This ruling that NM Legislature must enact more effective and better funded educational systems in NM, comes at a time when there will be more funding available to spend on such an endeavor from increased oil & gas royalties and taxes during the current Permian Basin boom.
One hopes that this will lead to substantial changes and support for innovative programs, and a leap forward for public education in NM.
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Ruling-New-Mexico-funding-for-public-schools-is-inadequate.pdf”]Judge Singleton wrote that the defendants “violated the rights of at-risk students by failing to provide them with a uniform statewide system of free public schools sufficient for their education.”
She also said the Public Education Department failed to meet its requirement to “assure that the money that is provided has been spent so as to most efficiently achieve the needs of providing at-risk students with the programs and services needed for them to obtain an adequate education.”
[gview file=”https://publicservicesalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Education-ruling-will-pressure-incoming-New-Mexico-governor.pdf”]
The New Mexico Dept of Education decided to appeal this verdict/ judgement. Appeals can take a long time, years often. However, this is an election year for governor in NM, and if there is a different party elected, they might drop the appeal. Or new legislation might make some of the court case moot.