Proposal over New Mexico four-day school weeks sparks concern

By Faith Egbuonu

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    SANTA FE, New Mexico (KOAT) — The New Mexico Department of Education is proposing changes to House Bill 130. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 130 into law, following the passage of the bill from legislators at the 2023 legislative session.

“It’s always great to have more instructional time built into the day. That even gets to the idea of homework,” PED Secretary Dr. Aresenio Romero said. “The reason that homework exists is because we don’t have enough time during the day to be able to get into all the instructional material that we need.”

House Bill 130 requires public schools in New Mexico to increase instructional time from 990 hours to 1,140 hours. Schools in session for five-day work weeks are required to have 180 instructional days, while schools in session for four-day work weeks are required to have 155 instructional days.

Currently, there are rural school districts in New Mexico that have adopted a four-day work week.

The PED’s proposed changes would require all schools to adopt five-day weeks with 180 instructional days a year. Romero told KOAT the proposed changes are part of a multi-pronged approach to help students succeed.

“As the state of New Mexico, you know as well as I do that we’re in last place. We have amazing things happening in New Mexico. We’re starting to see the results of our hard work pay off, but the results are, we still have thousands of students across New Mexico that aren’t reading at grade level, and they don’t have the opportunity to be successful,” Romero said.

“What we’re doing is really looking at wanting to require what we have, is just the minimum, of what we think a school year should be, which is 180 days. Having more time between students and teachers is always a good thing. It’s always great to have more instructional time built into the day,” Romero said.

Albuquerque Federation Teachers President Dr. Ellen Bernstein tells KOAT the proposed changes are a “false solution” to a “complex problem.”

“This is exhausting for all of us in public education. This is a huge overstep from the PED. The bill that created the extended school year, just passed last year [2023 legislative session]. It was vetted in every legislative committee and passed the House floor and the Senate floor, and now, even just 6 months into this, they want to change it again?” Bernstein said.

“We want to guarantee that kids have the right number of schools days, but the PED is ignoring the fact we have attendance issues, we need more counselors, we need more social workers, we need a school nurse in every school,” Bernstein told KOAT. “These are the kind of things that are really going to make a difference, in the education of students, not messing with a law that’s just passed.”

“There is no evidence that extending it to a 5-day week is really going to be like the silver bullet that makes a difference to all kids,” Bernstein said. “What’s happening here is a break in trust between the PED and every school district, and every employee in every school district, because they’re not enforcing the law, they are changing the law.”

House Republicans Statement “This is a decision that should be made at the local level. Additionally, this proposed rule is substantive law and completely contrary to what the Legislature passed this last Legislative session. I believe these decisions should flow through the Legislature since we are the people’s representatives,” Rep. Ryan Lane, House Minority Leader, said

According to PED, public comments submitted will be discussed at a PED hearing on Monday, Dec. 18. Romero told KOAT that a decision on the proposed changes could be made after the new year.

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