Commentary: Albuquerque – American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President, Stephanie Ly, released the following statement:
“Governor Martinez is well-practiced at proclaiming her love for New Mexico’s children and our public schools, but her actions continue to contradict her claims.
“First, she proposed taking 120 million from local school district cash reserves in her Executive budget proposal, and when the Legislature proposed a more responsible, albeit still detrimental, 46 million sweep from district reserves, she chose to label the Legislature as irresponsible.
“Then, when the Legislature put together a package of cuts, sweeps, and reductions that would close the gap in the current fiscal year’s budget and provide for an additional 2.7% reserve, the Governor once again showed her true colors by line-item vetoing fund reductions from the solvency package in favor of big business and other sacred cows of her administration.
“The Governor needs to be honest with New Mexicans. If she really cared about our students and our schools, she would drop her opposition to closing tax loopholes for big business and find ways to raise new sources of revenues in order to fully fund our schools. Until she does, her proclamations will continue to ring hollow and prove that some cows are more sacred than others.”