by La Mont Chappell II
Daily Lobo columnist
What role does race play in public education in New Mexico?
I always assumed that regardless of race, schools in poorer districts will not be able to compete with those in richer ones. What role does money play in public school education? Do rich school districts have an advantage over poor schools districts? Is money the most important factor in who gets a good education and who doesn't?
I researched all 90 public school districts in New Mexico. I compared the standardized test scores taken from the New Mexico Public Education Department to see if schools in poorer counties can compete with schools in richer counties.
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Los Alamos school district has the highest test scores in the state and is the richest county by far, with the median family income at $90,000. The next richest counties are Santa Fe, Sandoval and Bernalillo. New Mexico has 33 counties. Santa Fe County is the second richest with a median family income of $50,000, and it ranks 25th in proficiency.
Sandoval County is the third richest with a median family income of $49,000 and is ranked 27th in proficiency. Bernalillo County is the fourth richest with a median family income of $46,600 and placed 20th in proficiency.
Wealth doesn't explain the lack of proficiency in the richer counties. Guadalupe County, one of the poorest in New Mexico with a median family income of $28,300, outperforms Santa Fe, Sandoval, and Bernalillo counties. Curry County is the 16th richest with a median
family income of $34,000, but it ranks fifth in proficiency.
Los Alamos County has the highest proficiency of all counties in New Mexico at 76.3 percent for all students K-12. Los Alamos is 75 percent white. Union County is in second place with 60.7 percent proficiency. Union County has a median family income of $35,000, which is much lower than that of Santa Fe, Sandoval and Bernalillo counties. Union County has two school districts: Des Moines and Clayton. Des Moines school district is 68.3 percent proficient and 70.5 percent white, and Clayton school district is 53 percent proficient and 52 percent white.
Roosevelt County ranks fourth in education. It is located in Eastern New Mexico and borders Texas. It has four school districts: Texico, Dora, Elida and Floyd. The best-scoring school district in that county is Texico, which is 64.3 percent proficient, and 60 percent of students are white.
There is enough evidence to show that there is a unique correlation between the percentage of students who are proficient and the percentage of students who
are white.
With this relationship in mind, we can assume the lower the percentage of white students, the lower the school district will score on the aptitude tests. Let's look at school districts with the least number of white students. Zuni school district in McKinley County has the lowest proportion of whites at 0.5 percent. It has a 24.5 percent proficiency rate, which is the fifth lowest of the 90 school districts in the state.
Dulce school district in Rio Arriba County is only 1 percent white. The district scored the lowest of any school district in the state with a 20.1 percent proficiency.
The New Mexico Public Education Department has acknowledged the problem of race and proficiency level, and it put out a press release in 2004 addressing the wide gap between whites and minorities in New Mexico. The Secretary of Education, Veronica Garcia, claimed she would reform the public education system to eliminate the racial gap, but three years later, the gap has grown wider between whites and other minorities.
Garcia was quoted as saying, "Our scores are clearly impacted by the issues of language and poverty." This is a false statement and an attempt to duck responsibility for the issue.
We have proven that money doesn't make a difference when it comes to public education. Poor counties such as Union and Harding score much higher than richer counties such as Santa Fe and Bernalillo.
On the issue of language, African-Americans are shown to achieve much lower test scores than white students. African-Americans don't speak a foreign language, but the gap between whites and students of color
still exists.
The problem is massive for the state of New Mexico. People such as Gov. Bill Richardson and Garcia should be held accountable for the lack of progress in this area. Public education is supposed to give everyone a chance to become good and educated citizens, regardless
of color.
La Mont Chappell II is majoring in history with a minor in
political science.
