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		<title>Rating Martinez on education</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/rating-martinez-on-education/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Nov 2018 06:02:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roundhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Susana Martinez]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=640402</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Searchlight New Mexico fact-checked eight claims she made during her two runs and terms as governor.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_376977"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-376977" src="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice-771x563.jpg?x36058" alt="The Office of the Governor at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe." width="771" height="563" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice-771x563.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice-336x245.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice-768x561.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice-1170x854.jpg 1170w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/GovernorsOffice.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net</p><p class="wp-caption-text">The Office of the Governor at the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.</p></div>
<p>&#8220;The measure of our success,&#8221; Gov. Susana Martinez said in 2010, shortly before winning her first term, &#8220;will be when New Mexico children have an opportunity to receive a quality education that allows them to chase their dreams.&#8221;</p>
<aside class="module align-left half type-aside">
<h3>About this article</h3>
<p>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. Support its work <a href="https://www.newsmatch.org/organizations/searchlight-new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Related</h3>
<p>• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/oh-susana-how-the-governors-popularity-eroded/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oh Susana! How the governor’s popularity eroded</a><br />
• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/understaffing-driven-by-martinez-keeps-nms-kids-at-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Understaffing driven by Martinez keeps NM’s kids at risk</a><br />
• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/grading-martinezs-team/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Grading Martinez&#8217;s team</a></p>
</aside>
<p>As voters prepare to elect a new governor, it&#8217;s time to take that measure.</p>
<p>Searchlight New Mexico examined eight education-related claims and promises Martinez made during her two successful campaigns for governor. Most of those claims and promises came from versions of her 2010 and 2014 campaign websites dating from the week before each gubernatorial election, which are archived by the Library of Congress. One claim is featured on her personal website.</p>
<p>We used publicly available data from state, federal and nonprofit sources to test the truth behind each claim, and whether New Mexico has managed to move the needle since Martinez made it.</p>
<p><b>Claim: New Mexico ranks at the bottom of educational performance as compared to other states, despite spending more money per student.</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2010 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Misleading</p>
<p>The results Martinez cited during her first campaign came from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and did in fact place New Mexico students’ performance at the bottom of the barrel. The state&#8217;s ranking declined even further since then relative to the rest of the nation.</p>
<p>But her claim was misleading: It implied New Mexico was above the national median for per-pupil spending in 2010, when in fact the state was No. 32. As of 2016 &#8212; the latest year for which data are available &#8212; New Mexico had slid to No. 38 in per-pupil spending, according to <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/school-finances/newsroom/updates/fy-2016.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the U.S. Census Bureau</a>.</p>
<p><b>Claim: &#8220;New Mexico is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to improving graduation rates.&#8221; </b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Partly true</p>
<p>New Mexico&#8217;s overall graduation rate improved during Martinez&#8217; tenure, rising from 67 percent in 2010 to 71 percent in 2017, according to the state&#8217;s Public Education Department. But New Mexico currently ranks 50th among the states, ahead of only the District of Columbia, which graduated 69 percent of high-schoolers that year. The national average was 84 percent.<span id="more-640402"></span></p>
<p>The overall graduation rate also hides a persistent achievement gap: Subgroups of New Mexico&#8217;s high-schoolers perform worse than the whole.</p>
<p>Only 68 percent of English language learners graduated high school in 2017, and 66 percent of economically disadvantaged students graduated, according to data from the U.S. Department of Education. New Mexico&#8217;s Hispanic graduation rate was 70.5 percent &#8212; about the same as the overall rate, but still 45th among the states.</p>
<p><b>Claim: &#8220;Gov. Martinez is especially focused on ensuring every child can read by the third grade.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Unconvincing</p>
<p>PARCC reading scores have nudged up since 2015, but fewer than 1 in 3 third-graders are scoring &#8220;proficient&#8221; or above. The percentage is even lower for economically disadvantaged students, English language learners and students with disabilities.</p>
<p><b>Claim: &#8220;New Mexico is now spending more money in the classroom than ever before.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> True</p>
<p>By almost any measure, New Mexico&#8217;s spending on education rose to historic highs under Martinez.</p>
<p>In 2010, the state appropriated $2.28 billion for schools, a figure that rose $410 million, to $2.69 billion, in 2018. Total dollars to fund early literacy, pre-K, K-3 Plus, STEM enrichment, advanced placement classes and school breakfast increased from $48 million to $88 million.</p>
<p><b>Claim: &#8220;New Mexico’s Hispanic students are leading the nation when it comes to taking and passing advanced placement courses.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> False</p>
<p>Course-level data broken down by ethnicity are not available. But AP courses culminate in AP exams, and there are solid numbers on those from the College Board, which administers them.</p>
<p>According to the College Board, nearly 1.1 million Hispanic/Latinx students took AP exams nationwide in 2017. They earned an average score of 2.39 on the exam&#8217;s 1-5 grading scale. With a 3 being the minimum passing grade, that means that 42.3 percent of those students passed.</p>
<p>In New Mexico, 9,900 Hispanic students took AP exams in 2017, with an average score of 2.06, and 30.2 percent passed with a 3 or higher.</p>
<p><b>Claim: Martinez will &#8220;continue investing in reform efforts that lift up struggling students and schools, better engage parents in their child’s education, reward teachers for their success in the classroom, and graduate more New Mexico students.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Mostly false</p>
<p>Some of this claim cannot be directly measured, but Martinez clearly saw her efforts as aimed at increasing high school graduation. In that sense, the claim is true. More New Mexico high-schoolers graduated in her last year in office than in her first year, both in percentage and in raw numbers. According to PED, there were 26,490 students in the 2010 high school graduating cohort, of which 67 percent got a diploma. In 2017, there were 26,587 in the graduating cohort, and 71 percent graduated.</p>
<p>Yet this summer&#8217;s decision in the <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/2018/08/30/how-the-yazzie-lawsuit-could-be-a-game-changer-2/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><i>Yazzie v. State of New Mexico </i></a>lawsuit casts a long shadow over Martinez&#8217; record on education. The case presented nearly a decade of evidence that the state&#8217;s public schools are not only failing children, but that children will be &#8220;irreparably harmed&#8221; if schools aren’t improved. In a blistering ruling, First Judicial District Judge Sarah Singleton rejected the Martinez administration&#8217;s claims that education is improving for the state&#8217;s children.</p>
<p><b>Claim: Martinez &#8220;Raised the salary of starting teachers by 6.7 percent and offered new training and support to thousands of teachers.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; 2014 campaign website</p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Mostly false</p>
<p>State law sets the minimum salary for teachers by experience level. That figure was $30,000 when Martinez&#8217; tenure began. Legislators have raised salaries for entry-level teachers twice, most recently in the 2018 session, setting it at $36,000.</p>
