Enchantment State News

Republican leaders from the House of Representatives in New Mexico are criticizing Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s recent policy decisions.

Among the grievances, leaders disagreed with Grisham vetoing $150 million of federal CARES Act funding for local municipalities and her proposal of a public education hybrid model for the upcoming school year.

At the beginning of New Mexico’s fiscal year, the veto was one of many Grisham made to House Bill 1, the legislature’s emergency measure to counteract her 20% spending increasing in her first two years in office.

“This is a sad day for local governments across our state. Gov. Lujan Grisham has attempted to usurp the legislative body over the past two years, but I never thought she would outright swipe control from our local governments,” said House Republican Leader Jim Townsend in a report for the House GOP website.

The funding was intended to support local municipalities affected by the economic shutdown, however, because of the veto, many businesses have faced increased financial hardships with many experiencing permanent closures.

GOP leaders expressed that municipalities rely on the state’s local business revenues to operate efficiently to provide essential services, but the closure of businesses may lead to higher taxes as local governments seek new revenue streams.

“I certainly hope that for the sake of these struggling communities the governor commits to ultimately providing CARES Act funds to these local governments in a fair and equitable way,” Townsend said in the article.

Townsend, House Republican Whip Rod Montoya and House Republican Caucus Chair Candy Ezzell also sent a letter to Grisham and Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart requesting answers to 26 questions related to the feasibility of the proposed public education hybrid model.

“The hybrid model as proposed simply does not work for families across our state and Santa Fe should not dictate to our communities how we should educate our children,” said Montoya (Farmington) in a report for the House GOP website. “What the administration is proposing has already dramatically hurt educational outcomes for students across the state, the hybrid model only exacerbates this problem. Parents are naturally starting to consider more viable alternatives to the public education system.” 

Leaders are asking the administration to allow students to return to public schools full-time, though immunocompromised students or those living with vulnerable family members would be exempt. 

“The governor has pursued a one-size-fits-all strategy since this pandemic began, and that has been a failure,” Townsend said in the article.  

They are also asking that local school districts be allowed to make decisions based on their student populations.

“Expecting the same strategy to yield different results for our education system is foolish and will only hurt our children and further complicate the lives of families who are struggling during this crisis,” Townsend said in the article.