Albuquerque, NM – Earlier this month test results were released by Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Public Education Department, indicating that just over a third of students are proficient in language arts, and a quarter are in math. 

On Sunday, the Albuquerque Journal released an editorial highlighting that Governor Lujan Grisham campaigned on “a moonshot for public education,” she also made it a cornerstone of her first state of the state address. 

The Journal Ed Board goes on to elaborate however:  “three-and-a-half years in, these latest test results show little movement off the launch pad. They are proof more money alone didn’t improve education. And the vague response to the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit — pages of goals with no explanation of how to reach them — is not encouraging.

The state has offered funding for programs lengthening school days and the school year. Unfortunately, most districts and schools have yet to opt in. At what point do lawmakers continue to make that type of needed change optional? And PED points to a reduction in teacher vacancies and state’s literacy training program for elementary school teachers as progress.

We can’t continue offering up poverty, drugs or the pandemic as blanket excuses for our schools’ poor performance. Yes, we have challenges — more than many other states. But 49th or 50th just can’t be acceptable any more.”

Given this damning evaluation of Governor Lujan Grisham’s lackluster follow-up to “a moonshot,” voters must begin to wonder: “If she can’t get it done in 3 ½ years, what good will another 4 do?”

Original source can be found here.