Policy Mailer #4: Education

Our kids deserve better. Our kids deserve Heather.

Heather has consulted with hundreds of teachers through town halls, interviews, and school forums. Over a 15-year period, she ran facilitations on overall education reform, early childhood strategic planning, K-12 classroom teacher support, career/tech, and ethnically specific deliberations addressing educational delivery gaps among Hispanic, Native American and African American students. 

Heather also helped get off the ground the first Spanish-immersion International Baccalaureate public school in New Mexico and led its governing council.

Continue NM's Investments in Early Childhood
Heather believes we must start at the beginning, with strong early childhood education and continued deployment of NM Pre-K.

Listen to Teachers
Heather believes we must listen to teachers, to make education a career they want to pursue and stay in. This means consulting them at every state of the game. This consultation is particularly critical on matters of educator evaluation systems.

Expand Career-Tech
New Mexico needs to expand career/technical education, especially in middle and high schools, so more of our youth graduate with a plan for their futures. 

STEM and the Arts
Include a strong focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, where possible via project-based learning so those concepts have real-world application. Currently NM under-invests in education in numeracy and science. Additionally, Heather was a college music minor. She will always advocate for the preservation of the arts in our schools.

Cultural Relevance
Heather knows we must ensure the offerings of culturally relevant curricula – particularly in schools on tribal lands and with a preponderance of students of color. We must adhere to our NM Constitution – which says that dual-language education will be provided. Heather previously served on the governing of a dual-language public school.

Higher Education
Heather prioritizes strengthening our university departments of education, recognizing that they are preparing the next generation of educators. She has personally interviewed student teachers, who repeatedly report that they don’t feed pedagogically prepared to enter the classroom – not because they don’t have enough coursework but that its not the right coursework to prepare them to be inspiring teachers. 

Heather celebrates her son's high school graduation.