LESC staff offer support to PED’s Martinez‑Yazzie remedial planning; committee hears staff updates and summer interns’ introductions

LESC staff told the Legislative Education Study Committee in Roswell that they will support the Public Education Department in the remedial planning ordered by the Martinez‑Yazzie court decision and will help with consultant selection, stakeholder engagement and analysis.

Director reporting included a staff memo provided to PED outlining the committee staff’s intended contributions: attending stakeholder engagement meetings, suggesting stakeholder groups beyond the “usual suspects,” offering national and original analyses, performing statutory reviews if asked, and providing fiscal modeling for proposed remedies. Committee staff said they expect PED to announce consultant selections “by July 1” to meet a compressed planning timeline.

The director summarized the committee’s first interim newsletter, noting recent published graduation-rate data (78 percent statewide, a 1.3 percentage-point increase from 2023) and flagged subgroup differences that staff will monitor. The committee also heard short introductions from two temporary staffers: Wesley Geyer, an elementary special-education teacher from Rio Rancho serving as a teacher-on-special-assignment, and Sofia Gonzalez, a UC Berkeley student working as a summer intern.

During questions, members asked about the number of consultant applicants (staff estimated “about 10–14”) and whether LESC maintains regular presence at meetings of other committees and budget offices; staff said LESC remains engaged with Legislative Finance Committee discussions and closely monitors revenue estimates and education-related topics.

No formal committee action was recorded during the director’s report portion; staff said they would provide updates to the committee as PED moves forward with consultant selection and stakeholder engagement.