On Thursday, Democrat New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham sidestepped the state Legislature to unilaterally create an “Office of Special Education” within her New Mexico Public Education Department.
“The governor — who sidestepped the legislative process in creating the agency through an executive order — joined educators, families and top state education officials at Lowell Elementary School in Albuquerque to announce the effort, framing it as an opportunity to create streamlined services that stretch from birth through college,” reported the Santa Fe New Mexican.
A bill to do just this died in the 2023 Legislative Session amid concerns over local control of such programs in the state. The bill never got a vote in the state House of Representatives.
“I’m not waiting one more minute to get the services and the supports and the education that every student in New Mexico needs,” the governor said, echoing previous remarks she made when she forced through a special session to legalize recreational marijuana in 2021.
At the time, she screamed during a virtual meeting with a group of supporters, “We’re gonna have a special session in a week or so, and we’re gonna get cannabis because I am not gonna wait another year. We’re gonna win it, and it’s gonna have the social justice aspects that we know have to be in a package!”
“This is an elevation of special education,” Lujan Grisham said of her new executive order-sanctioned office, despite New Mexico children being woefully underserved by the failing governmental departments already in place to supposedly protect them, such as the PED and the Children, Youth, and Families Department (CYFD).
Now, the state will have a new bureaucratic office to likely mismanage disability issues in schools. Currently, the state ranks last out of every other state in the nation in education.
It is currently unclear what portion of the PED budget would be allocated to the office since the Department did not get funding in the 2023 Legislative Session for the then-nonexistent office. The latest move by the governor not only usurps the Legislature’s powers to create the office but also its appropriation power.
She does not have the funding so it’s just her braying in the wind because she didn’t get her way. She doesn’t really care about children or New Mexicans, she just likes shoving things down legislator’s throats. Power is everything to her and the legislature should clip her wings.
PED needs a real
Name change? With all so many are doing yo our children today.
She is at the top of the pyramid of evil doers in this state of chaos. #VoteDemOut in 2023 2024.
Perhaps she could be the first adult child in this group she’s created to get her special education on the NM constitution and US Constitution.just as a refresher class, aye?
I wonder if this new office will address the number of cases of Educational Assistants & Teachers that have been severely wounded due to rules that have been implemented regarding students with disabilities? Whenever you ask questions the Union says, “You’re reading too much into this. Just follow the procedures and you’re protected”. What about the student with disabilities?
Snakes and crooks surround themselves with like minds..
POWER, POWER, POWER is all that drive our POS governor.
My reply was not posted.
Hmmm? Wondering where it went?
The expansion of government and its intrusion into our lives is a paramount goal of the leftist agenda. We saw the bloated salary increases to Governor Lujan Grisham’s administrative staff and creating another beauracracy is very much along those same lines. It is, of course, all in the name of the good of the people while only leftist government officials reap any real benefit.
Heil Grisham!
She did NOTHING for education (remember her “running through walls” ads?) in her terms. All this is, is to create another bureaucracy , as JD Vasquez pointed out.
Since we’re on the subject of one person making decisions, can we talk about what Maggie Screwloose’s latest plan is? She wants to “upgrade” the Dominion systems. Any of us that has followed her antics knows exactly what this is: she wants to centralize elections and take power away from the counties. DO NOT LET HER DO IT.
Go here: https://www.sos.nm.gov/voting-and-elections/data-and-maps/voting-system-certification-committee/. Read it carefully. Scroll down to Public Comment and leave a comment. May 31st is the deadline for public comment.
MLG has been able to get away with so much because THE PUBLIC ALLOWS IT. If you don’t like it…speak the hell up!
Thank you for the pointer to the website for public comments on the proposed upgrade to the election system. I submitted a comment just now. As a Senior Scientist/Engineer retired from Sandia National Labs, I am convinced that there is no such thing as a trustworthy certification of any complex piece of software, and any attempt to certify it is just a whitewash process to fool a gullible public. The only trustworthy election process is hand tabulation of paper ballots.
