Democrats pushing education agenda

Democratic lawmakers said Monday that they will push this session for early interventions for struggling readers and tapping the state permanent fund to boost education spending.

They also said new dollars should flow to school districts instead of going toward the governor’s reform programs.

Lawmakers particularly emphasized their plan for early reading intervention, which is their answer to Gov. Susana Martinez’s continued attempts to pass a bill mandating retention of third-graders whose test scores show they can’t read at grade level.

Democrats object to that bill on the grounds that students should not be retained over the objection of their parents. Under current law, parents have one opportunity to overrule school professionals who think a student should be held back. In subsequent years, school officials can require that a student be retained.

Sen. John Sapien, D-Corrales, is sponsoring the Democratic leadership’s intervention bill. At a news conference Monday, he emphasized parent involvement.

“That’s the key to this entire legislation, is we never take the parent out of the conversation,” Sapien said.

He said his bill, which will be filed this week, would provide funding to identify struggling readers and get them needed interventions. He said if parents choose to have a child promoted over the advice of educators, then the family and school staff must look closely at the student’s academic data the following year to make sure the student is ready to move on.

“That’s our catch-guard, if you will,” Sapien said. “We want responsibility by the parents, the teachers and the administrators, to assure we’re not just moving students along to move students along.”

Rep. Mary Helen Garcia, D-Las Cruces, also spoke at the news conference about the reading bill she is sponsoring, which is backed by the governor. Garcia was not scheduled to speak.

“I know there’s been a lot of controversy over this bill. However, it’s a very good bill. It’s changed,” Garcia said. “And the reason I did it is I was a retired educator, a teacher, a principal, and a central office administrator.”

She also emphasized that her bill would allow opportunities for parent involvement, including a section that says parents can petition the school to promote students to fourth grade despite low reading scores, if the student had at least 95 percent attendance, participated in all required remediation and the parent signs a contract outlining a reading intervention plan for the next grade.
— This article appeared on page A3 of the Albuquerque Journal