A View Toward UpLift: KIDS COUNT Data Drops: New Mexico Stays Last Place

School may be out for summer but the latest KIDS COUNT Data Book just dropped, and New Mexico’s child well-being and primary education rankings remain abysmal. The state scored 50th in the nation on both counts and the causes of these last-place New Mexican crises are interdependent. To enact meaningful, long-term improvements in our state’s educational outcomes, policy solutions must prioritize holistic wellness, empowering children as students while also supporting the overarching health of families and communities in New Mexico.

Published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the annual KIDS COUNT Data Book tracks overall child well-being by focusing on four areas: economic well-being; education; health; and family and community. This year’s Data Book highlights numerous challenges to New Mexico’s education system across multiple indicators. Understanding these challenges is crucial to the task of developing and instituting effective policies to improve our state's educational outcomes and overall child well-being.

Economic Barriers to Education

On both macro (statewide systems) and micro (individual student) levels, poverty and economic insecurity comprise major barriers to achieving educational success in New Mexico. Both historically and presently, New Mexico suffers one of the highest child poverty rates in the nation. The federal government’s pandemic-era expansion of the Child Tax Credit program significantly but temporarily reduced child poverty here and elsewhere, prompting incremental improvements to child well-being. That expansion broadened eligibility criteria and sent out monthly payments before sunsetting in 2021 due to the political failure of the Pres. Biden’s Build Back Better initiative.

Disparities in child poverty rates remain stark in New Mexico, especially among children of color. Economic instability negatively impacts children's ability to focus on education, as their families struggle to afford food and housing and access healthcare. Data Book reporting on the status of Black and Asian American, Pacific Islander and Native Hawaiian (AAPINH) children and parents in New Mexico is incomplete, with demographic data for these groups suppressed in a number of areas. Nationally, the percentage of African American / Black children living in poverty in 2022 was 30 percent.

Combatting New Mexico's Tricultural Myth

One of UpLift Chronicles’ editorial mandates is pushing back against New Mexico’s tricultural myth—the false notion that our state’s Indigenous, Latine, and White populations exist in relative harmony—largely because this utopian, myopic fairytale ignores the lived experiences of Black and AAPINH children, families and communities. However statistically insignificant these experiences may be deemed, the well-being and education of children and communities of color matters.

Culturally Responsive Educational Failures

Alongside systemic underfunding, New Mexico’s educational system has failed to be adequately responsive to its multicultural, multilingual student body. This lack of culturally responsive education leaves students of color on a path toward lower educational outcomes. Echoed by the judicial ruling in the consolidated Martínez/Yazzie v. State of New Mexico lawsuit, the fact is that “no education system can be sufficient for the education of all children unless it is founded on the sound principle that every child can learn and succeed[.]”

According to KIDS COUNT Coordinator Emily Wildau, “New Mexico’s ranking in the education domain is heavily impacted by national standardized test scores, including fourth grade reading proficiency. Reading proficiency is critical for students to succeed academically and as adults. These scores do not reflect the ability of our children, but rather an education system that is not designed with our multicultural, multilingual students in mind.”

Policy Recommendations and Solutions

While formulaic suppression of data for Black and AAPINH children and families does a disservice to multicultural communities, the UpLift Chronicles Editorial Board agrees with many of KIDS COUNT’s recommended policy solutions, such as:

• Providing economic support via expansion of state-level tax credits like the Child Tax Credit and Working Families Tax Credit.
• Making a significant, statewide investment in culturally and linguistically responsive instruction.
• Increasing access to healthcare, including mental health services and support.
• Strengthening community-based support systems, including community schools, to mitigate the impact of poverty and adverse childhood experiences.
• Diversifying New Mexico’s revenue sources while implementing progressive tax policies that increase contributions from corporations and high-income individuals to provide stable funding for essential services.

The Urgency of Taking Action

While the latest KIDS COUNT data provides limited representation for Black and AAPINH children in New Mexico, the Data Book nevertheless underscores the urgency of fostering an environment where the well-being and educational outcomes of all children count. If you’re waiting for a sign to manifest the political will to prioritize our state’s children and families, this is it. Explore the KIDS COUNT Data Book in an interactive format at www.aecf.org.

A View Toward UpLift reflects the opinions of the UpLift Chronicles Editorial Board. Our newspaper’s contributors hold diverse perspectives and viewpoints. This opinion column aims to discuss news and issues and pose questions that are relevant to local communities and our overarching readership.