Senate Joint Memorial 3

SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 3

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Cindy Nava and Angel M. Charley and Derrick J. Lente

and Mimi Stewart

 

 

 

 

A JOINT MEMORIAL

HONORING NEW MEXICO'S INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION BILINGUAL EDUCATION FACULTIES' EFFORTS AND REQUESTING THE LEGISLATURE TO DECREE A JOINT BACHELOR'S DEGREE IN ELEMENTARY BILINGUAL MULTICULTURAL EDUCATION AMONG THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO, WESTERN NEW MEXICO UNIVERSITY, NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS UNIVERSITY AND NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY.

 

     WHEREAS, on the evening of the fifty-second anniversary of the Bilingual Multicultural Education Act, the legislature acknowledges the need for well-prepared bilingual and multilingual educators who will serve the unique cultural and linguistic diversity of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, in 2015, the university of New Mexico was designated as the recipient of funding to design and develop an undergraduate bilingual education degree with New Mexico highlands university, eastern New Mexico university, New Mexico state university and western New Mexico university; and

     WHEREAS, in New Mexico, bilingual faculty from the state's institutions of higher education have developed and taught bilingual coursework since the early 1970s; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico highlands university developed and implemented a master's degree program in bilingual education in 1971 through 1975; and

     WHEREAS, the university of New Mexico established the American Indian language policy research and teacher training center in 2007 to support indigenous language maintenance and revitalization initiatives; and

     WHEREAS, numerous bilingual education faculty from across the state's institutions of higher education have provided expert testimony at state, federal and congressional hearings and commissions regarding the need for supporting bilingual education policies and programing; and

     WHEREAS, the university of New Mexico's Native American bilingual faculty were instrumental in the development and implementation of a New Mexico 520 alternative certification process to increase the number of Native American language teachers in New Mexico public schools; and

     WHEREAS, recent efforts of bilingual education faculty in New Mexico's institutions of higher education have resulted in the development of bilingual chapters of educators increasing in New Mexico in feeder high schools and in institutions of higher education for the purpose of growing new generations of bilingual teachers; and

     WHEREAS, the Spanish proficiency endorsement exam, whose name translates to "la prueba for Spanish bilingual teachers", was co-created in the 1990s by a New Mexico highlands university bilingual faculty member to ensure that students receive high-quality instruction in New Mexico public schools; and

     WHEREAS, New Mexico adopted the state seal of bilingualism-biliteracy in 2014 to encourage the study of languages among New Mexico's secondary students; and

     WHEREAS, numerous bilingual education faculty in New Mexico institutions of higher education have served in leadership positions on the bilingual multicultural education advisory council, the New Mexico association for bilingual education and dual language education of New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, there is a dire shortage of bilingual teachers, resulting in the inability of the state to respond to major findings of fact and conclusions of law in the Martinez/Yazzie v. State of New Mexico case and to fulfill the promise envisioned in the Bilingual Multicultural Education Act;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE

STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the higher education department be requested to work with the university of New Mexico, western New Mexico university, New Mexico highlands university and New Mexico state university bilingual education faculty to develop a joint bachelor's degree in elementary bilingual multicultural education; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the higher education department be requested to review and address the need for providing scholarships for individuals who currently hold a bachelor's or master's degree in bilingual education, or students who graduated with a state seal of bilingualism- biliteracy on the students' New Mexico diploma of excellence, to cover the cost of pursuing a doctorate in bilingual education in order to teach bilingual education to college of education students at state institutions of higher education in New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that funds be made available to support an increase of bilingual education faculty lines to support this joint elementary bilingual multicultural education degree; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that students who graduate with the state seal of bilingualism-biliteracy be granted college credit in a language other than English throughout all institutions of higher education, including indigenous students, regardless of whether those students' languages are written or oral; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the higher education department be requested to review and address the need for providing scholarships for students pursuing bilingual multicultural education teaching degrees or bilingual multicultural education terminal degrees in New Mexico universities and colleges; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education department be requested to fully address, fund and support the linguistic rights of New Mexico's bilingual multicultural students, as provided for in Article 12, Section 8 of the constitution of New Mexico, the Bilingual Multicultural Education Act and the federal Native American Languages Act, and comply with the court rulings of Serna v. Portales, Lau v. Nichols, Castaneda v. Pickard and Martinez/Yazzie v. State of New Mexico; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the deans of the colleges of education of the university of New Mexico, western New Mexico university, New Mexico highlands university and New Mexico state university, the secretary of public education and the secretary of higher education.

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