AGREE 1000%! I worked on Audrey Trujillo’s campaign (and I believe she was the honest winner of that election) and that was one thing she wanted to bring back — hand tabulation of paper ballots. The left constantly defames her….because she is right. We have a low population density outside of Santa Fe and ABQ….so it is entirely possible to get this done in one evening and call the elections with certainty by 11P, as used to be done.
You tell ’em Doug. MLG is totally out of control.
MLG knows exactly what she is doing.
“Of the cannabis-related tax revenue it collects, the state distributes 40% to public schools, 15% to law enforcement, and 25% to mental health and treatment programs”.
This may be where the extra money is finally coming in from and it’s about time. Not your taxes, but those who contribute to the cannabis industry.
Obviously the other 20% is for her to slip it into her pocket somehow!!!
This POS gov is an insult to any state. But then this IS a blue state & someone has to be last. Congrats gov.
There needs to be an end to this trend of “Executive Orders” being used to bypass the established process. It isn’t just MLG doing it…it’s her boss and various other governors. EOs are ONLY to be used in times of emergency and immediacy. Not because you don’t feel like following the rules.
On one hand, yes, the state of education in this state is a mess and one can argue to the point of things needing to be done in a hurry. However, I have a tough time following the logic when MULTIPLE opportunities have been offered to fix things. She’s had years to fix things, so no, she does not need to resort to EOs now.
She is a disgusting POS. I cannot even look at her face on TV or in the papers. Wake up New Mexico!!!
Whatever needs to be fine to make voting transparent and legal should be bipartisan.
I worked the polls during the 2022 mid-terms. Prior to the official Election Day voting, SOS staff retrieved the Early Voting machines to transport back to Santa Fe in an OPEN BED pickup truck. The paper ballots were secured in plastic crates, but I do not know if they were placed in the open bed of the truck or the cab of the truck. An accident or other nefarious activity could have allowed criminal access to the results. When hours become long and people are tired, some make inexcusable mistakes.
Lastly, Election Day pay for poll workers should be the same as early voting pay. It was 50% less!!! We worked 16 hours for the pay of 8 hours.
Additionally, somewhere in the above above article, it said it will take less time to hand tabulate votes outside of Santa Fe due to less population. Does Santa Fe not regard Albuquerque and Los Cruces as large cities?!?!
Albuquerque. 562,336
Los Cruces. 109,934
Rio Rancho. 102,403
Santa Fe. 86,935
More State employees, more union members, more political contributors to her. It’s not about the good of the state it’s all about expanding the unions and her contribution base.
Destroyed nearly half of small business restaurants throughout the entire State and gets re-elected…
When the Governor is a criminal it’s time for the citizens to disobey. For the preservation of our State we have a duty to disobey every last decree of this enemy Communist tyrant.
MLG creates an “Office of Special Education” to deal with the damage done to children from her school closures and lockdowns. Bless her heart.
Perhaps in the end this Napoleon wannabe will get her just due. An immoral tyrant power hungry person not worthy of any future public office. Worthy of a position behind bars, in fact.
You get what you vote for. You keep electing the same corrupt politicians what do you think your going to get when r elected an honest one
I think every one East of the Rio Grande should vote to return us to the Texas Republic. Wouldn’t that be nice.
This is a sad day when a single person can by executive order shove orders down peoples throats. I am definitely disturbed by this. Balance between legislative, executive, and judicial must be followed. One branch of government can not rule over all 3. This is why we have a system of checks and balances. Now the over reaching soap box standing governor screaming at the top of her Gopher lungs should not be allowed to proceed with her agenda. The legislative branch is what should’ve been able to weigh in. But once again she feels she’s doing what’s best. But she’s had years to do something. And now she wants to do this more red tape to hurt the kids instead of helping them. What should be done is fire all of them morons and start fresh. Get people who are qualified and redo the entire roster. From the top down. If these people happen to be republican and some are independent… well guess what.. they should be incharge. Yes. No matter if the person is part of a group MLG does not like well too bad. We need a person to make decisions that have dedicated thier lives to do better; then that’s who we need. Not a dictatorship! I for one have no confidence in the governor. She only does things if it benefits her.