I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
Part of the Senate leadership is questioning whether the nominee for public education secretary reaches constitutional muster. The dispute comes on whether the nominee, Hanna Skandera, is a “qualified, experienced educator,” the Associated Press reported Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Michael Sanchez, D-Belen, says that the legislature is looking at whether Skandera’s experience fits the qualifications laid out in the state constitution. The language was changed in 2003 when the Public Education Department was created and voters approved a change in language as a constitutional amendment.
Skandera has never worked as a teacher in a public school though was “a lecturer and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s school of public policy,” according to the Associated Press. The AP also outlined some of Skandera’s other jobs in the educational field:
Skandera, 37, worked from March 2007 to January 2009 as deputy chief of staff and senior policy adviser to U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.
She was a deputy commissioner of education in the Florida Department of Education from 2005 to 2007. She held several jobs in the California office of the secretary for education in 2004 and 2005, including undersecretary for education, chief of staff and assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.
Her duties in the Florida and California jobs included policy and legislative adviser and “spokesperson to the media, public and education constituents,” according to Skandera’s résumé, which was released by the Governor’s Office.
Skandera also was a lecturer and adjunct professor at Pepperdine University’s school of public policy in 2002 and 2003. She earned a master’s degree in public policy from the university in 2000.
She worked at the Hoover Institution, a think tank at Stanford University, from May 2000 to December 2003 as a public affairs and research fellow. She worked for Catholic Charities in California from 1993 to 1998 on abstinence-only sex-education programs for students in grades six to 12.
The Democratic Party of New Mexico and teachers unions have been critical of Martinez’s selection of Skandera.
The state Democratic Party criticized Skandera’s selection of advisers, which did not include any New Mexicans. Unions also questioned the decision to pay the out-of-state advisers a total of $152,000.
Martinez’s nominations haven’t all gone smoothly. Her first choice to head the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Harrison Schmitt, withdrew his name from nomination after refusing to undergo a background check. Martinez’s administration knew about the refusal, but after Schmitt withdrew his name said it would require all cabinet secretaries to comply with the background checks.
