Harry Montoya
Recently, it came to my attention that New Mexico’s US senators Heinrich and Lujan have introduced a bill called the “Keep Public Funds in Public Schools Act.” If adopted, the plan would eliminate a $1,700 credit for donations made to provide tax credits for “school choice” and also tutoring and special education services, educational therapies, and online materials for children nationwide benefiting traditional, charter, and schools of choice.
Heinrich and Lujan are attempting to kill the best opportunity for New Mexico children to see an improvement in educational outcomes and opportunities currently available. As a reminder to the Senators, New Mexico is dead last in educational outcomes according to “The Nation’s Report Card” or National Assessment of Educational Progress.
I am on the board of the Rio Grande Foundation, which has been very active in pushing Gov. Lujan Grisham to sign onto the tax credit. After initially saying she would not have New Mexico participate the Gov. has since insisted that she’ll decide once the regulations are written. That could take some time, but ultimately, she’ll need to make a final decision before leaving office.
It is amazing that our US Senators would attempt to kill this program before it even gets going. And, to be clear, they won’t succeed. After all, the Big Beautiful Bill (BBB) was adopted by this Congress with the President’s signature a year ago. The idea that they’d go back on this school choice program, which has gained support from governors across the country, is ludicrous.
After all, Colorado’s progressive Democrat Gov. Jared Polis jumped on board with the choice program immediately upon its passage. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has also embraced it. To say the least, neither of these people are “conservatives.” Gov. Lujan Grisham would be wise to join these liberal colleagues, not to mention the other governors (in a total of 30 states) that have embraced the program.
Why would Heinrich and Lujan support a bill that would preemptively kill a federal school choice law that hasn’t even taken effect yet? The arguments they are employing in support of the bill are ludicrous.
The federal government provides approximately 12% K-12 education funding nationwide. Eliminating this program will have no discernible impact on the availability of those dollars.
Also, as was reported recently in the Albuquerque Journal, New Mexico’s largest school district (APS) just adopted a $2.35 billion budget. That budget pencils out to an eye-popping $36,859 per student. That’s more money per student than Albuquerque Academy, long considered to be the best, most expensive school in the State.
In other words, money, whether spent by the districts, State, or federal government, is not the problem facing our schools or causing bad outcomes. So, why would our US senators be so eager to sponsor a doomed bill that would kill one of the few glimmers of hope for improving education outcomes in a state that so desperately needs them?
One word: unions. The education unions like NEA and AFT are big donors to both Heinrich and Lujan. They endorse their candidacies and provide big checks for their campaigns. Simply put, those unions want to preserve the government education monopoly because it brings them political power in the form of union dues and membership, not to mention their ability to shape what is taught in the government schools.
Sadly, educational performance and student outcomes aren’t a priority for the unions. I just wish they were for Sens. Heinrich and Lujan.
Harry Montoya is a former member of the Pojoaque school board and a Santa Fe County commissioner.
