Educators, parents and administrators turn out against 180-day school year proposal

SANTA FE — Monica Burton drove two hours to speak at a Public Education Department meeting discussing extension of the school calendar to 180 instructional days per year.

Burton is a school board member in Springer — a ranching community where many students, including her own children, help on the ranch on weekends. It’s also a district with a four-day school week.

That schedule, which has been in place in Springer since 1983, could be threatened by a PED proposal mandating a 180-day school schedule across the state.

The longer school year proposal was one of several up for discussion at a public hearing Monday hosted by PED. But it occupied much of the hourslong public comment and has garnered hundreds of written comments.

PED will review the comments before deciding if the proposal should be adopted. If approved, its final version will be published in January.

The proposal has been made despite the Legislature’s passage earlier this year of a bill that increased instructional time from 1,080 hours to 1,140.

However, PED says the measure hasn’t successfully increased class time in all schools. A department spokesperson said 1 in 3 districts didn’t increase instructional time and that in fact, they decreased educational time. Improving student outcomes was the impetus for the proposal, PED spokesperson Nate Williams said in a statement to the Journal.

“Additional time with teachers can only be a good thing,” the statement read. “... This is an attempt to equalize instructional time across the state so that New Mexico students have every chance to succeed.”

Thirteen members of the Legislative Education Study Committee signed a letter to PED in opposition, stating a days mandate goes against the purpose of the House bill increasing instructional hours.

“The mandate of 180 instructional days for all school districts and charter schools does not align with the Legislature’s clear intention to allow local flexibility, while still requiring 1,140 instructional hours with no requirement for a specific number of days,” the letter says.

The letter added that the requirement of at least half of school weeks needing to be five days “effectively eliminates” the four-day school week due to practicality.

Several speakers at the Monday hearing called the rule a “one size fits all” approach to educational schedules.

Burton told the Journal the shorter week attracts teachers to the rural community. Switching to a five-day week would increase operational costs and potentially push away teachers lured by a flexible schedule.

“We have very good teachers, and our scores are at or above the state average,” Burton said. “So we shouldn’t be punished.”

The 2023 New Mexico Educator Vacancy Report, produced by New Mexico State University, found 751 teacher vacancies and an overall educator vacancy of 1,471. The number of teacher vacancies was up about 9% from last year.

Burton was joined by several other educators, parents and administrators from rural communities hoping to keep their modified schedules. Many expressed concerns that teachers would leave if the rule was adopted.

The bill passed by the Legislature earlier this year allowed for some professional work time, including professional development and parent teacher conferences, within the mandated 1,140 hours. But the new proposal by PED would mandate 180 days outside of professional work time — which Santa Fe teacher Marisa Martinez said is not always feasible for teachers who may need to work second jobs to supplement their salary or take classes over the summer months.

Martinez, who has been teaching for 27 years, has a second job as a fiddler. She has colleagues who work at Best Buy, Target and other stores to afford the cost of living in Santa Fe, she told the Journal.

“We can’t assume that we take two months off because we take classes, we get our certification,” Martinez said. “This is my life. I give 90% of my life … I take my work home with me.”