AFT News:ALBUQUERQUE ― American Federation of Teachers New Mexico President Stephanie Ly released the following statement:
“Today’s revelation that the New Mexico Public Education Department wants to implement a perverted, watered-down version of the NextGen Science Standards is a slap in the face to our students and educators by simultaneously implementing a system of scientific skepticism into New Mexico curriculum and curtailing academic freedom for our educators.
“Parents and the larger community need to speak out against the PED’s promotion of junk science in their proposed rulemaking. It is unbelievable, that in 2017, that Secretary-designee Christopher Ruszkowski is pushing ‘standards’ that question climate change, deny evolution, promote the fossil fuel industry, and even question the age of the Earth – all areas of consensus among the scientific community.
“Even worse, this spring, Governor Martinez pocket vetoed bi-partisan legislation, carried by Reps. Andres Romero, Christine Trujillo, and Bill McCamley, that would have implemented NextGen Science Standards throughout our public schools, without the revisionist changes being pushed by Secretary-designee Ruszkowski and other science deniers.
“We vigorously support the modernization of New Mexico’s science standards, but these proposed changes are straight out of the Middle Ages and are wrong for our students and educators.”
