New Mexico
New Mexico legislators seek endowment to bolster autonomous tribal education programs
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico legislators would create a unique educational endowment of at least $50 million to help Native American communities create their own student programs, including efforts to teach and preserve Indigenous languages, under a proposal endorsed Thursday by the state House.
The bill from Democratic legislators with ties to tribal communities including the Navajo Nation and smaller Native American pueblos won unanimous House approval on a 68-0 vote, advancing to the state Senate for consideration. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently voiced support for the initiative.
Sponsors say the endowment would help reverse the vestiges of forced assimilation of Native American children, including the legacy of at U.S.-backed boarding schools, and fulfill the state’s commitment to Native American students in the wake of a landmark state court ruling.
“What this does is it pushes back against 200-plus years of federal policies that sought to erase Native Americans from this nation and says, ‘Well, we know how to school, to teach our children best,’ ” said Rep. Derrick Lente, a resident and tribal member of Sandia Pueblo and lead cosponsor of the initiative. “They know that language is important.”
New Mexico is home to 22 federally recognized tribal communities, and the Oklahoma-based Fort Sill Apache Tribe also has land holdings in southern New Mexico near Deming. The U.S. Census indicates that Native Americans make up about 11% of the state population, both on and off reservation lands.
An appropriation from the state general fund would establish the “tribal education trust fund,” with annual distributions to tribal communities set at roughly 5% of the fund’s corpus — about $2.5 million on a balance of $50 million.
Under an agreement that Lente helped broker, tribes would determine how the money is divvied up among Native American communities using a “unanimous consensus process of consultation, collaboration and communication … with the option of appointing peacemakers in the event of a dispute regarding the formula.”
New Mexico lawmakers currently have a multibillion-dollar budget surplus at their disposal — a windfall linked to oil and natural gas production — as they craft an annual spending plan and search for effective strategies to raise average high school graduation rates and academic attainment scores up to national averages.
At the same time, state lawmakers have been under pressure for several years to resolve a 2018 court ruling that found New Mexico has fallen short of its constitutional duty to provide an adequate education to students from low-income households, Native American communities, those with disabilities and English-language learners.
“More important than the money — of $50 million — is the idea that a trust fund be established, and sovereign nations be named as the beneficiaries on behalf of their children,” said state Rep. Anthony Allison of Fruitland, who is Navajo. “Our dream is that this is just the beginning, and that future generations will benefit from our dreams and our vision on their behalf.”
Lente said he continues to push for a larger, $100 million contribution by the state to the endowment.
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By MORGAN LEE Associated Press
New Mexico leaders are backing a bipartisan bill after 12 confirmed U.S. screwworm cases, including one case in a Lea County dog.
SANTA FE, N.M. – New Mexico leaders are backing a bipartisan bill after 12 confirmed U.S. screwworm cases, including one case in a Lea County dog.
New Mexico State Veterinarian Dr. Samantha Holeck said the parasite has spread to New Mexico, though officials say they have not found any human cases.
“This is also not a political issue this is a nationwide issue that we all need to address because it affects all warm blooded animals including humans,” Holeck said.
U.S. Reps. Gabe Vasquez and Teresa Leger Fernandez support the Protect America’s Herds Act.
The bill would create a grant program to train people to identify, treat, prevent and report screwworm. It would also support more livestock inspections and education for ranchers.
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez said she heard concerns from tribal leaders about the cost of protecting cattle herds.
“I spoke with one of our tribal leaders today and they have cattle operation and they’re worried, and they’re talking about how much more money they’re having to pay to go make sure they check on their herds and there are extra costs,” Leger Fernandez said.
Funding would prioritize states and tribal communities most at risk for screwworm outbreaks.
State health officials said screwworm is not a food safety issue. They also said ranchers should stay alert but not alarmed.
New Mexico isn’t done with Meta yet. After the second phase of a landmark trial, the state is asking a judge to make the company pay almost $1 billion to address harm done to young people in New Mexico, SourceNM reports. In a court filing, attorneys with the New Mexico Department of Justice argue that Meta’s addictive design features and recommendation algorithms “substantially contributed to the increase and severity” of problems including depression and eating disorders. The state wants a judge to order Meta to pay $953 million into a fund for public education and behavioral health programs, reports Fox News.
- After the first phase of the trial in March, a jury found the company endangered children and misled the public about its platforms’ safety. Meta was ordered to pay $375 million in damages, $5,000 for each violation.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez has argued Meta executives prioritized profit over minors’ safety, ignored internal warnings, and misrepresented what they knew about harms to young users. In the second phase, First Judicial District Court Chief Judge Bryan Biedscheid heard arguments on whether the company’s actions created a public nuisance, the Santa Fe New Mexican reports. Final filings in that phase of the trial were submitted Friday. Beyond potential financial penalties, Biedscheid will also rule on the state’s request for Meta to make changes including stricter age controls and “safer algorithms” that “do not prioritize engagement over well being.”
Meta says New Mexico is overreaching, warning that the proposed mandates are “impractical and ill-considered” and “would risk leaving teens less safe, infringe on parental rights, and stifle free expression.” Meta argues that New Mexico hasn’t proven that its platforms affect mental health outcomes. In court filings, Meta has claimed that the state is seeking $3.7 billion, not $953 million, but Chief Deputy Attorney General James Grayson says the higher figure is an expert’s estimate of the cost to fund all child mental health interventions in the state. “We’re not trying to hold Meta responsible for mental health harms in general in New Mexico, only for what social media has cost,” Grayson tells the New Mexican.
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