Secretary’s school retention plan riles New Mexico lawmakers
Santa Fe New Mexican – The Public Education Department has long wanted school districts to hold back New Mexico third-graders who can’t read — and has long been frustrated by the Legislature’s rejection of mandatory retention.
But in the last months of Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration, Education Secretary-designate Christopher Ruszkowski is proposing a new rule — which some critics call an end run around the Legislature — that would require districts and charter schools to administer improvement and intervention plans to help students whose literacy skills are not at grade level.
Members of the Legislative Education Study Committee expressed displeasure with the idea Monday, arguing it’s a veiled attempt at imposing mandatory retention.
“This seems to be going around the will of the Legislature in a very deliberate manner,” said Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces.
Rep. Christine Trujillo, D-Albuquerque, had a much harsher view of the idea. “This is a terrible rule proposal,” she said.
She generated laughter from the assembly when she said the rule must have been created by Dogbert, the power-mad cartoon canine from the popular Dilbert comic strip by Scott Adams.
“I can’t imagine who else would be behind it,” Trujillo said.
Lida Alikhani, spokeswoman for the Public Education Department, did not respond to an email request for comment. Efforts to reach her by phone were unsuccessful.
The proposed rule once again played up the conflict between the governor, whose educational reform program includes a retention plan for students who cannot read, and Democratic lawmakers, some of whom have called her idea “the third grade flunking” plan.
The new proposal calls for early assessment of reading problems, intervention programs, communication with parents and offers some exemptions from retention (for example, special education students and students who have been retained at least once before). It still gives parents the right to override the first effort to retain a child, but says that if that student does not improve in reading, “the school shall retain the student” the following year.
No one on either side of the argument contests the poor reading scores among the state’s public school students. Since New Mexico initiated the PARCC standardized test three years ago, reading proficiency rates have never topped 28.3 percent.
Various reports, including New Mexico Voices for Children’s Annual Kids Count Data Book study, note that at least 75 percent of the state’s fourth-graders are not proficient in reading.
Some studies on the issue of student retention say that students are better off being held back a grade so they grasp important concepts like reading, which will help them succeed later in life. Others say that those children often feel depressed and disengaged because of being held back and thus are more likely to drop out of school.
Rep. Monica Youngblood, R-Albuquerque, a longtime supporter of the governor’s reading-retention initiative, said as much during Monday’s committee hearing.
“It’s no secret that … our young students in New Mexico in K-3 are not reading at grade level,” she said. Citing that trend as “alarming,” she said that despite various programs designed to help students learn to read, “we still are not successful.”
The committee unanimously voted to send a letter voicing its concerns to Ruzskowski. Even Rep. Dennis Roch, R-Logan and a supporter of intervention and retention policies, said the letter brings up “some points … that are valid” regarding possible violations of state statute. But he questioned why some members of the committee were concerned about including kindergartners in the plan, since those lawmakers had long advocated for assessment and intervention policies at the younger grades.
Several members of the committee raised the question of pursuing court action to stop the rule from going anywhere, though Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, said that in a worst-case scenario, even if the new rules went into effect on July 1 as planned, a new governor will take office in January and could immediately throw them out.
“Is a court challenge a valid way to go … or just wait for the new administration to come in and change it?” he said.
Contact Robert Nott at 505-986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com
Public hearing
The Public Education Department will hold a public hearing on the issue from 9 a.m.-noon on Thursday, May 17, in Mabry Hall of the Public Education Department building at 300 Don Gaspar Ave., and take public input on the proposed rule until 5 p.m. of that day.
Source: US Government Class
