New Mexico is looking to make plans to better support the 50,000 students in the state who are in need of special education.
“What we want to be able to do is make sure that when we have these teachers, that we’re able to recruit them and retain them for the long term," Dr. Arsenio Romero, New Mexico secretary of Public Education, told KOB 4 News. "I’ve been a teacher, I’ve been a principal, I’ve been a superintendent. I’m also a dad and I have four kids, and one of my kids has autism."
Romero said he used his 27-year experience as an educator and found the best teachers and resources for his child.
“Even in my place of privilege, I struggled through that," he told KOB 4 News. "And so I know if I’m struggling through that, that other families across New Mexico have the same struggles."
Better behavioral management will be another priority for the new Special Education Office, Romero said.
“Reducing our use of physical manhandling of children to control behavior. The science is clear that once a school goes down that route with a student, it will recur," Romero said, according to KOB 4 News.
Data will be collected by the office, including student discipline, which can be used to figure out what kind of funding they will need to reach their goals.
Twenty-eight percent of teacher vacancies across the state are for special education positions. State leaders are keeping their fingers crossed that an increase in pay, as well as other incentives coming from the new Special Education Office, will change that. Since the office isn't yet a week old, it has yet to have a director. Advocates, including Katie Stone, vice chair of the State Developmental Disabilities Council, hope that increasing the pay of highly qualified teachers will ultimately fill the the open special education positions statewide.
“This may surprise people that that’s not already happening," Stone said, according to KOB 4 News. "We want to see our special education teachers who've worked so hard to be rewarded for the extra efforts that they put in.”
The state of New Mexico received more than $103 million from the federal government. That money will be used specifically on special education. Romero said part of the money will be used to hire professionals, specifically so the students with special needs and their families can be supported.