OPINION: Talk of the Town

Parental involvement is key to improving APS

The Journal Editorial Board lifted the curtain on the dismal outcomes of Albuquerque Public Schools in the May 4 editorial. While spending $33,079 per student, APS achieves proficiencies of 25% in math, 39% in reading, and 38% in science with 49% of the students absent for 10% or more of school days, and yet APS graduation rate is 70%. Despite increasing funding per student by over $15,000 over the last nine years, the state remains one of the worst performers in the nation for public education.

What are the obvious lessons to be learned? First, money — funding is NOT the answer. It has made no difference. Second, as the editorial points out, parental involvement is “a” or perhaps “the” key. Students will not take education seriously unless parents support, encourage and show them it matters. Third, the same parental apathy affecting student performance also has contributed to the Democrats’ stranglehold on the politics of the state where uninformed voters simply punch the “D” column on the ballot because they were told they should, or perhaps because they always have done so out of ignorance, giving no consideration to accountability and performance. Until that changes, nothing else will.

Robert Chambers

Albuquerque

Look out of state for education fixes

The May 4 editorial page focused on education. But it failed to point out the failure in leadership to adopt successful programs from other states.

My wife and I retired to New Mexico from Minnesota almost nine years ago. My wife had been involved in a successful program called Minnesota Reading Corps. A program that has been shown to improve young children’s grade level 50% to 90% for each year in the program. The program focuses on activities that are fun for the children but also teaches grammar and literacy skills. The program has since been started in 12 other states.

When the Yazzie-Martinez case first came out, a man wrote an editorial about changes needed in New Mexico. My wife emailed the writer about Minnesota Reading Corps and we were subsequently invited to a meeting of 20 to 30 people involved with how the state should respond to Yazzie-Martinez. No one at the meeting was interested in Minnesota Reading Corps and its results. The prevailing attitude was that New Mexico was unique and needed New Mexico solutions.

Articles in the paper that day also stated Mississippi has gone from 50th to a 30th ranking in education. Impressive. But not as impressive as these statistics for Mississippi:

National Assessment of Education Progress Grade 4 Reading Scores National Rankings:

• Economically disadvantaged students: No. 1.
• Hispanic students: No. 1.
• African American students: No. 3.

NAEP Grade 4 Math Scores National Rankings:

• Economically disadvantaged students: No. 2.
• Hispanic students: No. 2.
• African American students: No. 3.

Highly successful programs are already in place in other states. And they can be implemented in the next school year. We need to move in that direction.

Donald Debelak

Albuquerque

Self-deportation won’t help immigrant families

Journal Editorial Board member Jeff Tucker wrote on May 10 that self-deportation by those subject to arrest by ICE will provide them peace of mind. Does anyone really believe that voluntarily returning to the place you risked your life to escape will give you peace of mind? It might indeed be less stressful than the threat of being disappeared to a prison in El Salvador but no one who leaves will be humming their oms. Does a government that employs terror to accomplish campaign promises give us peace of mind? Are we scaring the wits out of people because the normal deportation process is too slow (my, all those court cases) and expensive (zero star DOGE rating) to accomplish by the midterms?

We’re in a much better place now. In the prior administration we had an immigration application app that appeared to be working and now the border is pretty much closed (except for those genocide victims, the Afrikaners). Do we really have an immigration emergency? It is a cruel trick to get them to leave with a worthless promise of return. It seems inefficient to frighten people into leaving and then maybe let them back in later, when they are already here and have a track record as a reference.

How about giving those living in the shadows a chance to present themselves as crime free workers and be given temporary residency until we can legally judge them. That would reduce the numbers of people who must be tracked down and deported. All of this would give a citizen like me a bit more peace of mind, despite living in a country that is losing its laws, its morality and its decency. Dissent is frowned on now by the powers that be, but I dissent.

Rock Tope

Albuquerque

A disgusting Republican budget proposal

Well, we now have a look at the budget bill proposed by Republicans. It is a masterpiece of trickery on the American people. As expected, it gives tax cuts to the wealthy at the expense of Medicaid, food assistance and other government programs critical to lower-income and working families. The Medicaid cuts would mean that 7.1 million people in the country would lose Medicaid. To put that in some context, the total population of New Mexico is 2.1 million.

But here is the truly insidious part: The bill as drafted proposes that the tax cuts expire in 2029, and the Medicaid cuts start that same year. Why? Because Medicaid cuts are so unpopular that Republicans voting for those cuts face a serious risk of being unelected. With this budget, Republicans can have their cake and eat it, too. And set up the next president — who might be a Democrat — for failure.

The Republicans are reading the tea leaves that Americans are fed up with DOGE, inept Cabinet appointments and tariffs that we all know will raise prices even more. President Trump promised to lower grocery prices on day one of his presidency, but now tells Americans they will have to suffer the pain, and that maybe Christmas toys will be more expensive. Americans are so angry that Republicans think they may lose the 2028 presidential elections.

So, this budget bill gives tax cuts to the wealthy now and proposes to pay for those cuts later, in 2029, when Medicaid cuts kick in. If a Democrat is elected president in 2028, this budget sets that president up with trying to prevent Medicaid cuts and increasing taxes on the wealthy.

It’s a crafty — and irresponsible — legislative sleight of hand.

Kay Monaco

Albuquerque