SANTA FE – The New Mexico Legislature advanced a bill Wednesday that would increase the minimum salaries of some fluent Indigenous language speakers who teach the languages to children in schools but are not state certified teachers.
The instructors who speak Navajo, Zuni, Keres and other Native American languages work for school systems at non-teaching jobs for which they are paid much less than teachers despite the work that they do teaching languages to students.
About 100 people in New Mexico have Indigenous language certificates approved by their tribes and administered by state education officials. The bill would provide state funding to cover those certificate holders with minimum salary protections of middle-tier licensed teachers.
The measure could double or triple instructor salaries from the local minimum wage to a teacher salary that currently stands at $50,000, but is expected to be raised to $60,000 by the Legislature this year.
The House Education Committee advanced the bill Wednesday in a 9-1 vote that included Democratic and Republican support.
The bill’s supporters said the salary increase is essential for fairness, will boost the number of Native American instructors in the classroom and preserve language and culture.
Critics voiced concerns that school workers like bus drivers would benefit from the program.