<p>Yet most entry-level teachers are paid more than that because districts set their own salaries, so long as they are at or above the state floor. That is a local decision, outside both the legislature and the governor&#8217;s control. <a href="https://webnew.ped.state.nm.us/bureaus/school-budget-finance-analysis/stat-books/2015-2016-actual-2016-2017-estimated/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">According to PED</a>, the average salary for an entry-level teacher in 2010 was $45,218, which rose 5.4 percent to an estimated $47,638 in 2017.</p>
<p><b>Claim: When Martinez took office, New Mexico had &#8220;chronically underperforming schools.&#8221; The governor enacted &#8220;bold education reforms that resulted in the highest graduation rates in state history and unprecedented improvement in student test scores.&#8221;</b></p>
<p><strong>From:</strong> Martinez&#8217; current <a href="https://www.susanamartinez.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">personal website</a></p>
<p><strong>Rating:</strong> Partly true</p>
<p>New Mexico began assigning annual A-F letter grades to each school in 2012. The grades are closely tied to improvements in test scores, according to PED. Compared with the first year of letter grading, more schools earned A&#8217;s in 2018, but even more earned F&#8217;s.</p>
<p>We quantified the difference between the 2012 and 2018 letter grades by assigning 5 points for an &#8220;A,&#8221; 4 points for a &#8220;B,&#8221; and so on, and averaging each year&#8217;s score.</p>
<p>This shows very modest statewide improvement. The average score in 2012 was 3.01 &#8212; or a very low &#8220;C&#8221; &#8212;  versus 3.02 in 2018.</p>
<p>Are New Mexico&#8217;s students making &#8220;unprecedented&#8221; gains in test scores? PARCC scores have generally risen since the Common Core-aligned exams were launched in 2015, yet up to 90 percent of some student groups continue to score below &#8220;proficient.&#8221;</p>
<p>In 2014, 52 percent of third-graders scored proficient or above on the state reading exam that PARCC replaced the following year. The change to Common Core-aligned testing was contentious in New Mexico and elsewhere, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/21/nyregion/test-scores-decline-as-new-jersey-aligns-exams-with-common-core.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">other</a> <a href="https://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/11/colorado-standardized-tests-small-gains-opt-outs/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">states</a> seeing similar drops in scores, and large and vocal opt-out movements.</p>
<p><i>John R. Roby can be reached at <a href="mailto:johnroby@searchlightnm.com">johnroby@searchlightnm.com</a>.</i></p>
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			</item>
		<item>
		<title>Grading Martinez&#8217;s team</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/grading-martinezs-team/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 01 Nov 2018 06:01:58 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roundhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Susana Martinez]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=640404</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Searchlight New Mexico graded outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez's team. Here's what the news organization found.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_405938"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-405938" src="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1-771x471.jpg?x36058" alt="Roundhouse" width="771" height="471" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1-771x471.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1-336x205.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1-768x469.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1-1170x714.jpg 1170w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roundhouse-1.jpg 1500w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net</p><p class="wp-caption-text">The Roundhouse in Santa Fe.</p></div>
<p>Searchlight New Mexico graded outgoing Gov. Susana Martinez&#8217;s team. Here&#8217;s what the news organization found:</p>
<h3>Public Education Department</h3>
<p><b>Who</b>: Hanna Skandera, Secretary of Education, 2010-2017</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: CEO of Laying the Foundation, a Dallas-based teacher training program. She earlier served as deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser in the U.S. Department of Education under President George W. Bush, and as deputy commissioner of education under then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Oversaw the statewide teacher evaluation system and shift to Common Core-aligned PARCC testing.</p>
<aside class="module align-left half type-aside">
<h3>About this article</h3>
<p>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. Support its work <a href="https://www.newsmatch.org/organizations/searchlight-new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Related</h3>
<p>• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/oh-susana-how-the-governors-popularity-eroded/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Oh Susana! How the governor’s popularity eroded</a><br />
• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/understaffing-driven-by-martinez-keeps-nms-kids-at-risk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Understaffing driven by Martinez keeps NM’s kids at risk</a><br />
• <a href="https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/11/rating-martinez-on-education/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rating Martinez on education</a></p>
</aside>
<p><b>Major messes</b>: Both evaluations and PARCC were opposed by the teachers’ unions and Democrats, with the latter holding up Skandera&#8217;s confirmation until 2015. The department is still waging a long-running dispute with the federal government over cuts to special education funding. Though that dispute erupted during the Richardson administration, it was exacerbated under Skandera’s stewardship. According to a 2016 state auditor&#8217;s report, the mess could cost New Mexico more than  $63 million in federal funding.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: &#8220;New Mexicans can be proud as they look across the nation that there is no other state, actually, that has embraced this much change, not rolled any of it back &#8230; and begun to see all their objective measures going up.&#8221; &#8212; <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1014652/education-chief-to-step-down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Albuquerque Journal, June 8, 2017</a><b></b></p>
<p><b>Where to now</b>: Skandera is currently editor in chief of <a href="https://thelinek12.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Line</a>, a publication of the Frontline Research and Learning Institute. Frontline produces research and data on education-related topics.</p>
<p><b>Who</b>: Christopher Ruszkowski, Secretary of Education, 2017-present</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: Deputy secretary of PED under Skandera. He earlier served as associate secretary in the Delaware Department of Education and taught social studies in Miami-Dade County Public Schools.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Secured additional state funding for schools, advocated for teacher pay raises and federal dollars to expand charter schools.</p>
<p><b>Major mess</b>: Shortly into his tenure, PED proposed a series of changes to the state&#8217;s science standards that omitted references to evolution and climate change. After a seven-hour public hearing, Ruszkowski <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/education/new-mexico-to-adopt-next-generation-science-standards-in-full/article_dadea58f-3123-576b-94e6-b9f0d3e39afa.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">backed down</a> and abandoned the proposed changes.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: &#8220;Every school in New Mexico has to embrace data. They have to embrace measurement. They have to embrace assessment. We can&#8217;t keep sending our kids to school every single day and not know how they&#8217;re doing.&#8221; &#8212; <a href="https://www.lcsun-news.com/story/news/education/2018/09/21/education-secretary-assessments-rewards-teachers-school-grades-during-visit-las-cruces-santa-teresa/1382562002/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Las Cruces Sun-News, Sept. 21, 2018</a><b></b></p>
<p><b>Where to now</b>: As of this publication, Ruszkowski is PED secretary.</p>
<h3>Children, Youth and Families Department</h3>
<p><b>Who</b>: Yolanda Berumen-Deines, secretary, 2010-2014</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: Licensed clinical social worker in private practice, El Paso. She earlier worked for the El Paso Center for Children as director of training for its healthy marriages initiative, and for the Texas Department of Human Services.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Established the #SAFE initiative, which allows text message-based reporting of cases of suspected child abuse or neglect. The service receives 35,000 messages a year, according to CYFD.<span id="more-640404"></span></p>
