Chapter 33: New Mexico: Staff Writer¹

General Background²

New Mexico became a state in 1912, and its constitution today devotes three clauses in particular support of public schools. Article XII³ defines state responsibility for public education:

Notwithstanding, debate about public school funding and attendant litigation have marked New Mexico’s history. In the early 1970s, plaintiffs began a challenge to the constitutionality of the state’s education finance system alleging that expenditures impermissibly varied depending on local school district wealth. Settlement was reached before trial when the New Mexico legislature shifted funding for schools to the state level in search of providing more equal resources to each district. The 1974 Public School Finance Act⁴ resulted in state funding exceeding 80% of education’s costs.