Sen. Bill Soules (D-Las Cruces) chairs the Senate Education Committee. (Photo by Leah Romero / Source NM)
A proposal to amend the New Mexico Constitution and reconfigure public education governance passed the Senate Education Committee Friday and advances to the Senate Finance Committee.
Senate Joint Resolution 3, sponsored by Sen. Bill Soules (D-Las Cruces), chair of the Senate Education Committee, received a do-pass by a vote of 7-2 by committee members. The Senate Rules Committee previously advanced the bill without recommendation.
The resolution proposes amending the state Constitution to shift oversight of the Public Education Department from a governor-appointed cabinet secretary to a superintendent of public schools hired by a public schools board. If the resolution passes, it will be up to voters to decide during the next general election.
Soules pointed out to committee members Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s administration has had five public education cabinet secretaries thus far.
“Education needs consistent leadership at the top,” he said during the meeting.
The Senate Education Committee adopted an amendment to SJR 3 Friday, to make sure there is still a separate Public Education Commission in place to authorize charter schools in the state.
The state school board would be made up of 10 elected members and five appointed by the governor. They would determine department policies and appoint a superintendent.
The proposed structure is how governance was organized up until former Gov. Bill Richardson’s administration, when voters approved a constitutional amendment creating a cabinet-level position to lead the Public Education Department. Former Sen. Steven Neville (R-Aztec) and President Pro Tempore Mimi Stewart (D-Albuquerque) introduced a similar resolution in 2023, which passed the Senate but died before a House vote.
Representatives from the New Mexico School Board Association, New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders, New Mexico School Superintendents, Albuquerque Teacher Federation and a current Public Education Commissioner all spoke in favor of the resolution.
“It’s very important that a superintendent go beyond three years in order to enact change within his district. It’s no different at the state level. Matter of fact, it’s very much more important,” Martin Madrid, president of the New Mexico School Superintendents Association, said during the meeting. “In my short tenure as the president since June, I’ve had to build a relationship with two separate secretaries.”
Members of NewMexicoKidsCAN, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce, New Mexico Chamber of Commerce, Think New Mexico and Teach Plus New Mexico voiced their opposition to changing the governance of public education in the state as a way to address shortcomings in student performance.
“I worry it will include more chaos as we make all of these transitions,” Amanda Aragon, executive director of NewMexicoKidsCAN, said. “I think you need look no further than the local school board elections in your own districts to know that school board elections are becoming really, really political.”
Mariana Padilla, secretary designate of the Public Education Department, also voiced her opposition to the bill, noting that the time and resources it will take to restructure the department “would be much better spent on focusing on the educational initiatives and needs of our students and our educators.”
“There is no body of research that indicates that a state school board structure is a better governance structure,” Padilla told committee members.
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