On Friday, the Torrance County Commission passed a resolution to protect the elected Torrance County municipal school district boards of education by affirming state statute that grants them “certain powers and duties which include developing educational policies for school districts, overseeing budgeting and procurement, and adopting rules pertaining to the administration of all powers and duties of the Torrance County municipal school boards” without threats from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED).
The action comes after duly elected local school boards, including Floyd Municipal Schools in Roosevelt County, have been under fierce attack by the Governor, who has attempted to suspend them and install her hand-selected NMPED bureaucrats in their stead.
Floyd Municipal School Board rejected the Governor’s mandates instituting forcible masking of children, instituting segregation based on vaccination status, and instituting a surveillance state where students must show proof of vaccination at all times. Lujan Grisham “suspended” the Floyd School Board members after the duly elected body opposed her edicts.
The Commission noted, that “dictates by the New Mexico Public Education Department to Torrance County municipal school boards threatening punitive actions such as adverse licensure decisions against school district personnel, suspension of Torrance County municipal school board governance, and other enforcement measures, and regarding operations and policy decisions without legislative approval or going through the proper rule-making process and that do not include input from the local community are antithetical to the concepts of local control, federalism, and the rule of law and violate state statute, the New Mexico Administrative Code, and the Constitution of the State of New Mexico.”
Rep. Stefani Lord (R-Bernalillo, Sandoval, and Santa Fe) wrote on Facebook that the Commission “set aside money for legal defense.” Lord added, “the testimony from the people, especially the kids, was compelling.”
State Sen. David Gallegos (R-Eddy and Lea) was also in attendance for the event, where he spoke about the importance of local control.
The County Commission’s resolution noted that the “Torrance County municipal school district boards of education be permitted to adopt rules and policies pertaining to the administration of all powers and duties of the Torrance County municipal school boards, which include the responsibility to identify community and school district needs and opinions, and to develop short and long term strategies for the educational success, health, safety, and welfare of students and staff.”
All three commissioners, LeRoy Candelaria, Kevin McCall, and Ryan Schwebach signed onto the resolution.
Today at the county commission special session, they amended and passed a resolution to protect the ELECTED school board, allowing them to make decisions that are best for their District without bullying and threats from PED or the Governor.
good for them