Opinion: Fundamental changes need to take place in approach to education

Front-page headlines in recent editions of the Albuquerque Journal paint the picture of a system in crisis.

• NM struggles with teacher vacancies; ‘Staggering number’ of 1,000 openings, up from 570 last year (Sept. 22).

• Pandemic learning loss may lead to more school; After 43 of 89 districts reject adding days voluntarily, mandate a possibility (Sept. 23).

• ‘Alarming’: NM education retirements increase 40%; Wave comes amid severe shortage of teachers (Sept. 25).

As has been reported again and again, New Mexico’s K-12 system ranks among the worst nationally — a WalletHub study using 32 metrics earlier this year pegged the state as 51st. It now faces the challenge of helping students who fell even further behind during remote learning brought on by COVID-19, and, at the same time, teachers in record numbers are opting to either leave for greener pastures or simply retire. And all this is happening at the same time as lawmakers are considering ways to have kids spend more time in the classroom through an extended school year.

You don’t have to be the class valedictorian to figure this isn’t going to work without some fundamental changes in how we both approach and fund public education.

Legislators are correct when they say more school time is needed for our kids both to catch up from COVID and to become more competitive in general. A report presented to the Legislative Finance Committee showed academic proficiency for younger elementary school students dropped from 37% at the end of the 2018-19 school year to 31% at the end of the 2020-21 year. Devastating.

It is important we help our students try to regain ground lost to the pandemic and put our schools on a par with other states. Whether we add more school days every year or perhaps longer school days is open to debate. But this isn’t: We cannot continue to operate on a school year that has its roots in American agriculture when kids were needed to work in the field at certain times of year. We need to compete nationally and globally in a high-tech world.

And our students deserve to be set up for success.

New Mexico lawmakers have appropriated money for extended learning days, but have made them voluntary. As the headline above notes, many schools opted not to use the additional funding. Legislators may have to consider a longer school year mandate, as well as funding such flexible programs as longer school days that produce results.

But you can’t do that without teachers, and they are leaving in droves.

Veteran teachers are critical to a successful education environment and a focus needs to be on incentives to get them to stay. As in other professions, most teachers get better with experience, not just with students, but also serving as mentors for younger employees. Relatively inexperienced teachers, by the way, are significantly over-represented in high-poverty schools where the challenges are greatest.

But it’s not just about staffing up. Or throwing money wildly at the problem.

As they tackle a problem that is both longstanding and boiling over, the governor and legislators need to look at what works elsewhere and come up with an approach that, at the end of the day, is focused absolutely on New Mexico students and their progress.

As it stands now, our kids are not being served well. And neither are those tasked with teaching them.

— Albuquerque Journal