Bill Sponsor Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces
By ANDRÉ SALKIN
The Santa Fe New Mexican
A yearslong effort to return public education oversight in New Mexico to an appointed state school board and superintendent, rather than a Cabinet secretary, saw a quick end this week.
The Senate Education Committee on Wednesday rejected Senate Joint Resolution 3, sponsored by Democratic Sen. Bill Soules of Las Cruces, by a vote of 6-2.
Soules billed the proposal as a way to bring stability to New Mexico’s education system “regardless of which party is in power,” following a high turnover of education secretaries under Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration. Now in the last year of Lujan Grisham’s second and final term, the state will see a new governor step into office next year.
Soules’ resolution received a far colder reception by the committee than a similar measure last year, which the committee approved 7-2. However, that measure ultimately died.
New Mexico had a school board and superintendent form of oversight until Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration in 2003, when the system switched to a Cabinet secretary of the Public Education Department. Veronica García, a former superintendent of Santa Fe Public Schools, was New Mexico’s first public education secretary.
Soules has pushed to change the system for several years.
Sen. Gabriel Ramos, R-Silver City, was the only supporter of SJR 3 on the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday, aside from Soules.
“It alleviates the demanding spirit of whoever the governor is at that time,” Ramos said. “I think we need to do things differently.”
Greg Frostad, assistant secretary of policy and technology for the state Public Education Department, spoke against the resolution on behalf of the agency, saying it would “add to the bureaucracy” and reduce accountability without a central leader like an education secretary.
Soules noted the process for appointing board members couldn’t be written until his fellow lawmakers passed the resolution — which would put a ballot measure before voters seeking a constitutional amendment establishing the school board and shifting the leadership structure — and voters approved the amendment.
But he said he imagined a 10-member board: three appointees from the governor and one each from the Senate and House majority and minority leaders, teachers unions, Indigenous tribes, and the New Mexico School Superintendents Association.
Other Democrats on the committee were not on board with Soules and Ramos, with a few expressing worry the governor’s appointees could tip the scale, even after Soules backtracked, suggesting the governor would only have one appointee.
Others expressed disapproval for the opposite reason: The change would “hamstring” the governor, said Amanda Aragon, executive director of the nonprofit education advocacy organization NewMexicoKidsCAN, thereby taking away power from voters who “wouldn’t have any recourse to express their pleasure or displeasure with the system.”
Cindy Nava, D-Bernalillo, also expressed concern about a revolving door of education secretaries under Lujan Grisham, but said, “I wouldn’t want to punish future governors” by removing their ability to influence education.
Sen. Ant Thornton, R-Sandia Park, said the proposed overhaul could upset recent positive changes the state has made in education: “Not that PED has a good record based on the history of where we are right now,” he said, “but I see a lot of input coming from this group — this committee — to move it in the right direction.”