Education initiatives on track with lawmakers

SANTA FE — “Guardedly optimistic” is how state Education Secretary Kurt Steinhaus said he feels regarding the chances that a $3.87 billion education budget makes it through this year’s short legislative session, underscoring his “year of literacy.”

The House last week approved that budget, which now goes to the Senate — where, Steinhaus acknowledged, it could be amended, approved or rejected.

Even so, “I’ve never seen the executive branch and the legislative branch come together so quickly and so clearly aligned,” he said, noting that there was only a $1 million difference between the budget he and the executive branch prepared, and the education budget assembled by the Legislative Finance Committee.

Steinhaus, a lifelong educator who retired as Los Alamos Public Schools superintendent before being named Public Education Department secretary-designate in July, was confirmed as secretary last Wednesday.

Upon being named to the position, Steinhaus vowed to make this “the year of literacy,” and initiated a campaign to boost student achievement and well-being, have better and more transparent assessment of student skills, increase teacher salaries, provide more professional development and promote reading for children.

He said the campaign has thus far garnered a lot of attention and support.

Also encouraging, he said, is the Legislature’s support of an average 7% raise for all school employees, raising the minimum salaries of teachers, and providing an additional 3% on top of that to teachers who participate in schools that extend the school year, he said.

If approved, the minimum salary for teachers in the state’s three-tier licensing system would increase to $50,000, $60,000 and $70,000, respectively. That would make New Mexico’s teacher salaries more than competitive “by putting us above Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas,” Steinhaus said.

Portales Municipal Schools Superintendent Johnnie Cain said he is optimistic the Legislature is about to have a positive impact on the future of education.

“By the looks of it as far as salaries and raises for everybody, it’s looking good,” Cain said Tuesday. “Probably the biggest raises I’ve ever seen.”

And teachers are in need of some good news, he said.

“They are worn out. The COVID stuff has just worn everybody out,” he said.

“They’re still doing what they need to do, but just tired. You have kids here one day, then not here the next five days (because of the pandemic). So then the teachers have to try and catch them up, and it’s just creating a different atmosphere for everyone in the school.”

Cain said Portales schools are short four teaching positions. “I’m a lot better off than other schools our size,” he said, “but this is the first year since I’ve been a superintendent (12 years) I’ve actually had openings during the school year.”

Indeed there is no avoiding the setback to the literacy initiative from the COVID pandemic, educators agree. Many of the literacy programs around the state rely heavily on volunteers, who have been impacted by emergency safety measures to stem transmission rates.

Some of that has been mitigated by using online platforms to match tutors and mentors from throughout the state with children and adults in literacy programs that have seen their available pools of volunteers shrink, Steinhaus said.

The Eastern New Mexico News contributed to this report.