Education

Funding cuts, healthcare shortage harm N.M.’s autistic children

More than 200 foreign teachers are risking their financial security for an opportunity to work in public schools.

For Wilhelmina Yazzie, joining the groundbreaking lawsuit against New Mexico wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was the only thing to do.

Behind the recent ruling in the New Mexico school funding lawsuit is nearly a decade of evidence that the state's public schools are not only failing children, but that children will be "irreparably harmed" if schools aren’t improved.

EL PASO, Texas – The kindergarteners of IDEA Edgemere walked quietly single-file down the hall, their uniforms embroidered with the school logo, left hands behind their backs, right fingers over their lips. Shh. Emblazoned on the wall above their heads, a sign read: “We do whatever it takes.”

Sara Tafoya never pictured herself as one of New Mexico’s at-risk students. She came from a supportive, college-educated family in Albuquerque, had once earned good grades, and entertained dreams of going to college and becoming a physical therapist.

But in her sophomore year, Tafoya “attracted bad situations,” skipping classes – sometimes for weeks at a time. By the time she found out she was pregnant at age 15, she faced a hurdle that typically derails a girl’s education.

No state can afford to lose high-quality, educated workers, the key ingredient for a thriving economy.

Adult education can be a path to generational change. But in New Mexico, where it is estimated that a third of the adult population could benefit, only about 3 percent are served.