Guest Commentary by Whitney Holland – New Mexico asks a lot of its educators.
We ask teachers to educate our children while navigating challenges that extend far beyond the classroom. We ask education assistants to support students with increasingly complex needs. We ask school employees to build relationships with families, stretch limited resources and help young people thrive.
Guest Commentary
Whitney Holland is president of the American Federation of Teachers-New Mexico, representing educators and school employees across the state.
Through that work, educators develop a deep understanding of their communities. They see how decisions about housing, health care, childcare, wages and public services show up in students’ lives long before those issues become a bill or a budget debate in Santa Fe.
That perspective has enormous value in policymaking. And it’s one reason I support Constitutional Amendment 4.
Amendment 4 would allow New Mexico legislators to receive a limited salary, helping remove a financial barrier that makes legislative service harder for many educators and other working New Mexicans.
For an educator who depends on a regular paycheck, running for office isn’t only a question of whether they have something to contribute or feel called to serve. They also have to ask whether they could financially make legislative service work at all.
That is a loss not only for educators, but for New Mexico.
We should want people in the Legislature who have spent their careers working directly with New Mexico families. We should want people who know what it means to stretch a school budget, advocate for a child who needs additional support, work with parents trying to make ends meet, and find solutions when there are never quite enough resources to go around.
And those New Mexicans should have a fair opportunity to serve.
That’s why I support Constitutional Amendment 4, which would allow legislators to receive a limited salary and remove one of the financial barriers that keeps too many working New Mexicans from considering legislative service.
As the president of AFT New Mexico, I also understand why the amount of that salary is getting attention.
Education assistants are among the lowest-paid employees in our schools. Many earn less than $30,000 a year. So when someone hears that legislative pay could be tied to the median New Mexico household income – around $67,000 – I understand why they might ask whether that’s fair.
For many of the people I represent, $67,000 is meaningful money. We shouldn’t pretend otherwise.
But fairness isn’t a race to the bottom.
The fact that too many school staff and educators are underpaid is something we should fix. It isn’t an argument for requiring another group of people to work without a salary. And it certainly isn’t a reason to maintain a system that makes it harder for those staff to ever serve in the Legislature themselves.
Amendment 4 also puts a clear limit on legislative pay: it could never exceed what a typical New Mexico household earns. If household incomes fall, legislative pay must fall too.
That safeguard matters. But so does what this change could make possible.
I want the educators I represent to know that their experience isn’t only valuable when lawmakers ask for their input. Their experience is valuable in the Legislature itself.
A teacher who has spent years advocating for her students should be able to imagine bringing that same commitment to her district. An education assistant who understands firsthand the economic pressures facing working families should not have to rule out public service simply because she needs a paycheck.
New Mexico’s educators already help shape the future of our state every day. They deserve a fair opportunity to help shape its laws, too.
That’s why I’m voting yes on Amendment 4 this November.