<p><b>Major mess</b>: Under her tenure, CYFD struggled to fill hundreds of staffing vacancies and came under fire when several children whose families had been investigated by the department <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/361545/calls-for-help-didnt-save-abused-children.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">died</a> at the hands of caregivers.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: Staffing CYFD’s child protection division is “like trying to climb up a very steep, ice-covered mountain.” &#8212; <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/cyfd-chief-defends-agency-explains-staff-vacancies/article_df963372-1332-5637-8c44-4e814350c941.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Santa Fe New Mexican, Jan. 31, 2014</a></p>
<p><b>Who</b>: Monique Jacobson, secretary, 2015-present</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: Secretary of tourism under Gov. Susana Martinez. She earlier worked in marketing for PepsiCo.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Launched the million-dollar <a href="https://pulltogether.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">&#8220;Pull Together&#8221; media campaign</a> designed to promote department services and streamline reporting of child abuse.</p>
<p><b>Major mess</b>: Continued incidents of abuse and neglect &#8212; some of them documented in <a href="http://projects.searchlightnm.com/rnm-breaking/treatment-foster-care/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a May 2018 Searchlight investigation</a> &#8212; raise questions about the department&#8217;s policies, staffing and oversight.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: &#8220;We all agree that our kids are precious and we need to protect them, but I think that how you protect children becomes a pretty difficult challenge to solve, especially in a state agency.&#8221; &#8212; October 2017, Searchlight New Mexico</p>
<p><b>Where to now</b>: As of this publication, Jacobson is CYFD secretary.</p>
<h3>Human Services Department</h3>
<p><b>Who</b>: Sidonie Squier, 2010-2014</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: Director in the Office of Family Assistance, a branch of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department that administers Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and other benefit programs. She earlier worked as an administrator in the Texas Health and Human Services Commission and oversaw welfare reform in the Florida Department of Children and Families.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Oversaw the rollout of Centennial Care, New Mexico’s state Medicaid program, following Governor Martinez’s decision to expand Medicaid eligibility to working adults under the Affordable Care Act.</p>
<p><b>Major mess</b>: In 2013, Squier presided over what is perhaps the most controversial move of the Martinez administration. After the governor claimed to have found “credible allegations” of Medicaid fraud, HSD froze Medicaid payments to 15 nonprofit behavioral health providers, putting many out of business and leaving low income residents across the state without access to addiction treatment and other mental health services. The state attorney general later cleared all the providers of any criminal wrongdoing, but the state has yet to recover from the loss of services.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: “There has never been and is not now any significant evidence of hunger in N.M.” &#8212; <a href="https://www.koat.com/article/hsd-secretary-s-hunger-comments-spur-controversy/5050835" target="_blank" rel="noopener">KOAT, Sept. 25, 2013</a></p>
<p><b>Where to now</b>: According to Squier’s LinkedIn profile, she is now “on sabbatical” in Colorado Springs.</p>
<p><b>Who</b>: Brent Earnest, 2014-present</p>
<p><b>Previous job</b>: Earnest was Deputy Secretary of HSD from 2011-2014, where he administered the department’s Medicaid program, Behavioral Health Services Division, and Administrative Services Division He previously worked as a fiscal analyst for the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee, as an associate with the Brookings Institution, and as a legislative aide to former Senator Jeff Bingaman.</p>
<p><b>Major accomplishment</b>: Oversaw New Mexico’s Medicaid program at a time of major growth, while keeping costs to the state down<i>. </i></p>
<p><b>Major mess</b>: In 2016, whistleblowers within HSD alleged that management had instructed employees to falsely inflate the incomes of people applying for emergency food assistance, disqualifying them from a benefit they were eligible to receive. Asked to respond to the allegations in a court hearing, top-level HSD officials <a href="http://nmpoliticalreport.com/2016/05/13/accusations-of-widespread-fraud-at-hsd-grow-while-officials-plead-the-fifth/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pleaded the Fifth</a> nearly 100 times. Earnest was later held in contempt of court for failing to follow a consent decree mandating more efficient processing of applications for food stamps.</p>
<p><b>Best quote</b>: “We have a skilled team, we have a dedicated team, and we are committed to coming into compliance.” – Responding in court to a question about what he is doing to comply with a 30-year-old court order to efficiently process public benefit applications. That order remains in place.</p>
<p><b>Where to now</b>: As of this publication, Earnest is HSD secretary.<i></i></p>
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		<title>Recruiting agencies exploit education ties</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/recruiting-agencies-exploit-education-ties/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:25:32 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Border and immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=634232</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Four recruiting agencies in New Mexico are run by educators or close relatives.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_634258"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-634258" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24-771x514.jpg?x36058" alt="John Perales" width="771" height="514" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24-771x514.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24-336x224.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24-768x512.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_24.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Adria Malcolm / for Searchlight New Mexico</p><p class="wp-caption-text">John Perales, right, assists Kimberly Reveles with an exercise as Anthony Mendoza looks on during a seventh-grade biology class at Hezer Middle School in Hobbs. Perales was recruited to teach in the United States on a J-1 &#8220;cultural exchange&#8221; visa that is temporary, paid by the teacher and cannot be easily parlayed into permanent residency.</p></div>
<p>Four recruiting agencies have sprung up in New Mexico. Each is run by a working teacher, a recently resigned PED employee, a district superintendent, or the close relative of a superintendent.</p>
<p>Such close relationships to the school system give recruiters an edge in helping immigrant teachers navigate licensure and hiring protocol. But they also raise concerns about conflicts of interest and ethics violations.</p>
<p><b>Total Teaching Solutions International (TTSI)</b> is run by Janice Bickert, wife of Ruidoso Municipal Schools superintendent George Bickert. She also works for 3Rivers, a state- and federally funded nonprofit that provides reading support to schools statewide. In 2015, she recruited seven Filipino teachers to New Mexico; in 2016, she recruited four; and in 2017, nine. This year, she placed 48 teachers in Albuquerque, Gallup, Grants, Clovis and Roswell schools at a cost of $15,000 per person. “I intend to be the No. 1 U.S. placement agency for foreign teachers,” she says.<span id="more-634232"></span></p>
<p><b>Presidio Teach</b> was founded in 2014 by Colin Taylor when he was still superintendent of San Jon Municipal Schools. Today he runs the agency from Kentucky and says he has placed 60 teachers in New Mexico and Arizona schools over the past four years. He says he doesn’t see a conflict of interest in the overlap. “I didn’t recruit any teachers to my district using the J-1,” he says. “Any work I did was outside of my duties as superintendent.” He declined to say what he charges, but one teacher placed by Taylor’s agency reports he is paying 15 percent of his $55,000 salary annually for three years &#8212; about $8,250 per year.</p>
<p><b>Teach-USA</b> is co-directed by Maria Gemma Hilotin, who resigned from an administrative position at the Public Education Department this summer, and Cora Barsana, a teacher at the Mescalero Apache School. Neither responded to multiple requests for comment by phone, email and social media. Teachers and school administrators say Teach-USA charges $5,500 per client.</p>
<p><b>TeachQuest-USA</b> is co-run by Roy Tipgos, a teacher in the Zuni Public School District, and Peter Perkins, a teacher who retired from the district. The agency has placed 21 teachers in New Mexico schools and charges up to 10 percent of a teacher’s first-year salary, Perkins says, to be paid upfront. “We’re kind of a matchmaker,” Perkins says. “We see what the districts have posted and we are looking for the people who have come to us. Who fits that description? We provide that information to the districts, and the principals can make the (hiring) decisions.”</p>
