NM brings in more teachers

Although many teachers retired during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state announced last week it has decreased the number of its unfilled teacher positions by 34 percent, according to a release by the Department of Higher Education.

This year New Mexico increased its teachers’ salaries and funding for forgiveness tuition debt, which has had an effect on bringing more people into the teaching profession, according to the release.

“Under the leadership of Gov. Lujan Grisham, we have seen historic investments in education including increases in teacher salaries and loan repayment programs, a monumental investment in the Opportunity Scholarship, and funding for teacher preparation programs,” Higher Education Secretary Stephanie M. Rodriguez said in the release. “It is clear that these investments are paying off in helping more New Mexicans enter and stay in the classroom.”

Robert Brown, superintendent of Texico Municipal Schools, said the district was able to fill its positions this academic year and “didn’t have any trouble doing that. I think for Texico specifically it is because of the reputation our school district has.”

“Our teacher salaries did increase considerably for this year,” Brown said. “There is no doubt that has had an effect on the ability to hire across the state.

“I do know I have signed a number of staff members’ applications for college tuition debt forgiveness (this year).”

“New Mexico teachers are now the highest paid anywhere in the southwestern United States and New Mexicans can enter teacher preparation programs tuition-free thanks to the Opportunity Scholarship,” stated Rachel Boren, director of the Southwest Outreach Academic Research Evaluation and Policy Center at New Mexico State University, in the release.

Brandon Boerio, director of education quality for Clovis Municipal Schools, said the district hired more teachers this year than the previous year: “We hired 80 new teachers in the 2021-2022 school year, and have hired 97 new teachers during the 2022-2023 school year.

“We certainly feel that the increase in teacher salaries made a difference, especially for attracting candidates that have previously worked in fields outside of education. The Loan Forgiveness initiatives have been wonderful, but most of our forgiveness applications have come from those teachers currently on staff. It has certainly been a benefit to our teachers, but hasn’t been a factor in attracting new teachers.

“Now that many of our COVID restrictions have been lifted and we are moving back into a normal setting, we are getting back to developing positive relationships with teachers and students alike. We firmly believe that if teachers are happy, it will have a major impact on student learning. Our focus as a district this year is to reset and move forward.”

Johnnie Cain, superintendent of Portales Municipal Schools, said: “We didn’t have enough teachers when we started this year. We weren’t being overrun with applicants.

“We just don’t have a big enough pool of teachers out there – that’s what I think.”

“Improved teacher salaries have been an important incentive to get people back into the classroom and New Mexico’s teachers appreciate the hard work of Gov. Lujan Grisham and the Legislature to make this happen,” stated NEA-New Mexico President Mary Parr-Sanchez in the release. “We will continue working together to increase salaries and improve teacher working conditions in order to bring even more people back into the classroom.”