PED seeking public input for Yazzie-Martinez remedial plan. Here's when they'll be in your city.

New Mexico’s Public Education Department will begin touring the state next month seeking public input as it starts developing a court-mandated remedial plan to improve the quality of education it provides to students in the state.

Seven years after the landmark ruling in the Yazzie-Martinez case, which found that the quality of education provided to underserved students in the state was so poor that it violated their constitutional rights, a ruling in April of this year found that the PED had not done enough since 2018 to improve, and required them to submit a remedial plan.

PED has completed its first step, as ordered by the court, by selecting outside consultants to assist in the remedial plan. The entities chosen were New Mexico-based Los Alamos National Laboratory Foundation and the Phoenix-based nonprofit WestEd. PED did not respond to questions about how much the contractors are being paid.

The meetings will take place in Farmington, Española and Las Cruces on Aug. 5; Raton on Aug. 6; Santa Fe, Mescalero and Clovis on Aug. 7; Silver City, Zuni and Carlsbad on Aug. 14; and Albuquerque on Aug. 20. Additionally, a virtual meeting will take place on Aug 26.

The public is invited to attend, and “additional event details, including times and locations, will be announced soon,” according to a PED news release.

The state’s primary educational policymaking arm, the Legislative Education Study Committee, will also join PED and the two contractors in the effort.

By the beginning of October, PED must produce a draft remedial plan, “incorporating input from plaintiffs and stakeholders, and file a status report.” By November, the department must “finalize the comprehensive remedial plan,” according to the order from 1st Judicial District Judge Matthew Wilson.

The Yazzie-Martinez case was first brought over a decade ago, in 2014, when Wilhelmina Yazzie, the parent of a student at Gallup-McKinley County Schools, and Louise Martinez, the parent of an Albuquerque Public Schools student, joined other parents to file a lawsuit against the state, tasking it to improve its education system.

PED said it will focus its remedial efforts in five core areas as required by the court: equitable access to high-quality instruction; access to well-prepared, culturally and linguistically responsive educators; academic, social and behavioral support services; fair and effective funding to meet student needs; and data and accountability systems to drive continuous improvement.

Following the April ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, PED said it welcomed Wilson’s “decision to lead development of a plan providing all New Mexico students an excellent education and that will lead to resolution of the Martinez-Yazzie lawsuit.”

New Mexico is broadly and consistently considered to be one of the worst states in the country for K-12 public education.