Gov. Susana Martinez
EDUCATION News:
Gov. Susana Martinez has announced a package of key initiatives to support New Mexico’s teachers, starting with increasing pay for beginning teachers for the second year in a row.
The Governor also outlined a new initiative, called the “school supply bucket,” to provide teachers with funds to help purchase materials for their classrooms. She also introduced New Mexico’s “Teachers Pursuing Excellence” (TPE) program to place the most effective teachers in mentorship positions supporting teachers who could benefit from additional, job-embedded training. The TPE program is modeled after the successful Principals Pursuing Excellence program which has increased student learning in participating schools.
Martinez will propose an increase in the minimum salary for beginning teachers. Last year, the Governor signed a budget increasing the minimum salary for new teachers from $30,000 to $32,000 per year. The Governor’s budget proposal this year will call for another $6.7 million in funds to increase the minimum base salary for new teachers to $34,000 per year. If approved any teacher currently earning less than $34,000 per year would receive a raise.
The Governor also announced a $2.3 million proposal, called the “school supply bucket,” to help teachers purchase supplies and materials for their classrooms. Modeled after similar programs in other states, each teacher would receive a debit card pre-loaded with $100, to be used for the purchase of classroom materials.
Martinez will also launch a teacher mentorship program called “Teachers Pursuing Excellence,” modeled after a similar, recently-launched mentorship program for principals in New Mexico.
Launched in the 2013-14 school year, the “Principals Pursuing Excellence” program pairs successful school leaders with those in struggling schools and has produced promising results. In only its first year, more than half of the schools participating in the program improved their school’s letter grade at least one level, with a third of those schools improving two to three letter grades.
Similar immediate improvements are the goal of the TPE program, which will follow the same structure by partnering high performing teachers with teachers in need of additional support by offering mentorship and sharing of best practices.
Teachers involved in the program – both the mentors and the mentees – will receive a stipend for participating. The cost of the program is $2.5 million, and teachers would apply to participate in the state program.
“These are important initiatives, designed to better support our teachers and improve the achievement of students throughout the state,” Martinez said. “Starting teacher salaries are too low in New Mexico, so we need to raise them again, and I certainly believe that we can do more as a state to help defray the costs that teachers incur for purchasing school supplies and materials for their classrooms each year.”
Altogether, these proposals would cost roughly $11.5 million and will be part of the Governor’s executive budget in January. Other initiatives, relating to the recruitment of teachers into hard-to-recruit positions or areas, and proposals relating to truancy, are expected to be announced early next year.