OPINION: Reducing our school board election to 'union vs. business' misses the point

A recent op-ed — and a subsequent discussion on New Mexico In Focus — framed the Nov. 4 school board election as a fight between “union interests” and “business interests.” That narrative is not only simplistic; it dismisses the work of families, educators and public school advocates who mobilized around issues far more consequential. At stake was how our public school system serves children — especially those at the center of the Martinez/Yazzie ruling.

Public schools do not exist to advance ideological agendas. They exist to equip children to become capable thinkers and engaged community members in a democratic society. When we overlook the power of community voice, we miss the efforts of families, students and key Martinez/Yazzie advocates to influence their children’s neighborhood schools.

Labeling the election a “union fight” implies that educators resist reform and do not care about student outcomes. That is a mischaracterization. The people who spend every day with our students are not barriers to progress — they are the engine of it. They are also the canary in the coal mine. Even Effective School Boards, a bi-weekly newsletter intensely focused on student outcomes, makes it clear that no system succeeds without strong supports for educators. Leaders cannot hold educators accountable while refusing to provide the tools they need.

Professional development, preparation time, small classrooms and collaboration are not luxuries. They are research-based necessities. Yet New Mexico has continually underinvested in these basics, especially in the foundational K-6 grades. We demand improved instruction while crowding students into classrooms where they are neither seen nor heard. Classrooms that are poorly heated or cooled make for impossible learning and teaching conditions.

A recent gathering of community leaders at Santa Ana Pueblo responded to the Public Education Department’s Martinez/Yazzie Action Plan. Health and legal professionals and families — many of them Martinez/Yazzie plaintiffs — aligned with educators to make the disconnect clear: There is a real difference between change and transformation. Policy tweaks and data indicators, absent relationships, produce short-term gains at best. When education becomes a numbers game detached from the human experience of students, communities are harmed. The child becomes a data point instead of a developing person.

The state’s response, fueling the APS district’s response, refuses to acknowledge the historical injustices embedded in our education system. For generations, students with disabilities, Native students, English language learners and children surviving in poverty have been treated as problems to be managed by outsiders. Solutions arrive prepackaged, designed far from the local communities who understand the needs on the ground. This dynamic violates the very spirit of the Community Schools model the state and district claim to champion: local partnership, local trust and local decision-making.

The newly elected school board has an opportunity — and an obligation. It can continue to emphasize student outcomes, guided by the guardrails. Effective governance demands that the board privilege neighborhood community voice. This election was a reminder that families and their allies expect a seat at the table, educators expect to be partners and business leaders are not adversaries but contributors to shared solutions.

Those who cling to a “union vs. business” narrative misunderstand the moment. They miss the organized, hopeful voices calling for a grounded, collaborative approach to healthy student outcomes.

 Josefina Dominguez represents District 6 on the Albuquerque Public Schools Board of Education.