We asked five national experts in child well-being, health, education and policy to write short essays in response to recent stories we have covered. Here’s what they had to say.
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Foreign teachers pay dearly to fill jobs in New Mexico
More than 200 foreign teachers are risking their financial security for an opportunity to work in public schools.
Posted inFull Archive, Politics
Who should get home visits? New Mexico can’t say
The state knows relatively little about the people served by its nearly three dozen contracted home visiting providers. Nor is there an answer to how many families the program should serve.
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New Mexico’s home visiting puzzle
Despite strong evidence that home visiting promotes healthy families and children, state officials have diverted millions of dollars from the program in order to fund child care assistance.
Posted inChild & Family Welfare
Lawsuit: New Mexico is wrongly denying child care benefits
Five New Mexico residents are suing the Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD), claiming the state is effectively cheating eligible low-income families out of money to pay for child care.
Posted inChild & Family Welfare
Many grandparents raising kids locked out of state aid
The number of children being raised by grandparents has exploded across New Mexico, nearly doubling to more than 55,000 — 10 percent of all the state’s children — since 1990. But many of those grandparents have found themselves denied assistance, often even when they meet eligibility requirements.
Posted inFull Archive, New Mexico's Children, New Mexico's Children
Emilia’s story: Family, tradition, addiction
I discovered a core of human goodness in troubled places, and it struck me as one of the great ironies that such darkness persists amidst such a culture of deep-rooted familial strength.
Posted inFull Archive
Spend wisely to boost child well-being, finance official says
New Mexico tends to wait to deal with problems until they grow overly expensive and challenging to solve, Charles Sallee of the Legislative Finance Committee told a forum on early childhood issues this week.
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Risky buildings: State’s public schools run on old infrastructure
Problems with school “systems” — which include everything from broken furnaces to mildewed carpets and shredded electrical wires — are rampant across the state, according to a Searchlight New Mexico analysis of data collected by the agency charged with awarding money to help keep the public schools running.
Posted inEducation, Full Archive
Years of frustration lie behind landmark school lawsuit
For Wilhelmina Yazzie, joining the groundbreaking lawsuit against New Mexico wasn’t an easy thing to do. It was the only thing to do.