Teachers Say Four Areas Are Essential to Improving Students’ Economic Mobility
Santa Fe, NM, February 4, 2026—As New Mexico’s 30-day legislative session gains momentum, Teach Plus New Mexico Policy Fellows and alumni are at the Roundhouse today through Friday with a clear message: when students have strong math instruction, reliable attendance support, well-prepared teachers, and equitably funded schools, economic mobility becomes possible. Over three days, the teachers will meet with legislators to share both what they’re seeing with their students and concrete, research-driven policy recommendations.
“Our teachers are bringing more than their expertise to the Capitol—they’re bringing what they see every day in their classrooms. They know which students are struggling to add, who’s missing school because there’s no reliable way to get there, and what it takes to keep good teachers in the profession,” said Hope Morales, Teach Plus New Mexico Executive Director. “These four priorities—math, attendance, teacher preparation, and equitable school funding—aren’t abstract policy goals. They’re the conditions that determine whether New Mexico students can access economic mobility and careers that support themselves and their families. Teach Plus is calling on our lawmakers to focus here because this is where the gap between policy and reality shows up most clearly.”
When it comes to math, Teach Plus teacher leaders are asking state legislators to bring the same statewide coordination to math instruction that has started transforming New Mexico’s literacy outcomes—including passing Senate Bill 29 to strengthen math requirements for teaching licenses and ensure teacher preparation programs give educators the content knowledge and instructional skills they need.
“Math is the fabric of our lives—it helps us understand our paychecks, information about medicines we take, our car’s gas mileage, and anything else that needs to be measured or evaluated,” said Lauren Scott, kindergarten teacher at Mountain Mahogany Community School in Albuquerque and 2024-26 Teach Plus NM Policy Fellow. “Without legislative change we will continue to see our students’ math proficiency stagnate. We must do everything we can to ensure our students become adults who are comfortable living and working in a world based on mathematical competence.”
On attendance, Teach Plus teacher leaders are advocating to move beyond attendance compliance reminders and address the actual barriers keeping students out of school, like transportation gaps in rural areas and scheduling conflicts that hit low-income families hardest. The teachers are also calling for increased investment in teacher residency programs that pair new educators with experienced mentors—a model that reduces the steep learning curve and helps keep teachers in the profession longer, addressing the reality that nearly 60 percent of newly hired teachers enter New Mexico classrooms without full credentials. And, they are pushing for equitable funding for charter schools, particularly around facilities and transportation, so that students in charter schools have access to the same resources as students in traditional district schools—including safe buildings and reliable bus routes.
Together, these four priorities reflect Teach Plus New Mexico’s long-term vision: ensuring every student has access to the educational foundations that make economic mobility possible. Read the full legislative agenda here.
The teachers’ advocacy builds on more than a year of research and policy development. On attendance, Policy Fellows surveyed over 520 educators and published op-eds and a policy brief on strategies to address chronic absenteeism. On math, teachers conducted focus groups on teacher preparation and provided feedback to the New Mexico Public Education Department on math systems and licensure policies.
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. 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
