30-04-2025
Judge issues latest order in Yazzie-Martinez case
Apr. 29—A Santa Fe judge determined the New Mexico Public Education Department had not held up its end of the bargain in a decade-long legal battle over the quality of education it provides Native American and underserved students.
Judge Matthew Wilson on Tuesday ordered PED to create a plan to fix its primary and secondary education system in the latest chapter in what has become known as the Yazzie-Martinez case.
"The New Mexico Public Education Department welcomes Judge Wilson's decision to lead development of a plan providing all New Mexico students an excellent education and that will lead to resolution of the Martinez-Yazzie lawsuit," PED spokesperson Janelle Garcia said in a statement. "Improving student outcomes is central to our mission, and this plan will support lasting improvements to our educational system."
The case was first brought about in 2014 when Wilhelmina Yazzie, the parent of a student at Gallup-McKinley County Schools, and Louise Martinez, the parent of an Albuquerque Public Schools student, joined other parents to file suit against the state and task it to improve its education system.
The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty and Mexican American Legal Defense Fund represented the parents in the suit against the state, and in a landmark 2018 ruling, Judge Sarah Singleton determined that the state was violating students' constitutional rights by not providing sufficient education.
As a result, it was mandated that the state begin improving its education system. Wilson's order on Tuesday determined that PED had not complied with that ruling.
"In the more than six years since the state and PED were ordered to take immediate steps to fix the system, PED has done little beyond making mere efforts or isolated reforms," Alisa Diehl, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said during the hearing. "PED has had ample opportunity to produce a plan of its own, but it hasn't done so."
For its part, PED's attorney contested the state's education department had made changes since the 2018 ruling.
"Plaintiffs have suggested that the court must do so because PED has not taken its responsibility seriously and that we've been given six years and nothing's happened. Simply untrue," said Taylor Rahn, the attorney representing the PED. "Many things have changed; some areas of student achievement have improved, but importantly, the inputs have changed to the tune of $2 billion. There is increased accountability that did not exist at the time of trial."
She also said that the plaintiff's statement that PED was violating the Indian Education Act, the Hispanic Education Act, the Bilingual, Multicultural Education Act and the Black Education Act wasn't accurate.
"Plaintiffs make a sweeping argument that because these groups are not performing at the same level as their at-risk peers, those statutes must be being violated by PED," Rahn said. "However, those statutes don't require exact parity in achievement."
According to the state's latest monitoring report, the NM Vistas report card, Black, Native American and Hispanic students were below the statewide averages in reading, math and science proficiency.
Historically and recently, New Mexico has ranked among the worst states in the nation for educational outcomes. U.S. News recently ranked it 50th in the country for education and in 2024 the National Assessment of Educational Progress found New Mexico's fourth and eighth grade students lagged behind the national averages in reading, math and science proficiency.
"This court's ruling in 2018 gave families and communities all across the state of New Mexico a real sense of hope. Hope that transformative change to their children's education was underway," Preston Sanchez, another attorney representing the plaintiffs, said during the hearing. "New Mexico's education system is still ranked the worst public school system in the United States, a status that has not changed since we filed this case in 2014."