<p><em>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. Support its work <a href="https://www.newsmatch.org/organizations/searchlight-new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Related:</strong></p>
<p>• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/foreign-teachers-pay-dearly-to-fill-empty-jobs-in-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foreign teachers pay dearly to fill empty jobs in New Mexico</a><br />
• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/courts-side-with-guest-workers-in-exploitation-schemes/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Courts side with guest workers in exploitation schemes</a></p>
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		<title>Courts side with guest workers in exploitation schemes</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/courts-side-with-guest-workers-in-exploitation-schemes/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 11 Oct 2018 16:25:21 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Border and immigration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Education]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=634233</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Guest worker programs have long been shadowed by middlemen.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_634273"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-634273" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20-771x514.jpg?x36058" alt="Cindy Serrano" width="771" height="514" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20-771x514.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20-336x224.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20-768x512.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/SLNM_Hobbs_20.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Adria Malcolm / for Searchlight New Mexico</p><p class="wp-caption-text">Cindy Serrano assists Nevaeh Baker, left, and Kamilah Cedillo, right, with an exercise during her biology class at Heizer Middle School. Serrano taught for five years in the Philippines and is in her second year of instruction in Hobbs.</p></div>
<p>Guest worker programs have long been shadowed by middlemen: the brokers, recruiters and labor contractors who serve as a bridge between workers abroad and employers in the U.S. While some charge a reasonable fee to deliver necessary services, exploitation is prevalent.</p>
<p>Several court cases have taken down unscrupulous guest worker schemes. Among them:</p>
<ul>
<li>In 2012, a federal jury awarded $4.5 million to Filipino teachers who paid a California placement agency up to $16,000 for $40,000-a-year teaching positions in Louisiana public schools. A jury found that the recruiter failed to properly disclose fees to 350 teachers.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>A 2011 settlement required the public school district in Maryland’s Prince George’s County to reimburse Filipino teachers $4 million, after a U.S. Labor Department investigation. The investigation found that the district required 1,000 teachers it hired to pay H-1B visa and other fees the school system should have handled.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>In 2004, the superintendent of an El Paso, Texas, school district was indicted in federal court on racketeering charges in a scheme to hire Filipino teachers on behalf of a recruiter who charged the teachers excessively high fees. Many of the jobs never materialized. The superintendent pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of failing to report gifts to a public official.</li>
</ul>
<p><em>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. Support its work <a href="https://www.newsmatch.org/organizations/searchlight-new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</em></p>
<p><strong>Related:</strong></p>
<p>• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/foreign-teachers-pay-dearly-to-fill-empty-jobs-in-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Foreign teachers pay dearly to fill empty jobs in New Mexico</a><br />
• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/recruiting-agencies-exploit-education-ties/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recruiting agencies exploit education ties</a></p>
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		<title>Which families should get home visits? The state can&#8217;t say</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/which-families-should-get-home-visits-the-state-cant-say/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Oct 2018 14:00:51 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roundhouse]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=631613</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The state knows relatively little about the people served by its nearly three dozen contracted home visiting providers.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_631633"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-631633" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284-771x514.jpg?x36058" alt="Amanda Lind" width="771" height="514" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284-771x514.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284-336x224.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284-768x512.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284-1170x780.jpg 1170w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/dju_20180713_Home_Visits_284.jpg 1200w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Don Usner / Searchlight New Mexico</p><p class="wp-caption-text">CHI St. Joseph&#8217;s Children home visitor Amanda Lind, 30-month-old Lucas, Lucas&#8217; mother Christie Ross, and his sister Chloe play on their porch in Albuquerque during a home visit in July.</p></div>
<p>The state knows relatively little about the people served by its nearly three dozen contracted home visiting providers.</p>
<p>Nor is there an answer to how many families the program should serve.</p>
<p>According to a 2015 Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) report, providers are not required to collect and report their families&#8217; income data or Medicaid status. And, in fact, most home-visiting programs eschew income requirements for participating families.</p>
<aside class="module align-left half type-aside">
<h3>About this article</h3>
<p>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. Support its work <a href="https://www.newsmatch.org/organizations/searchlight-new-mexico" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Related</h3>
<p><a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/10/money-set-aside-for-home-visiting-program-not-being-spent-there/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Money set aside for home-visiting program not being spent there</a></p>
</aside>
<p>The 3,200 families served in 2018 represent less than a third of those that should be served, according to the LFC. But that&#8217;s just a guess, based on the size of Texas&#8217; program and guidelines from one of the state’s best-regarded home visiting models.</p>
<p>The LFC considers 50 percent of New Mexico&#8217;s low-income, first-time parents with children up to age 3 a &#8220;reasonable&#8221; goal. Serving that number, an estimated 11,500 families, would cost up to $44 million annually, the LFC reports.</p>
<p>New Mexico has been moving toward that goal for more than a decade, setting aside more and more state and federal dollars to fund home visiting. But child-care assistance still remains the largest and most developed part of CYFD&#8217;s suite of early childhood programs.</p>
<p><i>John R. Roby can be reached at <a href="mailto:johnroby@searchlightnm.com">johnroby@searchlightnm.com</a>.</i></p>
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		<title>Will citizen involvement make the difference in Albuquerque?</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/08/will-citizen-involvement-make-the-difference-in-albuquerque/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kent Paterson]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 14 Aug 2018 11:00:49 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Albuquerque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=613882</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[The One Albuquerque Goals Summit convened four public meetings in July to discuss public safety, economics and the environment.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_613895"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-613895" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Albuquerque-771x542.jpg?x36058" alt="Albuquerque" width="771" height="542" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Albuquerque-771x542.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Albuquerque-336x236.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Albuquerque-768x540.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Albuquerque.jpg 876w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">L. Paterson</p><p class="wp-caption-text">Empty strip malls are among the many problems Albuquerque faces.</p></div>
