Gov. Susana Martinez proposed a $4.9 million cut in remedial education funds from the state’s colleges in order to focus on problems in the K-12 system that make remedial courses necessary.
Remedial education courses are 100-level courses in math, reading and writing and do not count for college credit. Students whose SAT/ACT scores fall below a certain point are required to pass the classes before moving on.
Scott Darnell, Martinez’s spokesperson, said the proposal does not call for eliminating remedial classes, just providing less funding for them. He said Martinez doesn’t want the state to allocate so much money to teach college students material they should have learned in high school.
“The state currently faces a budget deficit of up to $450 million,” he said. “We must balance the budget, and that involves making difficult decisions. Unless we make cuts like these, deep cuts would have to be made to K-12 classrooms and to health care for those most in need, which the governor does not support.”
Wynn Goering, vice provost for academic affairs, said on average, 30-35 percent of incoming freshmen require remedial education. He said the proposal doesn’t address the root problem in the public school system.
“It’s a budget cut that simply makes a serious problem worse,” he said.
“If (Martinez’s) goal is to make New Mexico’s educational institutions more ‘accountable’ for this issue, then, in this case, the real need is to find ways to enable New Mexico high schools to do a better job of preparing their graduates for college.”
Darnell said Martinez laid out an education reform agenda designed to correct the problems in the K-12 school system that produce college students who need remedial education. He said schools that measure students’ performance on a grading system are more effective at tracking students’ progress. He said ending social promotion ensures students learn material before moving on to the next grade.
“The idea is to be able to better target resources toward low-performing students and schools so that they are well-prepared to enter college,” he said.
Goering said UNM main campus does not receive remedial education funds because it subcontracts CNM professors to teach those courses on main campus. Goering said all UNM branch campuses receive remedial education funds. He said community college students who return to school after several years often need remedial courses.
“The other thing the community colleges will tell you is that a lot of this work, from their perspective, goes into educating people who have been out of school for a long time,” Goering said. “From their perspective, it’s not a matter of just the high schools aren’t doing their job.”
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