SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham now supports a $15 minimum wage for school workers around the state after proposing a lower minimum to the Legislature earlier this month.
The news came from her education secretary in a legislative hearing Friday. Fellow Democrats in the Legislature support a $15 minimum wage for school employees to help K-12 schools compete for workers amid an increasingly competitive labor market.
In Santa Fe, for example, some unfilled food worker positions in the local school district start at just over $12 per hour, while a local McDonald’s advertises a starting wage of $14 per hour.