{"id":36262,"date":"2023-01-17T08:58:51","date_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/native-american-education-advocates-in-nm-seek-long-term-funding-for-reform\/"},"modified":"2023-01-17T15:58:51","modified_gmt":"2023-01-17T15:58:51","slug":"native-american-education-advocates-in-nm-seek-long-term-funding-for-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/native-american-education-advocates-in-nm-seek-long-term-funding-for-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Native American education advocates in NM seek long-term funding for reform"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"New
New Mexico lawmakers studying how to move education policy forward endorsed several pieces of legislation, including one creating a Tribal Education Trust Fund. (Shaun Griswold\/Source NM)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rep. Derrick Lente (D-Sandia Pueblo) received endorsements Monday for two bills intended to directly address the legacy of racism and disparity for Indigenous students in New Mexico\u2019s schools.<\/p>\n

The bills would allocate millions in funding toward equitable education in the state, prioritizing tribal leadership and funding for tribal efforts to build culturally and linguistically relevant programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur proposals have been the most direct, targeted pieces of legislation for Native American education,\u201d Lente said. \u201cThe state has been throwing money at a problem, and that\u2019s not going to solve things.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the lack of targeted investments have been a hindrance to improving tribal education.<\/p>\n

The Legislative Education Study Committee voted to endorse one bill that would amend the Indian Education Act. The other is asking the state for $50 million to upstart a trust fund to help tribes build educational programs and systems for tribal communities across New Mexico.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about doggone time that we use these resources the way the communities that would most benefit from know-how to use them,\u201d Rep. Christine Trujillo (D-Albuquerque) said in support of the trust fund.<\/p>\n

The Tribal Education Trust Fund, if passed, would pull $50 million from the Public Education Reform Fund with an annual 5% distribution starting in fiscal year 2025. Tribes would initially get about $100,000 each.<\/p>\n

Lente plans to introduce the endorsed legislation later this week.<\/p>\n

All Pueblo Council of Governors Chairman Mark Mitchell (Tesque) spoke in favor of the trust fund, quoting Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cSingle Garment of Destiny\u201d speech where he said, \u201cInjustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lente said the delays to bridging the education gaps for Native students has been denying those students the right to a good education.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis goes right along with the same notion of how many Native American students have (been) denied \u2026 an equitable (allotment) to allow them to learn how they want to learn in their own communities,\u201d he told the committee.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been almost five years since the landmark Yazzie-Martinez ruling found that New Mexico violates the constitutional rights of students learning English, living with disabilities or in poverty. The court also highlighted a public school system that failed Native American communities from pre-K to high school.<\/p>\n

Despite more than $1 billion invested into the state\u2019s Public Education Department since the ruling in 2018 \u2013 and another request this year to the Legislature for more funding to meet the court\u2019s order \u2013 Yazzie-Martinez advocates maintain the state simply does not have the capacity to meet its obligations to the ruling.<\/p>\n

The state should invest money into tribal education systems, advocates say, so they can take the wheel on things such as developing traditional language classes, classwork tied to cultural heritage, and developing teachers or administrators from Native communities.<\/p>\n

Lente\u2019s bills stem from solutions to Yazzie-Martinez already identified by the Tribal Remedy Framework, a plan developed by the University of New Mexico\u2019s Native American Budget and Policy Institute with the input of Native students, parents and community leaders.<\/p>\n

Sometimes changes the state is attempting to improve education overall don\u2019t fit with Indigenous students\u2019 needs, he said, pointing to the push to extend student learning time. The initiative was born without tribal input and \u201ccreates more inequities for Native and rural communities,\u201d Lente said.<\/p>\n

Many students living on tribal land have to be bussed an hour or more away to attend public school, and requiring them to be in school longer means they now have to wake up even earlier to commute, unlike students who live in the area.<\/p>\n

Lente said tribes would be given money to expand educational programs and resources for students closer to their homes, with funding provided by the trust fund. Native students often cannot explore after-school activities because they live far away. Allocating money to the tribes themselves would empower tribal self-determination and allow for better responsiveness to student needs, he argued.<\/p>\n

New Mexico shared a plan to address the Yazzie-Martinez ruling with tribal leaders in 2022 that included parts of the Tribal Remedy Framework, but leaders behind the tribal education plans said this is not enough.<\/p>\n

Regis Pecos, the former governor of Cochiti Pueblo and longtime advocate for education reform, said PED does not have the capacity to meet its obligations outlined in the Yazzie-Martinez decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing will change even if the state invests millions of dollars in the same systems that don\u2019t have the capacity to respond to this ruling,\u201d Pecos said. \u201cThe way you make a permanent investment is for the Tribal Education Trust Fund to be established so it\u2019s sustainable, and it\u2019s not a political fight every year, which is the sad reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

He calls for a drastic change in the system that would abandon the Western model of education that excludes Native children.<\/p>\n

The Yazzie-Martinez ruling compels New Mexico to create this new model of education to give students the opportunity to see themselves reflected in what they\u2019re learning. But funding the same exclusive systems fails to recognize that Native students are citizens of two nations, Pecos said.<\/p>\n

For Native students, being educationally and civically ready also means being able to speak their language, a familiarity with their culture and a knowledge of traditional laws.<\/p>\n

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which represented plaintiffs in the Yazzie-Martinez case, said in a statement Lente\u2019s bills are necessary, adding that \u201cwithout a comprehensive education plan, any state appropriations will remain a piecemeal attempt that will not meet the court\u2019s order requiring an overhaul or a transformation of the way public education is funded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s endorsement by the Legislative Education Study Committee, an interim committee that meets throughout the year to discuss the proposal\u2019s it supported, is just another branch of support from vital state leaders.<\/p>\n

New Mexico Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, whose office funds public education with revenue from extractive industries on state land, voiced support for the trust fund while campaigning in October before the All Pueblo Council of Governors.<\/p>\n

She said now is the optimal time to invest in improved tribal education because the office\u2019s total assets have surpassed $40 billion for the first time in its history.<\/p>\n

Garcia Richard cited inequities in access to the internet, a lack of culturally competent schooling and the lack of availability of Native languages classes as areas that need more investment and could not successfully grow without the leadership of the tribes.<\/p>\n

For Lente, the bills are about pushing the state to meet the same obligations to Native students that it does to everyone else.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation for me was the great equalizer that gave me more experiences,\u201d he said. \u201cIntentional planning toward education means everyone can also have that shot. We\u2019re not trying to win the Olympics of oppression, but the court ruled that we are living in disparity as Native Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Source NM, visit www.sourcenm.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Derrick Lente pursues $50 million to put tribes in the driver\u2019s seat and start a Tribal Education Trust Fund<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[155,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-education","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36262"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}