ALBUQUERQUE ― American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly, and Albuquerque Teachers Federation President Ellen Bernstein, released the following joint statement:

 

“The announcement by Secretary of Education Hannah Skandera and the New Mexico Public Education Department of proposed cuts to the State’s Bilingual programs on top of already announced cuts to K-3 Plus programs is an outright assault on the ability of New Mexico’s students to receive a quality public education in our State.

 

“Secretary Skandera and Governor Martinez’s so-called ‘streamlining’ of services means a disruption of bilingual education programs, which will impact roughly 20,000 students across our State, with nearly 10,000 impacted in the Albuquerque Public School District alone.

 

“Additionally, the NM PED has just recently cut $23.7 million dollars in funding for K-3 Plus, a program which has been proven to narrow the achievement gap between at-risk students and their peers, increase cognitive skills, and improve test scores for participating students. These cuts will prevent thousands of students from being able to get a jumpstart on their education, and seriously curtails districts across New Mexico from being able to offer this program to all eligible children.

“The NM PED and Governor Martinez continue to drive a false narrative about New Mexico’s public schools – especially the Albuquerque Public Schools – that they simply are bloated bureaucracies who poorly manage their budgets. The reality is that the NM PED and Governor Martinez have used hard-saved district reserves to bail out their own empty coffers because of their gross mismanagement of State funds.

 

“We call upon the NM PED and the Governor to take responsibility for their actions and stop blaming New Mexico school districts for their own short-comings as leaders. It is time for Secretary Skandera and Governor Martinez to be held accountable for the ways they have harmed our State’s students and reverse course immediately before more permanent damage is done. Enough is enough.”