EDITORIAL: New PED secretary must embrace a culture of accountability to turn things around

We wish we had more cause for optimism, we really do.

New Mexico’s public school system has long ranked among the nation’s worst in terms of student outcomes, despite recent increases in public school spending and teacher pay levels. In 2022, 79% of New Mexico fourth graders could not read proficiently, and our teachers are burning out at faster rates than ever before.

Our kids deserve better than 49th or 50th in the nation in education, and we all agree on that. How to get out of the basement and prepare our youth for adulthood has been the question.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week announced the appointment of Mariana Padilla as the next Cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Public Education Department. Padilla is the governor’s fifth PED secretary in less than six years, a troubling statistic.

Padilla’s appointment comes after the abrupt departure of former Education Secretary Arsenio Romero, to whom the governor issued an ultimatum to either resign or commit to his job heading PED and withdraw his application for president of New Mexico State University. Romero chose to pursue the job with NMSU, where he was interviewed last week. He had only been PED secretary since February 2023.

In a tight spot, the governor went with someone she knows well. Padilla has served as the director of the New Mexico Children’s Cabinet since the start of the governor’s administration and has also served as the governor’s senior education policy advisor. A native New Mexican who began her career as an elementary school teacher in her hometown of Albuquerque, Padilla has also stepped in as acting Cabinet secretary for both the Public Education Department and the Children, Youth & Families Department, and has served on numerous boards and councils.

Padilla knows the education apparatus, for sure. Whether she can turn it around is the salient question.

The Governor’s Office said Padilla’s accomplishments include establishing the New Mexico Early Childhood Education and Care Department, launching a statewide literacy initiative, and driving the governor’s “cradle to career” education agenda. Before becoming director of the Children’s Cabinet, Padilla served on Lujan Grisham’s congressional staff for six years, overseeing New Mexico policy and constituent services.

The Governor’s Office said Padilla, in her new role subject to confirmation by the New Mexico Senate, will “prioritize improving academic achievement, increasing student attendance and engagement, ensuring on-time graduation, and creating pathways to college and career.”

“Mariana’s deep roots in New Mexico and her lifelong commitment to children and families make her the right leader for this moment,” Lujan Grisham said.

We don’t know much about Padilla outside of her resume, but education leaders we’ve spoken with are giving her high grades.

“Former PED employees I know who worked with her had a lot of respect for her,” Mandi Torrez, the education reform director for Think New Mexico and the 2020 New Mexico Teacher of the Year, told the Editorial Board. “Now that I have been in this role I have appreciated her willingness to listen and offer feedback with keen insight. She really does think about accountability that puts students first. I think she was the best option for the situation and hopefully she will be given the flexibility she needs to turn some things around at PED.”

Hope Morales, the executive director of Teach Plus New Mexico, also lauded Padilla’s appointment.

“As we continue to engage teachers across the state on issues that align with improving systems for student outcomes, we are confident that her leadership is exactly what is needed at this time,” Morales told the Journal.

We shall soon find out if Padilla is PED secretary timber. The last four education secretaries — we’re not even going to get into. Lamentations will get us, and our kids, nowhere. It is what it is. For nearly six years of details, go to abqjournal.com.

Padilla needs to address student performance, parental buy-in, chronic absenteeism and school safety. That’s a lot. She’s going to need to narrow those and other education issues down into bite-size pieces. Going after it all will likely leave her and New Mexico’s public education system in the basement.

Padilla should begin by reaching out to Gabriella Durán Blakey, the new superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools, and Danielle Gonzales, the APS school board president. Both Durán Blakey and Gonzales are reform-minded and committed to academic improvement, accountability and transparency. They can help by lending their assistance to Padilla and their expertise to the Public Education Department.

Blakey and Gonzales are also two of the most influential members of the public school community and leaders of the state’s largest school district. APS has adopted measurable short-term goals, PED should do the same.

In fact, APS just had its first State of the District event last month, when Blakey boldly called to confront problems like chronic absenteeism and “embrace a culture of accountability,” even if doing so “might ruffle feathers.” We give the new APS leadership team credit for transparency and accountability, with a mix of creativity.

Padilla also needs to mend fences with rural school districts and superintendents and signal that PED, which has tentacles in every part of the state, exists to assist local school districts, not rule over them.

And the governor must give Padilla clear and attainable goals and stow the “moonshot.” Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen over the 27 months remaining in the governor’s second term. It’s probably going to take more like 10 years.

The governor must also give Padilla the reins. More than one state lawmaker has told us the governor has a tendency, to put it nicely, to micromanage PED.

We certainly hope Padilla is committed to the job until the end of the governor’s tenure. Six PED secretaries over eight years would be ridiculous. Five since the governor took office in 2019 is a stretch. Ideally, we would have had one. It’s a job worth holding for at least four years because reforming a large, bureaucratic institution like a state education department can be geological in speed.

Implementing much-needed education reforms is darn near impossible when you have a new PED secretary every year or so.

“I am committed to working collaboratively with students, families, educators, and community partners to achieve the outcomes we all want to see,” Padilla said in a statement upon her appointment. “As a parent of grade school students, I share the sense of urgency to deliver for our kids.”

Many other parents are also feeling that sense of urgency. But throwing money at our education system simply has not worked. Continuity in leadership, accountability to taxpayers and transparency in student outcomes must be the goals moving forward.