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AFT New Mexico Responds To Martinez "State Of The State"

Stephanie Ly-AFT NM President
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aft photo

  Albuquerque – American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly released the following statement in response to the State of the State address by Governor Susana Martinez:

“We were disappointed the Governor chose to defend her status-quo and recycle the same education ‘reforms’ she has unsuccessfully tried to implement for the last six years, including mandatory flunking for third graders, adjunct instructors, and punitive measures like revoking student licenses. We know as educators – and all credible research shows – that mandatory retention does not work and lessening requirements for educators is the wrong approach.

 

“Clinging to arbitrary educator ratings and school grading schemes does nothing to improve public education in New Mexico. In fact, Governor Martinez and Secretary of Education Skandera have implemented a system over the last six years that financially rewards districts who adopt the PED’s ‘reforms’, pitting our schools and communities against each other for limited resources.

 

“Our Governor has called upon the Legislature to ‘empower our educators.’ However, empowerment is not a punitive school letter grade; empowerment is not merit pay schemes; empowerment is not a faulty evaluation system; and, empowerment is not weakening our profession and schools by filling our classrooms with unlicensed instructors.

 

“We agree with the Governor on one point – we want New Mexico’s education system to be the best in the nation. However, we will never achieve that lofty goal if we continue to raid our school’s hard-saved reserves, demoralize educators through un-sound ratings, discourage our students by rampant over testing, and cut educators’ take-home pay through retirement so-called ‘swaps.’

 

“Instead, our members will use their collective voices to counter the Governor’s divisive message and advocate for real empowerment through professional autonomy, local control for our schools, increased access to early education, sound instruction methods, affordable higher education, and adequate funding for our students from early education to career to be prepared for the future. "

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