Native American students make up 11% of public school enrollment in New Mexico. Yet for them to learn their Native languages. A bill passed in the recent legislative session would create new schools under a state-tribal compact to address those gaps.
New Mexico has 23 sovereign tribes and among those tribes eight languages are spoken, but only seven are taught in school districts.
would create a five-year pilot program with five schools prioritizing distinct Native languages of Tiwa, Tewa, Towa, Keres, Apache, Zuni, and Din茅.
Bill co-sponsor Sen. Benny Shendo Jr. (D-Jemez Pueblo) said that many Native parents and grandparents have been conditioned to believe the only way to succeed was to speak English.
鈥淏ut that鈥檚 not true,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 was born and raised speaking my language. It wasn't much later that I began to learn English. So how can that be when those of us that were fluent Native speakers are able to be successful in college and all the stuff that we're doing today?鈥�
He said a lot of Native students are struggling because they don鈥檛 feel that they belong.
鈥淎nd if we can really reground them in who they are, then I think it gives them that confidence for them to be able to go out and compete in the world in a way that they should be competing, not with anxiety about, who am I? Where do I belong?鈥欌�� he said.
Native American students have historically reported lower achievement and than their peers. stresses the importance of maintaining Native languages and culture. But programs providing these opportunities are currently limited within public schools.
In 2018, a ruling in the Yazzie/Martinez lawsuitdetermined the state had failed to provide a sufficient education to Native American students as well as those learning English, living with disabilities or from families with low incomes.
The of the new legislation suggested it could offer the state an opportunity to respond to the lawsuit through targeted funding, creation of cultural learning environments and putting more teachers in classrooms with backgrounds similar to their students.
The bill does not contain an appropriation, but will provide operational and capital outlay funding for immersion schools.
Support from the coverage comes from the Thornburg Foundation.
