At the Education Matters luncheon, education partners of the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce (GACC) highlighted their advocacy efforts in line with the Chamber’s core priorities for public education.
Paul Madrid, Chair of the Chamber’s Education Bold Issues Group (BIG), opened by reviewing key beliefs guiding their mission. “One of our main goals is to advocate for policy and practices leading to the direct improvement of academic achievement for students in public schools,” Madrid said. “We want to give every child the opportunity for high-quality education so that they’re (ready) for the next phase of their life. We believe that every child is capable of learning and growing academically, regardless of their background. We also believe that the success of schools should be measured by kids learning, and also (that we need to) have some really good leaders in those schools.”
Madrid noted recent progress within Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), particularly through career pathways programs. “I’m happy to see that, fortunately, we’re getting some good momentum to get these students engaged with local jobs to increase graduation rates,” he said. “The Chamber’s education initiatives are really just to improve education, get high-quality education and get some pretty good results out of it.”
Terri Cole, GACC President and CEO, then introduced APS Board President Danielle Gonzales, who spoke about ongoing strategic changes at APS. Gonzales emphasized community support during a period marked by difficult decisions regarding budgets and school operations. “Our math scores are improving. Our reading scores are improving. There has been real strategic change,” Gonzales said. “There have been difficult decisions. There have been tradeoffs... There have been decisions to change how we allocate our budget, and there have been decisions to close schools, to repurpose schools, to repurpose our buildings, because that is what is in the best interest, not just of the kids in those schools, not just of the kids in the community, but our entire community. As our school board is faced with these difficult decisions, as we’re faced with those tradeoffs, we need you in this room to have our back. We need you in this room to ask questions.”
Amanda Aragon, executive director of NewMexicoKidsCan, outlined two legislative proposals being prepared with Chamber collaboration for consideration in January: one would require school districts to send parents clear notices three times a year about whether their child meets state benchmarks; another would establish personalized reading plans for struggling readers statewide involving teachers, principals and parents working together.
“The first one is really simple. Every parent gets a notice from the school district three times a year saying very clearly, is my child on grade level according to the state benchmarks. That’s it,” Aragon explained. She continued: “It’s in addition to the progress reports... The second part is what we call individual reading plans... This would be a partnership between the teacher, the principal and the parent... Here’s what we’re going to do at school... Here’s what we need you to do at home... Here’s how we’re going to communicate about that... here’s the metrics that we’ll be watching from now until the end of third grade.”
Cole reminded attendees that similar legislation had previously stalled but indicated plans for renewed advocacy during the upcoming session.
Longtime board member Del Archuleta was recognized by Cole for his years supporting education reform efforts alongside GACC since 1999. “Del and I have been in this education debate for a long time,” Cole said. “We both agree that we’ve had some good people that we were working with, but the talent we have now is extraordinary and will make all the difference.”
Jade Rivera—founder of ABQ Collegiate Charter School—addressed efforts around launching and expanding high-performing charter schools: “When high-performing charter schools are launched and expanded, they give families life-changing opportunities,” Rivera said. “These schools operate with high expectations, strong accountability and a relentless focus on results — and the impact is real students who might otherwise fall through the cracks are not only catching up, but truly excelling… Every time a new excellent charter opens or an existing charter school proves its success and expands more families gain access to an option that can unlock their child’s full potential.”
