[LWVNM Action] Governor restores $30 million to EDUCATION, NM is dead last in child well being, and More on Yazzie/Martinez Case and Decision--Clarifying what Judge Wilson actually ruled

Tue Jun 30 17:48:06 MDT 2020

https://www.governor.state.nm.us/2020/06/30/gov-signs-budget-adjustment-bill/  Restoring $30 million to EDUCATION!!

Measure stabilizes state finances amid revenue shortfall
SANTA FE – Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Tuesday authorized an amended Fiscal Year 2021 state budget, using her line-item veto authority to restore legislative cuts to public education and other areas while employing state reserves, spending reductions and federal monies to patch a revenue shortfall caused by the economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The governor, in signing House Bill 1, vetoed more than $30 million in budget cuts, restoring funding that had been slated for reduction for public school support, culturally and linguistically relevant instructional materials, the Opportunity Scholarship and more.
The revised budget for fiscal year 2021, which begins Wednesday, totals $7.22 billion, down from the $7.6 billion plan approved in February. Overall, recurring general fund appropriations were reduced by roughly $415 million for Fiscal Year 2021; non-recurring general fund appropriations were reduced by roughly $102 million in Fiscal Year 2020 and $184 million in Fiscal Year 2021.

***
https://www.nmvoices.org/ 

 <https://www.nmvoices.org/archives/14413> Despite Small Advances, NM Child Well-Being Stuck at 50th Nationwide
James Jimenez, executive director of New Mexico Voices for Children, said the last-place ranking is disappointing, but the overall improvement in 10 of the 16 indicators is encouraging. "So that's a positive thing - not as much as we'd like, and maybe some other states are improving more than we are, but at the same time, at least 10 of those indicators moved in the right direction," Jimenez said.
See attached Kids Count profile for NM
***
Judge rejects governor's motion to dismiss Yazzie/Martinez
·         <https://www.santafenewmexican.com/users/profile/dmullan> By Dillon Mullan dmullan at sfnewmexican.com
 Jun 29, 2020 Updated 15 hrs ago 

