My friend and I are discussing the legacy of Governor Bill Richardson.\u00a0 Aside from all the controversies, what did he really do for New Mexico ?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe finally got education reformed,\u201d my friend says.\u00a0 \u201cReplaced the old state school board with a cabinet secretary so there would be accountability.\u00a0 Freed up money from the permanent fund so there would be money to improve pay for teachers.\u00a0 Got full day kindergarten and pre-K.\u00a0 These ideas had been around for years and there was a huge coalition in support.\u00a0\u00a0 Richardson got it done.\u201d<\/p>\n
True enough.\u00a0 Governor Richardson spearheaded the drive for an amendment to the state constitution, which changed the formula for the amount of money that could be withdrawn from the permanent fund and the structure of the education bureaucracy at the state level.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut education still isn\u2019t fixed,\u201d I said.\u00a0 \u201cYou know the numbers.\u00a0 We\u2019re still 49th.\u00a0\u00a0 Whatever was done didn\u2019t fix the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reader, you know the numbers, too.<\/p>\n
Well, she says, that\u2019s because of other things.\u00a0 Teachers are not allowed to discipline students, so classrooms are chaotic and the teachers can\u2019t teach.\u00a0\u00a0 Truancy and absenteeism are still rampant.\u00a0 There still isn\u2019t an incentive for good teachers to teach in problem schools, so the worst schools have the least experienced teachers.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the changes that have been made weren\u2019t enough,\u201d I said.\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cIn order to make all those improvements produce actual results, something else had to be done and they didn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
I continued:\u00a0 \u201cAnd then there is the problem that people with knowledge and experience \u2013 such as all the retired scientists and engineers in this state \u2013 can\u2019t go teach in a public school without taking education courses that they refuse to take, so we have an enormous resource being wasted.\u201d\u00a0 This happens to be a pet peeve of mine.<\/p>\n
I remind my friend that most of those retired scientists and engineers worked for the national labs, the military, or something else sponsored by government; in other words, American taxpayers paid for their careers and all that priceless professional experience, which is now lounging on a beach somewhere sipping drinks with little umbrellas in them.<\/p>\n
Another friend is a retired military officer who came back to New Mexico.\u00a0 As a young man, he had been an elementary school teacher for a few years.\u00a0 He told me:\u00a0 \u201cAny man is crazy to teach in public schools now.\u00a0 You put your hand on a little girl\u2019s shoulder because she\u2019s crying and the next thing you know someone\u2019s called you a sexual predator and your life is ruined.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
And then there\u2019s all that testing.\u00a0 A teacher friend told me that between the testing and the paperwork, he doesn\u2019t have much time left to teach.\u00a0 This is a teacher\u2019s-eye view of the new mania for accountability.<\/p>\n
So the administrative reform solved the problem, but the problem isn\u2019t solved.\u00a0 In other words, it wasn\u2019t the whole problem.\u00a0 The state government restructuring task force is invited to read this observation.<\/p>\n
Government sometimes addresses an issue on the basis of what government knows how to do rather than going for the tough thing that is knotty and convoluted, cannot be explained in sound bites and might be opposed by some interest group.<\/p>\n
According to an old story, a fellow was wandering around and around under a street lamp.\u00a0 I asked him if anything was the matter.\u00a0 \u201cI lost my keys,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere do you think you lost them?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.\u00a0 \u201cSomewhere in that parking lot over there,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen why are you looking here instead of there?\u201d\u00a0 I asked.\u00a0 \u201cBecause this is where the light\u2019s better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Triple Spaced Again, \u00a9 New Mexico News Services 2010; posted in 2011<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
My friend and I are discussing the legacy of Governor Bill Richardson.\u00a0 Aside from all the controversies, what did he really do for New Mexico ? \u201cHe finally got education reformed,\u201d my friend says.\u00a0 \u201cReplaced the old state school board … Continue reading