State test scores taken in the spring of 2022 showed a majority of the students tested in grades 3-8 and 11 were not proficient in language arts, math and science.
New Mexico state lawmakers are considering lengthening the school year to address New Mexico’s continued ranking near the bottom in education.
Some proposals would increase the school year to 1,140 hours, a recent KRQE report said. That’s an extra five weeks for younger students. For older students, it’s an additional two weeks.
Rep. Joy Garratt, a sponsor of House Bill 130, noted that her bill would also give teachers 60 more hours of prep time.
“It’s not on top of the 1,140, it’s held within,” she told KRQE. The bill passed its first committee.
Conversely, House Bill 194 and a proposal from the governor would both reserve the 1,140 hours for class time and add 80 hours on top of that for professional work time like planning, parent-teacher conferences, collaboration and more; the KRQE report said. Each proposal would cost more than $300 million.
“I think that there are a lot of conflicting opinions about whether or not extending the school year is the best way to invest our money,” Ellen Bernstein, president of the Albuquerque Teachers Federation, told KRQE.
Under the proposals, schools would decide whether to add a few extra minutes to the end of the school day or tack the days onto the end of the year. It would be applied to all public schools.
Some questioned whether lengthening the school year would improve the state's ranking in education.
“Learning is always the best thing but I know the time they come to school already, I think it’s enough,” Yolanda Gallegos, a parent picking up her child from an Albuquerque middle school, told KRQE.