A state district judge on Monday rejected the governor’s motion to dismiss Yazzie/Martinez v. The State of New Mexico, a landmark education funding lawsuit.
“Until there are long-term comprehensive reforms implemented by the state,” First Judicial District Judge Matthew Wilson said in his ruling, “the court will maintain jurisdiction over this case.”
After campaigning on a “moonshot” for education and pushing for increases in public school spending in her first two legislative sessions, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham surprised many education leaders in March when her administration filed a motion requesting dismissal of the case.
The motion argued the state’s public education system had substantially changed since July 2018, when Judge Sarah Singleton ruled New Mexico’s schools had been depriving English-learning, Native American, low-income and special-education students — around 80 percent of the state’s 330,000 students — of an education that adequately prepares them for college and careers.
Wilson took over the case after Singleton died in July 2019.
The Governor’s Office also argued ahead of Monday’s hearing that the Public Education Department, not the courts, should oversee education reforms.
During a videoconference hearing on Lujan Grisham’s motion, attorney Taylor Rahn from Albuquerque-based Robles, Rael & Anaya, representing the state, focused her argument on the $480 million increase in education funding Lujan Grisham signed in April 2019.
The boost in funding, combined with new teacher, student and school evaluation systems, preceded a drop in statewide teacher vacancies — to 644 full-time positions in 2019-20 from 740 in 2018-19, Rahn said, citing an annual report from New Mexico State University.
“We’re not throwing up our hands and saying we’re done,” Rahn said. “But what we are saying is we’ve taken enough action to show immediate steps by April 15, 2019, to improve the public education system, which is what the court required.”
Singleton’s ruling did require those immediate steps.
Plaintiffs successfully argued, however, the ruling also called for proven programs and reforms that would provide more career and college opportunities for the at-risk students named in the suit.
Wilson sided with them.
“The court agrees with the plaintiff’s counsel that to dismiss this action now while implementation and compliance are merely in their initial stages would undermine years of work and leave the children of New Mexico in an educational system that may be below constitutional standards,” he said in his ruling.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs — a group of public school families and several school districts, including Gallup-McKinley County, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe, Cuba, Moriarty-Edgewood and Lake Arthur — said the state’s funding increases have yet to show any results.
For the Class of 2019, the statewide graduation rate was 74.9 percent, an increase of just one percentage point over the previous school year.
“Things like national assessments of how students are doing, graduation rates and dropout rates, we haven’t seen improvement in those areas,” said Ernest Herrera, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund who represents the Martinez group of plaintiffs.
“Defendants characterize improvements as incremental, however that’s not enough,” Herrera said. “It’s unacceptable to say there are incremental improvements when a quarter of New Mexico students are not graduating.”
After denying the state’s motion to dismiss the case, Wilson approved a motion the Martinez plaintiffs had filed in October seeking discovery and enforcement proceedings. This will allow them to request documents and gather information from the state on how the executive and legislative branches are complying with the lawsuit.
Wilson denied a motion from the Yazzie plaintiffs that would have required Lujan Grisham and the Legislature to form a plan outlining the costs and programs required to fully comply with the lawsuit.
He denied the motion without prejudice, meaning it can be filed again at a later date.
“We need to know what is it going to actually cost to ensure that our schools have the social services, reading specialists, counselors and nurses they need, and then we need to figure out how we are going to deliver those funds to schools,” said Gail Evans of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which represents the Yazzie plaintiffs.
“Every day that we wait and don’t have a plan, we are not moving towards the systemic statewide overhaul that this court has called for,” she added.
“Yes, there was more money,” Evans said, “but it’s more money in the same old system without any determination of what we need to do to transform our school system.”
https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/education/judge-rejects-governors-motion-to-dismiss-yazzie-martinez/article_103d7950-b952-11ea-ab24-f748e3cca89d.html
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Associated Press-national news:
New Mexico judge rejects bid to dismiss education case
·        By CEDAR ATTANASIO AP/Report for America
·        Jun 29, 2020 Updated 20 hrs ago
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico judge on Monday rejected a motion by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to dismiss a landmark education lawsuit that was filed against the state and cleared the way for groups behind the complaint to further scrutinize the state's efforts.
First District Judge Matthew Wilson had to decide whether to dismiss or more aggressively enforce a 2018 ruling that found the state fell short of providing New Mexico children with a sufficient education.
The lawsuit filed by Hispanic and Navajo plaintiffs successfully argued that the state failed most schoolchildren, including English-language learners and Indigenous and low-income children and children with disabilities. It was filed in 2014 and went to trial in 2017, when Republican Susana Martinez was governor.
The 2018 verdict by the late Judge Sarah Singleton ordered the state to fix funding and inequality issues by April 2019.
Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, supported the lawsuit during her gubernatorial campaign and dropped an appeal of the lawsuit that was mounted by Martinez's administration when she took office. Her motion seeking to dismiss the case came later.
A lawyer for the state argued that the Lujan Grisham administration has taken significant steps to address the court's order during the 18 months that she has been in office.
The governor and state Legislature have passed across-the-board teacher raises, increased education funding both in raw numbers and as a percent of the total state budget, and increased the amount of funding allocated to at-risk students.
But lawyers for the families suing the state argue that the government's efforts needs to make more targeted investments and policies to support the specific needs of underserved children.
For example, Native American children live in largely rural areas and need greater access to high-speed internet, attorney Preston Sanchez said. Pay raises could be targeted to retain teachers willing to work in rural areas, or qualified with cultural and linguistic training.
"We’re asking this court to take urgent action to develop a comprehensive plan to address the educational crisis,” said Sanchez, of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Wilson credited the state for taking what he called “immediate action." But he ruled that the increases in funding and changes so far were not substantial enough to end the court's involvement in the case.
“The state cannot be deemed to have complied with this court’s orders until it shows that the necessary programs and reforms are being provided to all at-risk students to ensure that they have the opportunity to be college and career ready,” Wilson told lawyers and about 200 people watching the hearing via a video broadcast and listening on phone lines because of COVID-19 closures.
In asking Wilson to dismiss the case, Lujan Grisham said she was trying to maintain the independence of the Public Education Department.
“What’s implicit in the plaintiffs request, your Honor, is that they get to now dictate what compliance looks,” said Taylor Rahn, an attorney for the state.
Wilson also granted lawyers suing the state the right to gather more evidence from the Public Education Department and other state agencies, including documents that wouldn’t be open to public inspection. He stopped short of compelling the state to develop a plan or take specific actions, but noted he would consider such an order in the future.
The lawsuit began in 2014 by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund on behalf of English Language learners and was later merged with a separate lawsuit by the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty representing Native American students.
The consolidated lawsuit is known as Martinez/Yazzie after two mothers who are plaintiffs in the case — Louise Martinez, who is Hispanic, and Wilhelmina Yazzie, who is Navajo.
https://mcdowellnews.com/news/national/govt-and-politics/new-mexico-judge-hears-landmark-education-lawsuit/article_d6b1f27c-7ffc-5549-bc67-104e30e7db28.html
*************************************************************************************************************
>From NM Center on Law and Poverty

Education Lawsuit Against State of New Mexico Seeks Justice for New Mexico’s School Children

Education is the single most important investment that New Mexico can make in its health, strength, and prosperity. Yet, year after year, our state ranks at the bottom nationally in educational achievement and legislative efforts fail to resolve this crisis. We need immediate and decisive action to turn New Mexico’s schools from a symptom into a solution.
http://nmpovertylaw.org/project/yazzievstateofnm/
 Project Resources
·         <http://nmpovertylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/D-101-CV-2014-00793-Final-Judgment-and-Order-NCJ-1.pdf> Yazzie/Martinez v. New Mexico Final Judgment and Order (February 2019)
·         <http://nmpovertylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Yazzie-Closing-Brief-Summary-2018-01-09.pdf> Yazzie v. State of New Mexico Closing Brief Summary (January 2018)
·         <http://nmpovertylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/YazzieClosingBrief-2018-01-09-Final.pdf> Yazzie Plaintiffs' Closing Brief (January 2018)
·         <http://nmpovertylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Complaint-Yazzie-Third-Amended-Complaint-by-Interlineation-2015-03-24.pdf> Complaint: Third Amended Complaint “Lawsuit Filed Challenging Sufficiency of State Education” (March 2015)
·         <http://nmpovertylaw.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Motion-and-Memo-MSJ-regarding-failed-duty-to-provide-Uniform-System-of-Sufficient-Schools-2017-04-14.pdf> Motion for Summary Judgement regarding failed duty to provide Uniform System of Sufficient Schools (April 2017)
***
Meredith Machen
League of Women Voters of New Mexico                                            
 <tel:505-577-6337> 505-577-6337 c
projects at lwvnm.org
meredith.machen at gmail.com

Empowering Voters - Defending Democracy

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/action/attachments/20200630/f91c7333/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: NM Kids Count 2020 profile- NM ranks dead last in child well being after WVA and LA!.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 123015 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://mailman.swcp.com/pipermail/action/attachments/20200630/f91c7333/attachment-0001.pdf>