Court orders state to provide students the technology they need
By NEW MEXICO CENTER ON LAW AND POVERTY •
SANTA FE—First Judicial District Court Judge Matthew Wilson ordered the state to provide computers and high-speed internet access to the thousands of “at-risk” students who lack these necessary tools to access remote learning now and post-pandemic. The ruling came during a hearing in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez education case on a Yazzie plaintiff motion addressing technology gaps among the state’s students.
There’s an ongoing court case where a plaintiff representing underserved students won a court order for increased educational funding for parts of the educational system in NM. Litigation of that case continues, as noted above.
The challenge is enormous because NM has many students with ESL, and who live in poverty, and/or on the reservations, or rural areas spread far and wide in the 5th largest landmass US state. NM has few sizeable cities, with only 3 having more than 100K residents. The rest of the 2.1M population lives in small towns…NM is the sixth-least densely populated of the 50 states.
So it’s one thing for a court to order improvements, and another for the state to find the large funding needed. However, with large increases in Federal support to states, including in education, and broadband rollout, this might be a plausible time to make great strides.