<p>When Tim Keller became Albuquerque&#8217;s mayor in late 2017, he inherited a city variously mired in economic stagnation, a public safety crisis, a projected $40 million budget deficit, and ongoing controversy over a pricey, new rapid transit system that dotted a revamped Central Avenue with futuresque bus stations but months later still has no buses.</p>
<p>The administration of Keller, a former state auditor, faced a perfect financial storm whipped up by declining tax revenues, rising utility and employee medical expenses and state government cutbacks in assistance to cities.</p>
<p>The 40-year-old mayor has since carved out a political identity for his new municipal administration under the rubric of “One Albuquerque,” a term defined by Keller’s press office as something of a crusade to “turn government inside out and get the community involved in solving some of the city’s toughest challenges while promoting things that make Albuquerque great.”</p>
<p>Befitting that strategy, the One Albuquerque Goals Summit convened four public meetings last month corresponding to the distinct quadrants that form the Duke City. The issues? Public safety, economics and the environment.</p>
<p>Facilitated by the nonprofit organization New Mexico First, the One Albuquerque Goals Summit attendees met in small groups to modify or augment desired community conditions like &#8220;the public is safe.&#8221;<span id="more-613882"></span></p>
<p>Olivia Padilla-Jackson, deputy director of finance for the City of Albuquerque (CABQ) and one of the participating officials in the summit, said homelessness, climate change and the &#8220;root causes of crime&#8221; were among the topics considered at the first two events.</p>
<p>Padilla-Jackson traced the history of the summit back to a 1995 city ordinance that mandates citizen input on city policy objectives. In 1998 a 12-member Indicators Progress Commission (IPC), currently headed by Fred Roth, was formed to chart and oversee the publication of the Albuquerque Progress Report, a state-of-the city assessment culled in part from the Goals Summits.</p>
<p>In his introductory remarks to 2018 Goal Summit’s third gathering at the African American Performing Arts Center (AAPAC), Keller appealed for community unity.</p>
<p>“We have to come together as one Albuquerque and face the challenges,” he intoned. Acknowledging a fondness for community governance, the new mayor added that his administration had revived and expanded the biannual Goals Summit from one event to four.</p>
<p>“Nobody really knew about this in the last few years, but we’re going to work on it,” he said.</p>
<p>Assembled at the AAPAC for a Friday afternoon session, about 55-60 people broke into small groups dedicated to economic development, the environment and public safety.</p>
<p>This reporter attended a session of 22 people who mulled over the economy and public safety. Joining in were an Albuquerque Public Schools board member, business sector representatives, a commercial banker, political and social activists, a UNM police officer, and health care professionals.</p>
<p>Given lists of prewritten goals and desired conditions which had been honed by the IPC over the years through previous summits and consultations with experts, the group added their proposals for reaching common ground.</p>
<p>&#8220;We&#8217;re going to vote on (two) priorities, but every one of these is going to the city,&#8221; New Mexico First facilitator Katherine Cordova assured the group.</p>
<p>For the economy, the session opted for a resource center where training and communications would be available to marginalized populations, and wagered on better economic opportunities via public-private collaborations.</p>
<p>Attracting new retirees, turning Albuquerque into a beacon of solar, art and technology industries, and raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour were other ideas floated in the meeting.</p>
<p>“All the youth I work with are working two jobs&#8230; none of them are living on one job,” stressed political activist and living wage advocate Guy Watson.</p>
<p>In the public safety realm, proposals included developing specific city plans to fight neighborhood crime, relying on the regular budget instead of piecemeal tax increases like the gross receipts tax hike passed by the city council and signed by Mayor Keller, and changing public perceptions that homelessness is synonymous with crime.</p>
<p>Tom Dent, anti-violence activist and current member of a community policing board, broached the issue of law enforcement corruption and alluded to recent scandals involving inter-institutional breakdowns in cases of murdered, abused and sexually trafficked children.</p>
<p>&#8220;You can see some of these horrible child welfare things,&#8221; Dent said. &#8220;This information has to be shared within those departments.&#8221; Supported by others, Dent proposed effective coordination involving the Albuquerque Police Department, Bernalillo County Sheriff&#8217;s Office, the state&#8217;s Children Youth and Families Department, the local jail, behavioral and mental health services, and emergency responders.</p>
<p>Resident Beatriz Valencia said public safety must consider vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle accidents, and include anti-crime solutions like improved lighting.</p>
<p>Valencia later told this reporter that that five children have been victims of hit and run incidents outside the middle school where she is employed during the past few years. One was hospitalized, she said.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve been involved in trying to find a solution to this for two and a half years,&#8221; she said, adding that a task force has made some progress.</p>
<p>Burqueños were deeply saddened last March when a student at another middle school, 12-year-old Eliza Justine Almuina, was killed by a SUV while walking in a crosswalk in front of her school.</p>
<p>A February 2018 City of Albuquerque document on the budget deficit lays out the interrelationship between the economic and public safety issues discussed at the 2018 One Albuquerque Goals Summit, asserting that growth “can only happen in a community that has taken control of its public safety problems and provides a vibrant environment to nurture, retain and attract businesses and families. The staggering needs of our city just to maintain the status quo of services and make long overdue improvements to our public safety operations necessitate major changes.”</p>
<p>Coinciding with Albuquerque’s crime spike in the wake of the Great Recession, the average growth for the metro area wallowed below less than 1 percent annually, a rate lower than the national average of 1.6 percent and about half that of similar-sized, regional cities like El Paso and Tucson, according to the document.</p>
<h3>More problems and solutions on the table</h3>
<p>The Saturday morning after the AAPAC meeting, another group of more than 40 people convened at the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) for the last Goals Summit, part of which was conducted in Spanish for the first time.</p>
<p>The ideas discussed including adding more monitoring stations to Albuquerque neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by pollution like San Jose, financial vouchers for the homeless and addict populations in return for mandatory participation in programs, a new program focused on meth addicts, and greater attention on the relationship of young people and the economy.</p>
<p>Ultimately voted down by participants, the voucher and meth proposals engendered debate. Advocate Steven Abeyta maintained that meth users are &#8220;really desperate and need our help.&#8221;</p>
<p>Selinda Guerrero, who introduced herself as a proud mom, said statistics show a more complex problem than exclusive meth addiction with &#8220;a lot of people flipping back and forth between meth and heroin.&#8221;</p>
<p>According to Padilla-Jackson, the public input collected at the Goals Summit will be reviewed by Mayor Keller and presented to the City Council for possible action by the end of the year. The process is important for framing resource allocations and budgets, she said. The city official said New Mexico First is responsible for writing a report on the 2018 Goals Summit, which should be available soon.</p>
<p>Padilla-Jackson estimated about 220 people from “different walks of life” attended the four Goals Summit events. In order to accommodate broader public participation, two Saturday sessions were held while late afternoon meetings were organized in consideration of people who don’t have evening babysitters, she said.</p>
<p>“I think in changing it from one location to the four different quadrants, people felt like we were going to their neighborhoods,” Padilla-Jackson added. A couple of the citizen participants also gave their take on the public exercise.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;m glad the city is doing them. I applaud any effort to engage the public in deciding how to shape our city,&#8221; said Cristina Rogers of Urban ABQ/Vision Zero Albuquerque. &#8220;I hope that after the summit (city officials) continue the work they are doing with equity and inclusion.”</p>
<p>Saying she previously worked 17 years for the City of Albuquerque under three different mayors but never had heard of the Goals Summit during those administrations, Guerrero said she appreciated &#8220;Keller&#8217;s administration opening it up.&#8221;</p>
