A retired educator and veteran state senator is heavily focused on preparing school students for the future.
Senator Bill Soules taught psychology, math, and other subjects in the Las Cruces schools before retiring a few years back.
Saying that he quote “sat back for a couple of years as the reading portion moved forward” in the state legislature, Soules is backing several bills this time designed to strengthen math education in the schools of New Mexico.
In an analysis by the Legislative Education Study Committee, one of the measures, Senate Bill 235 is proposed to amend the Mathematics and Science Education Act to establish statewide requirements for K through 12 math instruction and practice.
“ It's now time to start moving the math part forward if we're going to give our children advantages going on in life," Soules said.
"And so this sets up some of the framework for the universities to prepare the teachers who are going to be teaching math, but it also sets up frameworks for the districts to start prioritizing math as important parts of a child's learning.“
One of the key elements of the measure, Soules said, is to use testing and tutoring as early as possible, prior to second grade, to help students struggling with math to get caught up before the subject gets more complex.
Soules is focused on math, but at the close of a Senate floor session last week, he gave a short speech about the economic importance of preparing young people in myriad ways.
In our interview, Soules further explained his message.
“ Economist, James Heckman has calculated that it's a better investment to invest in children than it is in Wall Street. Yet we don't do that," Soules said.
"Children are often forgotten. They don't have lobbyists up here. They don't have people that are pushing their needs, and particularly low-income children often get forgotten as, their parents just need to do a better job as if it's the child's fault that they chose bad parents.“
SB 235 is currently awaiting a hearing in the House Education Committee.
