Smaller Schools
Issue Summary
New Mexico's graduation rate ranks second from the bottom of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Only 54.1% of New Mexico's children graduate from high school, compared with a national average of 70.6%. An average of 77 students drop out each school day across New Mexico - nearly 14,000 per year.
Decades of research have shown that smaller schools have higher graduation rates, higher student achievement, lower levels of student alienation and violence, and higher levels of satisfaction among students, parents, principals, and teachers. Small schools also dramatically improve the performance of low-income children, which helps to narrow the persistent achievement gap.
The most effective high school size, according to the research, is 600-900 students. Yet, in 2007, more than two-thirds of New Mexico ninth graders entered high schools with populations larger than 1,000 students, and nearly a third entered high schools with more than 2,000 students.
Small schools are not only better for students, they also cost less to build and operate. Researchers have found that the most efficient schools are those serving 300-900 students. Schools larger than this experience "diseconomies of scale": inefficiencies and increased costs that result from increases in bureaucracy, security, and transportation. In addition, if the operational cost of a school is calculated "per graduate" rather than "per student," small schools are substantially more efficient than large schools because their dropout rates are much lower.
The capital costs of small schools can also be far less per student than those of large schools if the small schools are designed to take advantage of community educational resources like gymnasiums, pools, libraries, and sports fields, rather than duplicating these facilities. Several New Mexico charter schools have successfully applied this community-based model, at a savings of millions of taxpayer dollars.
Think New Mexico recommends that the legislature and Governor Richardson enact legislation limiting the size of new schools built in New Mexico at no more than 400 students for elementary and middle schools and no more than 900 students for high schools.
During the 2009 legislative session, Think New Mexico championed legislation based on our proposals. The bill (Senate Bill 255) passed the Senate 28-11, but ran out of time in the House. Think New Mexico will continue to advocate for smaller schools, and will work to enact these reforms in the 2011 legislative session. Sign up for our email alerts to stay informed and get involved on this issue.
Get Involved
Think New Mexico's legislative successes are due in large part to the grassroots advocacy of our supporters. During the 2007 legislative session, Think New Mexico supporters sent hundreds of messages to their legislators and the governor urging them to support our lottery reform legislation, which ultimately passed by wide, bipartisan margins. If you would like to assist Think New Mexico in our efforts to establish smaller schools to help New Mexico's students succeed,
please call or write your state legislators and urge them to support legislation capping the size of New Mexico's public schools.
Click here to ask your legislators to support small schools.
Vocal public support of policy reforms like reducing the size of New Mexico's schools plays a big part in making them happen. Legislators are attentive and responsive to letters to the editors from their constituents.
We encourage you to express your support for small schools through the media, as well as directly to your representatives.
The Media section of Think New Mexico's Action Center provides the names and contact information for your local media, including newspapers, radio stations, and television stations, and you can compose and send any of them an email or letter right from the page.
Resources & Media
Read Think New Mexico's policy report describing how smaller schools can help New Mexico's students succeed
Coalition in Support of Smaller Schools
Read what New Mexicans are saying about smaller schools
Read what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan says about the importance of smaller schools
Newspaper Articles & Editorials
Read an opinion editorial on why smaller schools are a cost effective education reform, authored by Paul Gessing of the libertarian Rio Grande Foundation • January 10, 2010
Read editorials from the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican advocating for smaller schools as part of the solution to New Mexico's dropout crisis • August 2009
Read La Jicarita News article on 2009 smaller schools bill • February 2009
Read New Mexico Business Weekly story on Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative • December 5, 2008
Read Albuquerque Journal editorial in support of Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative • October 11, 2008
Read Santa Fe New Mexican editorial endorsing Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative • October 17, 2008
Read Santa Fe New Mexican article on Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative • October 5, 2008
Read Union County Leader article on Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative
Radio and Television
Watch KWES NewsWest Channel 9 report on Think New Mexico's smaller schools initiative • October 22, 2008 (1:57)
Listen to KSFR Santa Fe Public Radio "Journey Home" story on smaller schools • January 8, 2009 (mp3, 14:36)
Listen to KUNM Public Radio report on small schools • October 9, 2008 (mp3, 1:45)
Blogs, Online Media, and Other
Read syndicated columnist Jay Miller's blog entry on Think New Mexico's small schools initiative • March 11, 2009
Read Mario Burgos blog entry on Think New Mexico's smaller schools reform initiative • October 14, 2008
80% agree that smaller schools reduce the dropout rate, according to an online poll by the New Mexico Business Weekly, in which 445 New Mexicans participated