<p>Nonetheless, more Saturday and evening sessions would be desirable so working greater numbers of working folk could participate, she added.</p>
<p>An activist with Millions for Prisoners New Mexico, Guerrero delved into issues that arguably merit a summit of their own, critiquing a criminal justice system she contended targets low-income, communities of color and consigns large segments of the population to second class citizenship.</p>
<p>In an interview, Guerrero scored APD training, ticketing blitzes in low income neighborhoods, the treatment of ex-prisoners, and the expansion of the scandal prone private prison industry in the state. She differed with narratives that blame the public safety crisis on an understaffed APD or underfunded Bernalillo County district attorney.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t think it&#8217;s a funding issue. I think it&#8217;s misused resources. I think if we got to the problem of that we wouldn&#8217;t have to raise taxes and (could) start the community policing program earlier than suggested,&#8221; Guerrero contended.</p>
<p>The activist maintained that the best security comes from neighbors watching out for each other. &#8220;When you have true community policing, you don&#8217;t need cops,&#8221; Guerrero insisted.</p>
<p>Asked if the current criminal justice system favors recidivism, slippage back into the lifestyle that landed a person behind bars, Guerrero nodded yes, offering examples of what amounts to societal straight jacking. Once out on the streets convicted felons are routinely denied Pell grants, small business loans, jobs, apartment rentals and more, she said.</p>
<p>Together with undocumented immigrants, convicted felons form a large layer of residents who sometimes don&#8217;t have voting rights. In New Mexico felons&#8217; voting rights are restored only after a person completes a sentence &#8212; probation and/or parole included, Guerrero said.</p>
<p>&#8220;We have more second class citizenship now than we did in the Jim Crow South. We have reconstructed it in the form of being a felon,&#8221; she added.</p>
<p><em><a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/author/kent-paterson/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kent Paterson</a> is an independent journalist who covers issues in the U.S./Mexico border region.</em></p>
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		<title>Here&#8217;s how Searchlight learned where NM&#8217;s vendors are located</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/07/heres-how-searchlight-learned-where-new-mexicos-vendors-are-located/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 19 Jul 2018 11:39:20 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Economy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Journalism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roundhouse]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=603658</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It took seven months, and it wasn't easy.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Legislators, auditors and business groups have tried for years to answer the question: Where does the state of New Mexico spend its money when it pays independent contractors for goods and services?</p>
<p>Does the bulk of the money stay inside New Mexico? Or do most of the dollars leave the state?</p>
<p>Searchlight New Mexico found out. It took seven months, and it wasn&#8217;t easy.</p>
<aside class="module align-left half type-aside">
<h3>About this article</h3>
<p>This article comes from <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico</a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to investigative journalism. Read its Raising New Mexico series <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Related posts</h3>
<p><a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/07/nm-government-often-looks-out-of-state-for-contracts-purchases/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NM government often looks out of state for contracts, purchases</a></p>
<p><a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/07/new-mexico-is-ignoring-its-own-rules-on-vendor-transparency/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Mexico is ignoring its own rules on vendor transparency</a></p>
</aside>
<p>The state makes purchasing records available on the <a href="http://sunshineportalnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">New Mexico Sunshine Portal</a>. Those records do not contain detailed information on the vendors who supply goods and services under various kinds of contracts and purchase agreements &#8212; the kind of information that can answer the questions we wanted to ask.</p>
<p>Yet that information is a matter of public interest. Because it does not exist &#8212; despite legislative efforts &#8212; we decided to create it and share it with the public.</p>
<p>Beginning in June 2017, we filed public records requests with four different state departments and agencies, seeking access to records from the databases that feed into the Sunshine Portal and that contain vendor information from purchase orders. Our goal was to receive data that allowed us to connect the state&#8217;s vendors with the goods and services they sold to New Mexico over a five-year period, with enough detail to analyze the state&#8217;s purchasing habits.</p>
<p>In response to our public records requests, in early December 2017, New Mexico publicly released <a href="http://newmexico.gov/government/SHARE_Vendor_Information.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a table of vendors who were registered with the state at the time</a>. According to the state, that list is to be updated quarterly. As of this article&#8217;s publication, it has not once been updated.</p>
<p>The table contained over 38,000 rows, each representing one active vendor. For each one, the table included a unique ID number, and the vendor&#8217;s name and full address, as we had requested.</p>
<p>That was a start, but we wanted to find out a good deal more about the vendors with whom New Mexico is doing business. Our questions included:</p>
<ul>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Who are the state&#8217;s largest vendors and where are they located?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Which state departments and agencies make the most purchases, and for what?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Which arms of the state do the most business within New Mexico, and which tend to look outside?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Statewide, how much purchasing happens inside our border and how much elsewhere?</li>
<li style="font-weight: 400;">Where is New Mexico&#8217;s vendor spending concentrated?</li>
</ul>
<p>To answer those questions, we had to tie the state&#8217;s list of active vendors to its purchasing records. Due in part to our series of open records requests, the vendors data release contained the unique ID for each one &#8212; a number that matches the vendor&#8217;s ID in the purchasing tables on the Sunshine Portal. This allowed us to connect rows in the two groups of tables &#8212; to say that Company X in the purchases table matches Company X in the active vendors table, so the disparate data about Company X from both tables could then be combined for analysis.</p>
<p>We first downloaded the complete purchasing records tables for each fiscal year from 2013 through 2017, which together totaled more than 41 million data points. We then joined them into a single table and merged that with the vendors list, performed additional data tidying and formatting, and loaded the results into <a href="https://data.searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">our data portal</a>, which is free and open to the public.<span id="more-603658"></span></p>
<p>There were more problems. First, the state&#8217;s purchasing tables identified the department or agency that made a purchase using numeric codes. This is standard practice in database administration, but it makes things difficult for humans to understand. So we separately requested a data dictionary &#8212; a file that translates a coded column in a data table into plain English.</p>
<p>Second, we wanted to eliminate cases in which a vendor was actually another state department or agency. For example, when the state distributes money to schools or local governments, or one agency charges another for services like IT work, the table recorded the party that supplied the service or the money as a vendor. For our reporting, we were not interested in payments that represented New Mexico essentially shifting money internally.</p>
<p>Moreover, deciding whether a national company with a local office counts as a resident vendor can be fraught. For this analysis, we counted as &#8220;in-state&#8221; dollars those paid by New Mexico to a person or company with a New Mexico address.</p>
<p>Finally, we filtered out instances in which the data provided by New Mexico were incomplete &#8212; the main problem was empty address fields for vendors.</p>
<p>That means the data in our portal are as close to comprehensive as possible, while the data underlying our reporting on New Mexico&#8217;s vendors are a subset focused on payments to vendors outside state government &#8212; those that have addresses.</p>
