New Mexico's Education System

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I rise to draw attention to the concerns and frustrations among parents, educators, business leaders, and so many others in my home State of New Mexico.

Today, I voted in favor of the Every Student Succeeds Act because I believe this legislation is better, quite frankly, than the status quo, and it will work to improve our education system.

However, we cannot forget that many of New Mexico's schools are in trouble. These troubled schools stem from a lack of leadership at both the Federal and State levels.

Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Education has not held New Mexico's leadership accountable for this failure. In fact, the Federal Government has enabled our States, including New Mexico, to put special interests ahead of student success.

That is why Education Week ranked New Mexico as 49th out of 51, with a D-plus in preparing kids for college and a D-minus in K-12 achievement.

This lack of accountability at the State and Federal levels is harming a generation of New Mexico students. New Mexicans deserve far better. It is time we had leaders who take responsibility for improving our schools and that hold each other accountable when their actions are failing students.

While the ESEA moves beyond the status quo, more needs to be done to help our students. I hope we will work together to do that.

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