N.M. pupils back at school
New Ariz. law allows them to go to WRUSD

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

FORT DEFIANCE — Students living in New Mexico may now return to school in Arizona.

It was nearly a year ago when an estimated 200 students living in New Mexico enrolled in the Window Rock Unified School District were informed they could no longer attend Arizona schools.

A compact had allowed Window Rock to admit students from New Mexico, but it expired in 1996 after a state law was passed to address illegal immigration; however, Arizona schools continued to enroll out-of-state residents until last year.

"Nobody enforced it," Lorraine W. Nelson, president of the Fort Defiance Chapter and secretary/treasurer of the Arizona/New Mexico Educational Convenience Committee, said. "It didn't reach us until last year."

The law was brought to the attention of then newly hired Window Rock School District Superintendent Thomas Jackson who said that the school had no other choice but to comply with the law. The school then stopped admitting students tuition-free in the fall of last year.

"It was a big trauma to the students because they've been going to the schools since they were kids," Nelson said. "It was chaos."

Students living as close as one-half mile from Window Rock schools had to be bused for several hours each day to New Mexico, Nelson said, while other parents sent their children to BIA boarding schools.

"Kids were trying to get on the bus and they were actually denied," said John T. Platero, a retired community member, parent and grandparent, who was elected as the president of the Arizona/New Mexico Educational Convenience Committee. "It was turmoil."

Grassroots committee
In August 2006, the community created the committee under the Fort Defiance Chapter House after numerous attempts to get the school districts Board of Education to do something about the law failed.

"They seemed as if it was really nothing of their concern," Nelson, who would be later elected to the board in early 2007, said at the time.

Loberta Redhouse, vicepresident of the committee and Red Lake Chapter official, said the chapter joined forces with Fort Defiance Chapter after students from Navajo were dropped off at the state line and had to walk nearly a mile home.

When they first formed, the committee said they attempted to get support from the Navajo Nation Education Committee, but after no response, the group said they decided to take the issue to the state level.

"We really didn't know what we were going after with this law," Platero admitted. Each of the committee members said the law affected their children and grandchildren.

For nearly a year, the committee began working closely with Ron Lee, a lobbyist with the Native Policy Group in Mesa, and Rep. Albert Tom, D-Chambers, who sponsored House Bill 2332, to change the law.

House Bill 2332 signed
After a year and 18 sessions at the state level, it was signed into law by Gov. Janet Napolitano on July 2.

The bill allows children living on reservation land in New Mexico to attend Arizona schools without paying tuition.

"That's what they (community and children) have been waiting for," said Nelson.

The reason the tabling of the bill was ongoing, Lee and Tom explained to the committee, was because representatives were looking at it as a money bill.

Because students from New Mexico would be counted as Arizona residents, representatives initially opposed the bill, convinced that it would garner more of the per-student state funding that's given to every Arizona school district, as well as more of the federal funds that take the place of a property tax. The district does not collect property tax because it is located on reservation lands, but instead receives federal funding because the land is held in trust by the federal government.

But Nelson said the same number of students who live on the Navajo Nation in Arizona go to New Mexico schools, which would create a "wash."

State representatives became convinced that it was not a money bill after receiving a letter of support from Esther V. Macias, acting superintendent of Gallup-McKinley County School District in late May, supporting the house bill.

In a short letter, Macias explained that tuition would be paid for by the local school district, not the states, and that as long as the numbers were a "wash" no one would be required to pay tuition.

Nelson said the letter swayed Linda Gray, R-Phoenix, who was originally highly opposed to the bill, to sponsor an amendment to the main bill. The committee said they did not receive support from Gallup-McKinley County Schools until after the ousting of former Superintendent Karen White. When the bill made it to the Arizona state capital, the committee said Window Rock School District helped the group with the cost of lodging and meals when they traveled to Phoenix to present the bill, but said they had received little support prior.

The passing of the bill came just before the start of the 2007-2008 school year.

"We said next year by this time, our kids will be in school," an elated Platero said.

Support, clarification needed
The passing of the new law was shared by the committee to the Board on Education Wednesday evening. Several board members expressed thanks to the committee.

Theresa Galvan, board member, said the next step is to begin working with New Mexico, and possibly identify board members to work with New Mexico on the issue. Although Gallup-McKinley County School District is going through a transition, Galvan said the board needs to sit down with them and work out the details regarding the bill.

Jackson also expressed thanks, and said the district needs to start comparing numbers to clarify if there really will be a "wash." "We need to get these numbers worked out," he said.

He also expressed confidence in the Gallup-McKinley County Schools to support the bill.

"With the three Navajo members on the school board, I think they're going to make this work for Navajo kids," Jackson said.

While buses are authorized to travel 20 miles from the school for pick ups, Jackson questioned whether school buses from the district were allowed into New Mexico, and said the board needs to check whether these buses are insured in both states. The board plans to clarify the information after the bill is officially drafted by the state.

The Arizona/New Mexico Educational Committee is inviting the public to a community celebration for the bill to be held at the Fort Defiance Chapter House on July 15 at 3 p.m.

For more information, call (928) 729-4352.