The New Mexico Reform Story

The Constitution of the State of New Mexico declares that the state department of education shall be “headed by a secretary of public education who is a qualified, experienced educator.” Since Skandera had never taught, they claimed, she did not meet the criteria. [...]with respect to the lawsuits, Ruszkowski believes that the teacher-evaluation system will be tied up in courts for an extended period of time, allowing his department time to continue implementing, tweaking, and improving it. [...]Ruszkowski has a couple of political aces up his sleeve. According to the most recent Education Next survey, from 2010 to the present support for merit pay for teachers has dropped from 67 percent to 56 percent.