<p>You can review our code <a href="https://github.com/JohnRRoby/NM-vendors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a> and explore the raw data <a href="https://data.searchlightnm.com/vendors" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.<i></i></p>
<p><i>John R. Roby can be reached at <a href="mailto:johnroby@searchlightnm.com">johnroby@searchlightnm.com</a>.</i></p>
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		<title>Here&#8217;s how to follow along on election night</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/06/heres-how-to-follow-along-on-election-night/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 06 Jun 2018 01:00:56 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2018 election]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=589833</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Polls are now closed in New Mexico. Here's how to follow election results tonight.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_589835"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/70097310@N00/2277408667/in/photolist-4tfjfF-8QzYK6-dgZNGH-eA7qou-5zkkeW-ReE7G-5zoNcJ-rMNva-5MMSVA-rRBpy-8i7DGy-9jbDiW-4EjCUY-hhFMJB-5zNbcY-PLv-4wbLGG-8QnLXS-7vWFYu-7fBT6R-8Co9DM-8PBHds-6U9aLp-NQwnry-ciZhZu-XsH3xS-pWcFC8-hZueN-dsLpVx-5zqg4S-5zn49R-nURc81-NyAXSd-driDkB-Lvin9-7iSNEG-N4zNoo-8F6tS-5zjAcZ-4AbEK2-rMh3C-5zm6fJ-drkHL8-eH7vd-7HPUgF-5sDfoL-Syvud4-5zv756-mV9jiK-4rzzdz" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="wp-image-589835 size-large" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IVotedSticker-771x386.jpg?x36058" alt="I voted" width="771" height="386" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IVotedSticker.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IVotedSticker-336x168.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IVotedSticker-768x384.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /></a><p class="wp-media-credit">yaquina / Flickr</p><p class="wp-caption-text">Polls are now closed.</p></div>
<p>Polls are now closed in New Mexico. You can watch live as the Secretary of State&#8217;s Office posts election results <a href="http://electionresults.sos.state.nm.us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<p>The folks at New Mexico Political Report are liveblogging this evening. You can follow along <a href="http://nmpoliticalreport.com/844084/the-2018-primary-elections-liveblog/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<p>Check back at NMPolitics.net for election news and analysis throughout the evening. I&#8217;ll also be tweeting about election results, so follow me there <a href="https://twitter.com/haussamen" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
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		<title>Here&#8217;s what you need to know on Election Day</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/06/heres-what-you-need-to-know-on-election-day/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Jun 2018 10:00:44 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2018 election]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roundhouse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=589169</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[It's primary Election Day in New Mexico for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_102989"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-102989" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12208770_10100935118073171_6580962201182162759_n-771x511.jpg?x36058" alt="Voting" width="771" height="511" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12208770_10100935118073171_6580962201182162759_n-771x511.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12208770_10100935118073171_6580962201182162759_n-336x223.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12208770_10100935118073171_6580962201182162759_n-768x509.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/12208770_10100935118073171_6580962201182162759_n.jpg 960w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Heath Haussamen / NMPolitics.net</p><p class="wp-caption-text">A voting kiosk</p></div>
<p>It&#8217;s primary Election Day in New Mexico for Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you haven&#8217;t yet voted, you can figure out where and how to vote <a href="https://voterportal.servis.sos.state.nm.us/WhereToVote.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<p>There are primaries across the state in contests up and down the ballot, from races for U.S. House seats in the Albuquerque area and Southern New Mexico to state House seats across New Mexico and, in Doña Ana County, sheriff and county commissioner.</p>
<p>The winners will move on to general election contests that will be held in November.</p>
<p>The election will &#8220;transform&#8221; the political landscape in New Mexico, the Albuquerque Journal proclaimed <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1180053/election-will-transform-political-landscape-in-nm.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">over the weekend</a>. &#8220;It’s the kind of shake-up that could launch new political careers, or interrupt others,&#8221; the Journal wrote.<span id="more-589169"></span></p>
<p>Two members of the U.S. House are abandoning those seats to run for governor, and that creates a domino effect down the ballot as people battle to win new jobs. Those two members of Congress &#8212; Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham and Republican Steve Pearce &#8212; are considered the frontrunners to be the state&#8217;s next governor.</p>
<p>With so many contested races, especially for Democrats, early voting turnout in the primaries was impressive. Statewide, it was higher than in 2014 &#8212; the last time the same races were on the ballot. Doña Ana County Clerk Scott Krahling <a href="https://twitter.com/scottkrahling/status/1003375168440262656" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tweeted</a> that primary election turnout among all major parties was up 57 percent in that county over 2014.</p>
<p>“The data makes it clear that New Mexico voters want their voices to be heard,” said Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver.</p>
<p>The Albuquerque Journal has a pretty good voter guide you can find <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/election2018" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>. And you can find the election coverage NMPolitics.net has published, including several Q&amp;As, <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/tag/2018-election/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Races to watch</h3>
<p>Heading into <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_517071768"><span class="aQJ">Tuesday</span></span>, races for seats in the U.S. House, state land commissioner and the state&#8217;s Public Regulation Commission are hot.</p>
<p>In the Albuquerque-area First Congressional District Democratic primary, Pat Davis complicated an already complex, three-way race for first when he dropped out last week and <a href="http://www.koat.com/article/pat-davis-although-it-is-very-hard-for-me-i-understand-that-it-s-probably-not-my-year/20953167" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://nmpolitics.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D67ee0a8b97d197799202beb0b%26id%3Dc1f655b746%26e%3Dec5d703acb&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1528166268547000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEwMOAWlBpFVAufjqn7tU7tTHFGow">endorsed opponent Deb Haaland</a>. Before that, Haaland was polling at 19 percent to Damon Martinez&#8217;s 22 percent and Antoinette Sedillo Lopez&#8217;s 17 percent, <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1176833/martine-zhaaland-sedillo-lope-zin-tight-race.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://nmpolitics.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D67ee0a8b97d197799202beb0b%26id%3Dc697973f1c%26e%3Dec5d703acb&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1528166268547000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHyZzbDzhzDQV75iTcC7INgxd74rA">according to the Albuquerque Journal</a> (Davis was at 5 percent in that poll). Martinez appeared to be gaining momentum in the poll. Whether Davis will give Haaland the boost she needs is unclear.</p>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen no recent polling in the Democratic or Republican primaries for the 2nd Congressional District seat in Southern New Mexico, the U.S. House seat Pearce is vacating to run for governor. But the race to replace Pearce is gaining lots of attention, largely because Democrats think they might have a shot at snagging the seat, long a GOP stronghold, if Xochitl Torres Small emerges as their candidate. Look for Yvette Herrell and Monty Newman to rise to to the top in the GOP primary, but which one wins that race is anyone&#8217;s guess.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve opined that the 2nd District seat is <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/01/democratic-wave-probably-wont-snag-southern-nms-u-s-house-seat/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://nmpolitics.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D67ee0a8b97d197799202beb0b%26id%3D67d131f4e0%26e%3Dec5d703acb&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1528166268547000&amp;usg=AFQjCNGzgrXaR9iXGwmqHRxLzjKi78Cn8g">likely to stay red this year</a>. Some Democrats have challenged my analysis. Stay tuned.</p>
