Editorial: Literacy emergency not the time to halt proven programs

If not now, then when?

If we're not in an education emergency, what constitutes one? And when will the state be flush again with billions of dollars of federal relief money and oil and gas proceeds to finally do something about our lagging public schools?

Research shows extra classroom time - especially with the same teacher - can significantly help children who need to catch up. And from what we know, our kids have experienced a lot of learning loss throughout the pandemic.

And they were behind before that.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislature in 2019 enacted sweeping reforms and sharply raised funding in hopes of boosting reading and math proficiency rates in a state where, at last count, just one out of three students can read at grade level and one out of five can do grade-level math.

State lawmakers in 2019 expanded the K-3 Plus program into the K-5 Plus program, extending the school year by 25 days at participating elementary schools. They also fully funded the program so every New Mexico public school student is eligible. Lawmakers two years ago also created the Extended Learning Time program, adding 10 instructional days per school year to middle and high schools that applied. Students and schools are not required to participate.

Although state lawmakers earmarked $120 million for K-5 Plus for the summer of 2019, only $22 million was distributed. Of the $62.5 million for Extended Learning Time for the 2019-20 school year, only $42.2 million was spent.

Despite being fully funded, with research showing extra classroom time really works, both programs were scuttled by the state Public Education Department for the summer of 2020 and the 2020-21 school year due to pandemic complicationsNow, with just 7% of students participating in the K-5 program, some top legislators are unfortunately suggesting "pausing" the program. Even state Sen. Mimi Stewart, a career educator who has championed K-5 Plus and earlier this year backed legislation to mandate the extra school days, is buckling. Stewart, D-Albuquerque, said at a recent legislative hearing her thinking is evolving after teachers and administrators complained about the difficulty of teaching in the pandemic.

Stewart has wanted the K-5 program to be carried out keeping the same cohort of teacher and students together in the regular school year and the extra 25 days. That means students, teachers and parents must all agree to participate.

But some teachers, principals and school administrators say the K-5 Plus program has been difficult to operate amid the pandemic with the quarantines, extra paperwork and other disruptions. Some testified at a recent legislative hearing that signing up teachers and recruiting at-risk elementary students for an extra five weeks of school isn't practical.

But if not now, then when? We have two programs that have been shown to have a powerful effect on kids who need to catch up - and they've been fully funded. PED Secretary-designate Kurt Steinhaus has made this the year of literacy, but now we're hitting pause on something proved to work?

Some educators say the teaching profession would benefit from increased pay and more time for teachers to analyze student data and make adjustments. Can't we do both? With a few seemingly easy tweaks, K-5 Plus and Extended Learning Time can be modified to add both more planning time and education days. It shouldn't be an either-or situation.

Research has found students who participate in extra learning days are more likely to perform at grade level rather than fall behind. It's particularly pronounced for low-income and Native American students and pertinent after the landmark Yazzie/Martinez lawsuit in 2018, in which a district judge ruled the state was failing Native American and students learning English.

Let's make extended learning work for everyone. You don't discard your garden hose when the neighbor's house is burning. You use the tools available during an emergency.