Armstrong invites governor, education secretary to take long commute on rural school bus

Mar. 19—For some New Mexico students, the wheels on the bus go round and round ... and round and round and round: School bus commutes can eat up hours each day in rural parts of the state.

That's why Rep. Gail Armstrong, R-Magdalena, has invited Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Public Education Department Secretary Arsenio Romero to experience the long rides firsthand, joining students from Quemado or Reserve during their daily bus commutes — two hours to school and two hours back.

The invitation, which Armstrong extended Monday in a letter, comes in response to a new Public Education Department rule increasing school days for students, adopted over the objections of legislators who attached language to this year's budget bill blocking the rule only to see Lujan Grisham veto it. Announced earlier this month, the rule — which Romero framed as the best way forward for New Mexico's struggling students — requires 180 instructional days at schools across the state, with a few exceptions.

"I want them to realize what they're asking four-day [schools] in rural New Mexico to do," Armstrong said in an interview.

Neither the Governor's Office nor Public Education Department officials responded when The New Mexican's asked whether they'd take Armstrong up on the invitation.

Under the revised rule, four-day weeks will be allowed so long as schools still meet the 180-day requirement, Public Education Department spokesperson Janelle Garcia wrote in an email to The New Mexican. Meeting the 180-day requirement on a four-day-per-week schedule would equate to 45 weeks of school per year.

Armstrong, who represents a large swath of Catron, Sierra, Socorro and Valencia counties and was among the 180-day rule's strongest opponents, said she worries the new rules will functionally remove the option for a four-day week — adding another long day of commuting to students' weeks.

"The new rule ... will only increase the stress these distances place on our students," Armstrong wrote in her invitation to Romero and Lujan Grisham.

Armstrong said she worries about the impact of getting rid of four-day school weeks, which remain popular in many rural New Mexico districts as a means of retaining teachers and allowing youngsters to participate on family farms and ranches. She accused those behind the rule of "circumventing the legislative process."

In 2023, lawmakers passed House Bill 130, requiring all public schools to provide 1,140 hours of learning time per year, including teacher professional development time. The minimum number of hours — not days — represents legislative will, she said.

During this year's legislative session, Armstrong put forth the amendment to prohibit the Public Education Department from using state funds to implement or enforce the 180-day rule. Though it was adopted by lawmakers, the governor line-item vetoed it from the state's budget bill.

In her letter, Armstrong wrote the rule "fails to recognize the achievement many rural schools on a four-day week have," and noted Quemado and Reserve have some of the state's highest English language arts proficiency scores.

"In fact, 12 of the 15 school districts that had half or more of their students demonstrating proficiency in the 2022-2023 school year have four-day calendars," she wrote.

Growing up on a ranch in Catron County, Armstrong herself made an hourslong bus ride to school starting in second grade. The drive, she recalled, was more than 100 miles each way.

Kids around the state still make that kind of commute — twice a day, most days — Armstrong said.

That's why she invited the governor and education secretary to ride the bus with them.

"I think that the bureaucrats need to understand: What does a school day look like for a second grader that goes to Quemado or Reserve?" Armstrong said.