A judge has ruled against the New Mexico Public Education Department for accusations connected with the legal challenge over the state’s teacher-evaluation system. The system’s been the target of lawsuits filed by teachers unions. The National Education Association-New Mexico initially challenged the education agency’s system, calling it “punitive.” But it charged that while pursuing information related to the case, the PED’s refused to comply with the State’s Inspection of Public Records Act. Specifically the NEA was seeking compensation for the attorney’s fees needed to get the requested info. Its attorney estimates following the Wednesday’s ruling by State District Judge Sarah Singleton that total fees owed by the state to be more than 14-thousand dollars. The PED’s spokesman, Robert McEntyre, contacted by KSFR, issued a statement saying, quote: “It’s disappointing that a special interest group continues to defend an old, broken evaluation system that didn’t put New Mexico’s kids first. Today’s ruling shows that these special interests would rather have more money spent in courtrooms than in our classrooms, where it belongs.” Unquote. The PED and the NEA have really just begun the legal skirmish
Speaking at her Summit on Higher Education, Governor Susana Martinez says New Mexico’s higher education institutions need to boost efforts to see that students graduate on time. The Republican specifically saying universities should increase student counseling and cut all undergraduate degree programs to 120 hours. Martinez also said state colleges should consider locking tuition rates for students who stay on a four-year schedule and work to keep students from "wandering" through various career options. And she says the state’s high schools should better prepare students since many enter college needing remedial work. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education says the state's six-year college graduation rate is 46 percent. Nationally, it's 69 percent.
In the Labor Day New York Times, the paper details the efforts of a Santa Fe non-profit to fill the vacuum of sorts created by the weakening of the nation’s traditional labor unions in recent decades. Marcela Diaz, director of Somos Un Pueblo Unido, says the immigrant-rights advocacy organization back in 2008 “stumbled upon” a resource made available through the National Labor Relations Act. The federal law, approved in 1935, protects the rights of employees and employers, to encourage collective bargaining, and to curtail certain private sector labor and management practices, which can harm the general welfare of workers, businesses and the U.S. economy. Diaz says the NLRA is considerably more expansive than covering just the relationship between labor unions and employers.
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Of course, the NLRA applies to ALL workers in the country. The Times article details examples of the nasty treatment doled-out to workers from some Santa Fe business and reports many are now copying Somos’ work-site committee idea, which has been adopted at about 35 restaurants, hotels and other companies in Santa Fe.
Santa Fe Weather: Mostly sunny skies today with the high 82, and a 10-percent chance for afternoon showers and thunderstorms. Tonight: Mostly cloudy with the overnight low, 58. Tomorrow: mostly sunny and a bit cooler, with the high, 78 and a 30-percent chance for showers and thunderstorms.