KRWG Public Media is covering the New Mexico Public Education Commission race for district 7. Early voting in the state is underway, and election day is November 3rd. Republican candidate John Foreman spoke with Serena Johnson.
Serena Johnson:
How has your background prepared you for this office?
John Foreman:
I've been in education a long time, over 30 years. I've been a teacher, been a coach, bus driver, assistant principal, principal, school superintendent, all those types of different things. So, I have 3 degrees. My undergraduate’s in social studies, history education – classroom teaching. My master's is in school administration, and my doctorate's in school leadership. Experience, of course, you know, degrees are one thing, but practical experience is even more valuable, I think, sometimes.
Serena Johnson:
And what are the top issues facing your district?
John Foreman:
A big concern I have, and I would want to direct funding towards this, we need to get our high school graduation rate up. I think this year it's going to be around 72/73%. And we've seen some charters here in Las Cruces that are having much higher rates than that. I went to several of the graduations in the spring and talked to their directors and they're in the low 90s – 91/92% graduation rate, which I think is wonderful. So, I think anything we can do to partner with those types of ideas. And say, you know, “Tell us how you're doing this. What's getting your graduation rates up?” I think another thing that it just seems to be an increasing, growing, concern, at least quietly, I hear among some charter folks, is autonomy. That they feel their autonomy is being challenged. I think there seems to be pressure from some in the public-school world to say, “Let's make them more and more like the traditional public school.” I think that's a growing concern for some of them, is can we retain our autonomy? And what does that look like? And I think they should be able to.
Serena Johnson:
I was going to ask, what are your proposed solutions to those issues, but it's sounding like you're saying just opening up a door for conversation to learn from the schools that are succeeding, or what do you suggest?
John Foreman:
Yeah, no, I think you're saying it well. Let's take a look at what's working and let's learn from that, whether it's in New Mexico or other states. I don't know if you are familiar. I know if you're familiar with the term in education called the "Mississippi Miracle.”
Serena Johnson:
I am not.
John Foreman:
This is an amazing story. So, the long story short, Mississippi was near the bottom of standardized test scores – the list – like New Mexico is, and now they're number 16. I would love to take a closer look at that and say, “What are they doing? Can we duplicate that here?” The other thing I would say I'm a big fan of is vocational training. There's not a lot of vocational training going on in New Mexico. There are a few pockets here and there, but I think every county in the state ought to have a vocational school. Give the young people a skill-based option. Not everybody's going to go to college, and that's okay. A lot of people out there make a very good living and have a very good life that don't have a bachelor's degree. So that would be, certainly, one of my priorities. I would love to see New Mexico move in that direction like other states have.
Serena Johnson:
What else is important for voters to know about your campaign?
John Foreman:
Money, to be honest, can be too easy of an excuse – we don't have enough money. I understand you got to fund things, teachers need to be paid decently, I get all of that; I've done those things for years. But we're number 24 in funding in our public schools across the country. We should be number 24 in test scores, but we're not, we're number 50. So, money spending half of our state budget every year on education hasn't solved the problem. So, it tells me again, funding is necessary without a doubt, but it's not the only solution. There are other things in there too we need to be looking at.
