security Webinar
Navigating Cybersecurity: Securing District Documents and Data
Learn how K-12 districts are addressing the challenges of maintaining a secure tech environment, managing documents and data, automating critical processes, and doing it all with limited resources.
Content provided by Softdocs

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School & District Management 3 Tips to Help Districts Navigate Educator Layoffs
Keep cuts in line with the district's overarching goals, an expert advises.
3 min read
Illustration of scissors cutting row of paper dolls.
iStock / Getty Images Plus
School & District Management Teachers Hate All Those Meetings. Can Principals Find a Workaround?
Principals can't do away with every meeting, but they can reduce some and make others more effective.
4 min read
Image of a staff meeting.
E+/Getty
School & District Management Q&A When This Principal Talks About Mental Health, People Listen. Here's Why
The NASSP Advocacy Champion of the year said he used stories from his school and community to speak with his state’s legislators.
6 min read
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, poses for a photo in front of a Senate office building in Washington, D.C.
Chris Young, a principal from Vermont, stands in front of a Senate office building in Washington on March 13, 2024. Young was among the secondary principals to meet with legislators urging them to keep federal funding for schools stable.
Olina Banerji/Education Week
School & District Management Teacher Layoffs Are Mounting. How Districts Can Soften the Blow
Layoffs are coming in districts large and small. Here's how district leaders can handle them.
8 min read
Pencil Eraser Erasing Drawn Figure
AndreyPopov/iStock/Getty