Cross-sector coalition of educators, students, business leaders, and policymakers gather in Albuquerque to finalize recommendations for the next administration
ALBUQUERQUE, NM, October 26, 2026—New Mexico students want careers that allow them to do meaningful work while building a quality life for themselves and their families. Today, Teach Plus New Mexico is bringing together educators, students, business leaders, policymakers, and community partners in Albuquerque to shape and sharpen a set of nonpartisan policy recommendations that will be delivered directly to New Mexico’s next governor and their administration.
The two previous Teach Plus Economic Mobility Summits in Hobbs and Santa Fe engaged more than 100 educators, students, and community leaders across northern and southern New Mexico to discuss economic mobility and opportunities for students. The recommendations, developed from themes that emerged consistently across both regional summits, focus on three areas:
- strengthening the data systems that track students from school into the workforce;
- expanding school counselor capacity so every student has a trusted guide through their college and career options; and
- building regional infrastructure that connects schools, employers, workforce boards, and community partners around shared student outcomes.
The summit opens with student and educator voices, including a keynote from Gio Avila, a YouthWorks Santa Fe alumnus who navigated his own path from earning his GED to advocating for youth career pathways on Capitol Hill. An expert panel moderated by 2021 New Mexico Teacher of the Year Alisa Cooper de Uribe brings together Senate Education Committee Chair Senator Bill Soules and 2026 New Mexico School Counselor of the Year Robert Wiebelhaus. Gubernatorial candidates Deb Haaland (D) and Gregg Hull (R), and lt. governor candidates David Gallegos (R) and Stephanie Garcia Richard (D) were invited. Hull is confirmed to attend.
Perspectives from Leadership and Educators:
“Teach Plus teacher leaders and I heard the same clear message at our summits in Hobbs and Santa Fe: our students are talented, motivated, and ambitious, but the systems around them are fractured. At today’s statewide summit, we gather to deliver a unified roadmap that translates student ambition into lifelong economic mobility and security.”—Hope Morales, Teach Plus New Mexico Executive Director
“A good data system is like a good roadmap that can get a student from point A to point B. From a very young age, a student can say, this is my mountain top. The road map gets them there. It also allows us to look back on the path they took and recreate and finetune it for other students on the same journey.”—Jaycie Homer, 6th grade teacher leader, CTE department head, and technology mentor at Sixth Grade Academy in Lovington, as well as Teach Plus New Mexico Policy Fellowship alumna and national Teach Plus Leading Edge Fellowship alumna
“There is no way for a counselor to guide a child that they do not know. There needs to be trust, care, and a genuine desire to find what is going to make that child productive as an adult. For this, you need the time to create that connection. That’s impossible with a case load of hundreds of students.”—Melanie Bussiere, 10th Grade Family Academic Support Lead at Pecos Cyber Academy in Edgewood and 2026-2027 Teach Plus New Mexico Economic Mobility Coalition Agent
“Students deserve to have options when it comes to their future. We need to ensure that parents, school leaders, and policymakers are aware of what exists in New Mexico when it comes to CTE and also expose any gaps where options don’t exist but could. Once we understand this, we can build on it. To do all this successfully, education and business must come together.”—Zack Ramsey, project teacher at ACE Leadership High School in Albuquerque and 2026-27 Teach Plus New Mexico Policy Fellow
About Teach Plus
The mission of Teach Plus is to empower excellent, experienced, and diverse teachers to take leadership over key policy and practice issues that affect their students’ success. In pursuing our mission, Teach Plus is guided by our Student Opportunity Mandate: To act boldly and create the conditions where every student can imagine their future—and experience an education that delivers the opportunity to realize it. Since 2009, Teach Plus has developed thousands of teacher leaders across the country to exercise their leadership in shaping education policy and improving teaching and learning for students. teachplus.org/nm/
