Education
Reform & Legislative
Goals 2002
Children
deserve qualified and competent educational employees
Talking
Points
The New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees, AFT believes students
are entitled to the best education. Our quality-centered legislative goals
prescribe what measures are needed to reform schools and deliver K-16
world-class public education in New Mexico.
We
will support and introduce legislation that reforms schools and meets
educational needs; needs which are inexorably linked to attracting and
retaining quality employees.
Competitive
Salary Systems
To attract and retain quality employees so students can get the education
they deserve, New Mexico must become more competitive. 46 states pay
higher salaries than New Mexico. Our state’s inability to compete for
the best and brightest resulted in a 68 percent increase in teacher
vacancies. This inability to compete also forced schools to hire more than
1,900 educators who did not have appropriate licenses and were required to
teach outside their expertise. New Mexico will only become more
competitive when lawmakers pass "career ladder" salary systems
for educators and paraprofessionals. The Federation supports career
ladders that contain equitable, explicitly stated salary increases. Merit
pay, however, will not make New Mexico competitive. Merit pay will pit
employees against one another and drive even more of them out of New
Mexico.
Accountability
New Mexico doesn’t pay competitive salaries, yet only three states
ranked higher in academic standards and accountability performance. New
Mexico is a nationally recognized leader in how equitably it distributes
operational dollars and its public education improvements. Even though 27
other states spend more on students and 46 states pay higher salaries, 84
percent of New Mexico’s 320,000 students are performing at, or above
standards. This is an outstanding achievement that must be recognized and
applauded.
Nevertheless,
the Federation is concerned that 16 percent of students are not performing
according to standards. To attract and retain quality employees so all
children can receive the education they deserve, the Federation supports
effective mentoring, evaluation and intervention systems that will improve
accountability. We support legislation that will prevent school districts
from hiring unqualified educators. We support
‘Truth-in-Teaching’ legislation that will require districts to notify
parents when school children are being taught by educators who are
teaching outside their areas of certification.
Student
Testing
84 percent of New Mexico’s students are performing at, or above academic
standards. Nevertheless, new tests are needed to assess progress for all
students. We need advanced testing methods that are aligned with
standards.
Norm-referenced
testing does not provide a complete picture of what students know or what
they are learning. Criterion referenced tests, developed by educators,
will provide a more accurate record of student performance. The Federation
of Educational Employees supports criterion referenced testing systems
because they will help measure what students actually know
and what they need to learn. Given the nature of norm-referenced tests,
which always
identify 50 percent of students falling below a set norm, there should be
no punitive action taken against children or schools falling below those
norms. There should be no linkage between norm-referenced test scores and
employee pay.
New
Investments
27 states spend more on students than New Mexico.
46 other states pay employees more competitive salaries.
No other
facts illustrate why we must increase investment in education. New Mexico’s
$10 billion permanent funds, the world’s third largest educational
endowment, must be invested directly in students. Capital outlay for safe,
well equipped classrooms
and schools must be distributed equitably. The Federation supports a study
of taxes and revenues to identify new resources for investment.
We also
support an equalization funding formula unit value that reflects actual
program costs. The governor’s veto of student growth and at-risk funding
last year was wrong. It must not happen again. We support investing more
in training and experience in order to provide career ladder salary
systems for all educators, including paraprofessionals. We also support a
proportional investment of budget surpluses in education. The Federation
opposes providing public tax dollars to pay for
private schooling because it would result in less investment. We also
oppose vouchers
and other ‘choice’ schemes because they would violate the New Mexico
State Constitution and the rule of law.
Governance
Democracy in education is best served when state and local boards of
education, as well as regents of colleges and universities, are elected by
New Mexico’s citizens. Education’s governing bodies must be
accountable to the public, not the governor. Education boards must take
public input on major policy changes. The Federation opposes the State
Board’s recent vote to allow management of probationary schools by
private corporations. We note the Board did not take public input on this
major decision. Instead of directing scarce resources to corporations,
which have no record of achievement or adequate performance in public
education, the Federation supports increased financial assistance for
probationary schools so they can attract and retain quality employees, and
guarantee quality materials, classrooms, and equipment.
The
Federation supports legislative oversight of higher education. University
regents and college governing boards are cutting costs by replacing full
time faculty and staff with part-time employees. This negatively impacts
the delivery of quality higher education. Oversight is necessary because
some higher education salary increases are distributed according to merit
schemes instead of across-the-board competitive pay improvements.
Professional
Development
Professional development leads to increased student learning. To attract
and retain quality employees so students can receive the education they
deserve, the Federation supports improved and increased professional
development for all educators, including para- professionals. In a rapidly
changing and highly technical 21st century, we recognize the
responsibility to continue learning our trades. As practitioners, we are
entitled to determine what our professional development curriculum will
be, as well as our responsibility to deliver professional development
opportunities. The mark of a true profession is professional control.
Improved professional development will result in longer workdays and
longer work years. This will require additional investments in public
education.
