- Details
- By Levi Rickert
Native Vote 2026. Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), a candidate for governor of New Mexico, on Thursday announced her education policy platform and received the endorsement of the American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, one of the state’s largest labor unions.
Haaland’s plan focuses on improving literacy, supporting educators and helping families better support students at home.
“Every step in a child’s education should open doors for them – from pre-k to grade school to whatever they decide to do after. Our kids can’t do that alone though, they need stability at home and their educators should feel supported to do the jobs they need to do,” Haaland said. “That’s why I am so honored to have the support of AFT NM and their support of this plan.”
The education plan was developed in collaboration with educators, parents, lawmakers, policy experts and labor unions. It targets four core areas aimed at strengthening student outcomes while providing families and educators with greater stability and resources.
The proposal includes policies to:
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Identify literacy challenges earlier, expand universal child care, strengthen reading and bilingual instruction, and grow summer reading and after-school programs.
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Expand career pathways beginning in middle school and continuing through high school, including hands-on career experience.
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Adopt and expand statewide community school models that provide wraparound services such as counseling, school-based health care and dental care, family support services and community engagement.
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Create an Every Child Outdoor Initiative to integrate outdoor learning into K-12 curricula and provide resources for implementation.
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Modernize school facilities by directing uncommitted funds from the Public School Capital Outlay Fund.
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Expand the Opportunity Scholarship to provide free tuition for New Mexicans, including graduate education and vocational certifications.
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Increase opportunities for students to earn college credit while in high school.
The endorsement from AFT New Mexico marks the first major endorsement from educators and is a testament to Haaland’s record of delivering for New Mexicans. Haaland is the only candidate in the race who has executive experience leading a department of nearly 70,000 employees and an $18 billion annual budget, and she is committed to bringing that experience to the governor’s office.
“Deb Haaland consistently and compassionately articulated her vision for the future of public education in New Mexico, from early education through higher education or career,” said AFT NM President Whitney Holland. “We have made great progress in the public education space over the last few years, and our intentional conversations with candidates for governor presented our union with the opportunity to pursue a future where educational policy decisions would be directly informed by students, parents, community needs, and importantly, the tens-of-thousands of hard working professional educators in New Mexico.”
As a member of Congress, Haaland was the lead sponsor of the Universal Childcare and Early Learning Act and delivered funding to expand broadband in rural and underserved areas of New Mexico. As Secretary of the Interior, she worked to ensure all kids had opportunities to learn outdoors and launched the American Climate Corps, a jobs program that trained the next generation for jobs of the future. Haaland is a proud product of public schools – attending 13 before graduating high school as a military kid – and believes that all New Mexicans deserve access to a quality public education and opportunities to earn good pay in New Mexico when they are grown.
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