OPINION: Education should focus on students and culture

Over the past two years, my team at Transform Education New Mexico and I have met with current and former students from Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Española, listening as they shared what they need from our public schools. Each student spoke with clarity about why learning matters to them and what they want from their education. I was inspired by their passion, but also dismayed at how our state continues to fail them.

In 2018, the Yazzie/Martinez v. State of New Mexico case ruled that the state failed to uphold the state Constitution by not providing students the programs and services necessary to prepare them for college and careers. The court ordered the Public Education Department to take immediate action. Six years later, our students’ voices show that the state continues to fall short. One Indigenous student from Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo said, “Students like me have literally been stripped of the freedom to dream.” And she’s right. Despite their resilience and passion, students still face a system that does not honor who they are or where they come from. Incremental reforms have proven inadequate — New Mexico needs bold, transformative change in our public school system.

At gatherings across the state, students told us what they need: Community-driven, structural change in public education. This includes mental health resources, up-to-date facilities, Native language programs, and teachers fully supported and trained to meet the needs of a diverse student body. Drawing directly from student input, we developed the Freedom to Dream Report, which outlines a vision for an education that delivers the quality learning students are constitutionally owed, along with clear steps to achieve it.

While the PED has often used the language of equity to describe their efforts to reform public education, the state’s over-reliance on test scores to measure success, narrow focus on the “science of reading,” and a tendency to treat culture as an add on falls far short of what our students really need. To deliver equitable education, New Mexico must listen to its communities. Students’ identities, cultures and lived experiences must shape curriculum, support and policies — not the other way around.

Our report demonstrates that student-driven priorities — from culturally grounded education to robust health and wellness resources — offer a roadmap for equity and transformation. Young people provide unfiltered perspectives that highlight gaps adults often overlook. As advocates, we are committed to championing programs, initiatives and teacher training that respond directly to students’ needs. Across the state, community members are joining these conversations, helping define the conditions that allow students to take pride in their schools.

Policies codesigned with youth are more likely to be sustainable because they reflect the priorities of those who are most impacted. Responsibility rests squarely with the state to transform the structures, funding and decision-making processes that shape New Mexico’s education. Students should not be asked to adapt to a system that fails them, nor teachers to compensate for policy gaps. Meaningful change demands that the state listen to youth, center their experiences and embed their priorities in the comprehensive plan required by the Yazzie/Martinez ruling. Only then can New Mexico create schools that truly serve all students, now and for generations to come.