New Mexico State Senator Dede Feldman's Blog

Sen. Dede Feldman honored with a Pacesetter Award from Women Legislators’ Lobby in Washington, DC

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Senator Dede Feldman just returned from a national conference in Washington, DC, where she joined hundreds of women strategizing about how women can help change our national priorities and build a better future. "Women at the Table of Power" brought together luminaries, women state legislators, and women activists - all working to empower women to step up to the tables of power and make our country safer, more democratic, more respected.

Senator Dede Feldman joined hundreds of women activists and state legislators from across the country earlier this month in Washington, DC to say: "We can change our national priorities. And women will set the course in a new direction."

Sen. Feldman was one of 22 women legislators honored with the organization's Pacesetter Award. WiLL Pacesetters are recognized for their noteworthy legislative service, their contributions to sound, progressive policy, and their groundbreaking leadership in the states. Feldman was lauded for her environmental, consumer and health legislation. The Award was presented on October 1, 2007, at a ceremony on Capitol Hill that also honored Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund.

At the conference, women from across the country shared ideas and strategies about how to move forward toward greater peace and security. Among those speaking were Jane Fonda, Marian Wright Edelman (founder and president, Children's Defense Fund), Ellen Bravo (founder, National 9 to 5), and many more. On October 2, the women headed to Capitol Hill, where they visited Members of Congress and lobbied for better federal budget priorities and a fresh look at our national security.

Activists Maria Santelli, of the Another Side Project, Ruth Koury, of the Pockets of Poverty Alliance, and Jessica Wilbanks, of Women's Action for New Directions, were part of the New Mexico delegation.

"The staggering amount of money that we are spending for the Iraq war and a continued build up of obsolete weapons has its prince back in the states," says Feldman. "The opportunities that we are sacrificing can be counted in the number of children that will continue to live without health care insurance, and the number of people who cannot afford a decent home."

So far the US has spent almost $610 billlion on the Iraq war. The cost to the taxpayers of New Mexico now totals $1.4 billion, according to the National Priorities Project. That's in addition to the 31 New Mexico soldiers who have paid the ultimate price, and the 245 who have been wounded.

"We need to readjust our priorities to provide real security here," says Feldman. "$1.4 billion could have covered 136,000 New Mexico kids with health insurance."

Feldman says she was heartened to join with women legislators from around the country who would like to see a shift of funding from military spending to helath and human services in their own states. "This conference gave me hope that women can help steer our community in a new direction. And we must do this. And it's not just the Iraq war, which is ruining our world standing and robbing us of our best and brightest young people. Our state, and our country, are seeing dangerous trends. Over the last few years, the current administration has chipped away at things that are vital to our country's peace and security. Today, we are more isolated in the world; our poorest are more at risk than ever; our economy grows weaker each day."

Rep. Mimi Stewart Talks ABout Teaching Reading……or Not!

We welcome Guest Blogger, Representative Mimi Stewart, who talks about an issue which is critical to the future of New Mexico's work force. Please feel free to share your views and leave a comment for Representative Stewart.

About 6 years ago, "Where We Stand" editorials from Sandra Feldman, the then president of the American Federation of Teachers, appeared in my legislative magazines.  It was high stakes testing time, and her column highlighted the achievement gap as already a factor when kids begin school.  She suggested extending the school year for high poverty students and called it "Kindergarten Plus."  I was an Early Childhood Liaison at the time and I was excited by her proposal because Kindergarten teachers had lamented repeatedly to me, "If I just had some more time with these young kids...!"

As a legislator, I offered House Bill 61 in 2003, the first in the nation, naming it "Kindergarten Plus" after Sandra Feldman. This project has been so successful that last year I offered HB 198, "Kindergarten to Third Grade Plus," another pilot extending the school year for 25 days in Kindergarten through 3rd grade for high poverty students. Legislators were so impressed with the high academic achievement for students in Kindergarten Plus, the new bill passed easily.

But what about the naysayers who cry, "Just adding days doesn't make a difference!" To them I say, yes, adding days is only half the battle.  Our biggest battle in elementary schools is how we are teaching reading.  The old reading wars are over, and we have won the battle. Trouble is, most teachers and administrators don't know the terms of the settlement, i.e. what does the research say about the way children learn to read? 

If you are a brain surgeon and a colleague discovers a procedure that can save the lives of another 5% of your patients, within two months, everyone is using the new procedure. 
Why is it so difficult in education to extend our knowledge of teaching reading?  We're not getting much help from our colleges of education; many of those professors are in denial, have never themselves taught struggling children to read, and are not held accountable for the lack of success in public schools.

We now have strategies, procedures, and new knowledge, based on scientific research, that enables us to teach 95% of our students to read, not just the current 40% we are reaching.  If we start early, if we use explicit and systematic teaching of the five big ideas: phonemic awareness, the alphabetic code, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, and if we will make the commitment to train teachers in these strategies, we can diminish almost every education problem we are facing. 

But where is the leadership in our districts and at the state level that is promoting the science of teaching reading?  In fact, at both the state and local levels, we are making decisions that deny the research on teaching reading, decisions that will continue to yield reading scores among the lowest in the country.

Change is hard; some say we have to honor educators' belief systems.  But teaching reading is not a religion.  It's hard work, rocket science, in fact, and just as important.  It's time for real leadership in teaching reading in New Mexico.