<p>In the Democratic land commissioner primary, Garrett VeneKlasen recently polled at 25 percent, <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1177220/journal-poll-democratic-races-for-land-commissioner-lieutenant-governor-tight.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://nmpolitics.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D67ee0a8b97d197799202beb0b%26id%3Dcd5cfe21ee%26e%3Dec5d703acb&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1528166268547000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHKmMU-jd18kv0o4YND86NKP_UgOQ">according to the Journal</a>, to Stephanie Garcia Richard&#8217;s 22 percent and 20 percent for George Muñoz. This is another unpredictable race.</p>
<p>And the amount of money being spent on <a href="https://www.abqjournal.com/1170925/three-prc-seats-at-play-in-primaries.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&amp;q=https://nmpolitics.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3D67ee0a8b97d197799202beb0b%26id%3D3a1899249d%26e%3Dec5d703acb&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1528166268547000&amp;usg=AFQjCNEBzADcsJDkZEkjf-4kcgp28tyO2g">two Democratic primaries for PRC seats</a> is probably unprecedented. Steve Fischmann is challenging incumbent Sandy Jones. Two Democrats &#8212; Janene Yazzie and Theresa Becenti-Aguilar &#8212; are challenging incumbent Lynda Lovejoy. These races are <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/pnm-spends-in-race-for-its-regulator/article_46351f0f-2f75-5c1e-8a82-73f333061ed6.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">awash in dark money and mudslinging</a>. The incumbents are vulnerable, and it will be interesting to see what happens <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_517071771"><span class="aQJ">Tuesday</span></span>.</p>
<h3>Open primaries coming to NM?</h3>
<p>Finally, maybe someday soon in New Mexico the 283,481 registered voters who aren&#8217;t Democrats, Republicans or Libertarians will have greater reason to care about those parties&#8217; primary elections. The Santa Fe New Mexican <a href="http://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/my_view/it-s-time-for-open-primaries-in-new-mexico/article_90212589-94de-5068-a50f-e8a068572bca.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published an op-ed Friday</a> in which Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, called for the Legislature to approve a form of open primaries in which those registered to vote, but not with one of the major parties, could pick which major party primary they want to vote in, instead of being excluded entirely.</p>
<p>&#8220;It’s difficult to say that we have a fair and equal voting process when a large segment of the voting population isn’t allowed to have a say in who the general election candidates will be,&#8221; Toulouse Oliver wrote. She said she will be working to find &#8220;enough lawmakers to champion the cause and get the job done.&#8221;</p>
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		<title>Birth of the &#8216;brain bag:&#8217; A conversation with Quint Studer</title>
		<link>https://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/06/birth-of-the-brain-bag-a-conversation-with-quint-studer/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Heath Haussamen, NMPolitics.net]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Sun, 03 Jun 2018 06:02:40 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Children]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Poverty]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://nmpolitics.net/index/?p=587328</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[Quint Studer came to Pensacola, Florida, from Chicago about 20 years ago to turn around a troubled hospital. He ended up turning around the whole town.]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<div id="attachment_587334"  class="wp-caption module image alignnone" style="max-width: 771px;"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-587334" src="http://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Studer-Quint-771x642.jpg?x36058" alt="Quint Studer" width="771" height="642" srcset="https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Studer-Quint-771x642.jpg 771w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Studer-Quint-336x280.jpg 336w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Studer-Quint-768x640.jpg 768w, https://nmpolitics.net/index/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Studer-Quint.jpg 1000w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" /><p class="wp-media-credit">Studer Community Institute</p><p class="wp-caption-text">Quint Studer</p></div>
<p><em>Quint Studer came to Pensacola, Florida, from Chicago about 20 years ago to turn around a troubled hospital. He ended up turning around the whole town. </em></p>
<p><em>Culturally, Pensacola is less Florida than it is Alabama: It’s the buckle of the Bible Belt, a beautiful and deeply conservative place that is also among the poorest in the state.</em></p>
<aside class="module align-left half type-aside">
<h3>About this article</h3>
<p>This article is part of <a href="http://searchlightnm.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Searchlight New Mexico’s</a> year-long journalistic investigation into child well-being in New Mexico. Read the series, Raising New Mexico, <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/series/raising-new-mexico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">by clicking here</a>.</p>
<h3>Related</h3>
<p>• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/06/florida-city-nurtures-babies-with-brain-bags-for-parents-can-nm-do-the-same/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Florida city nurtures babies with &#8216;Brain Bags&#8217; for parents. Can NM do the same?</a><br />
• <a href="http://nmpolitics.net/index/2018/06/journalist-sees-florida-hometown-impacted-by-child-well-being-initiatives/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Journalist sees Florida hometown impacted by child well-being initiatives</a></p>
</aside>
<p><em>Studer – who isn’t afraid to talk about racism and its contribution to poverty &#8212; parlayed his corporate turnaround success into a consulting group that sold three years ago for $300 million. By his own measure, he has invested about $100 million in reviving a moribund downtown and supporting small businesses.</em></p>
<p><em>He transformed himself into one of the city’s most influential businessmen and philanthropists, donating more than $1 million to a new YMCA downtown and $5 million to found a new $85 million children’s hospital that bears his name.</em></p>
<p><em>Studer’s latest passion in Pensacola – and longest-term project, he says – is child well-being. </em></p>
<p><strong>Q: To understand poverty in Pensacola, you started a journalism nonprofit to flesh out the metrics and study solutions. What did you find?</strong></p>
<p>Studer: Our high school graduation rate in 2014 was 66 percent. Immediately, people blame the public school teachers. Well, that is wrong. I would have said the same thing three years ago: We need to fix our public education system. But then this number popped up that said only 66 percent of our children were ready for kindergarten. So, we started saying, “Is there a correlation or is that just something that happened?”</p>
<p>We started digging. We ended up at the University of Chicago, with Thirty Million Words and Dana Suskind. We brought Dana down and I sat there and listened to her the whole day. She said some things that triggered me. If 85 percent of the brain is developed by age 3, even voluntary prekindergarten is too late. So you have got to go zero to 3. If you go zero to 3, what is the key indicator? Well, it’s words and conversational words with the baby.</p>
<p><strong>And that’s where the Brain Bags come in?</strong><span id="more-587328"></span></p>
<p>Studer: You want to walk in with mom and get her feeling comfortable. Giving her something is a way to open the door. You explain, ‘We’re giving this to you,’ and then you’re talking about the power she has to build her child’s brain. It’s easy to think it’s genetic, but it’s not. You can build a brain.</p>
<p>I worked in a hospital. New parents are very interested in everything, but we’ve never covered brain development. The long-term way to deal with poverty is to get kids ready for kindergarten. Even the University of Chicago considers that as an economic indicator now.</p>
<p><strong>Q: Why moms?</strong></p>
<p>Studer: The reality is that in the pockets of poverty many children are being raised by a mom. So we go to mom because that is what it is. Hopefully we get dads, too. Once you get the mom going they can never <em>not</em> do it.</p>
<p><strong>Q: What are your goals going forward?</strong></p>
<p>Studer: Short-term, we’ve got to grow small businesses and move wages. Long-term, it’s the kindergarten readiness. I didn’t make it up, but the best time to invest was 20 years ago; the second-best time is today. We’re afraid to do that because we are looking for quick results. I tell people, ‘This is a 15- to 20-year project.’ But it’s a worthwhile project if you ever want to stop the generational poverty that we live in.</p>
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