Praise for Skandera's Ideas

Hanna Skandera

Capitol Report New Mexico - Ever since taking office, Gov. Susana Martinez and her secretary-designee at the New Mexico Public Education Department, Hanna Skandera, have touted the success of public school reforms instituted in Florida and have used the “Florida model” as a framework for overhauling New Mexico’s public schools. A number of Democrats have criticized Martinez and Skandera for what they say is a constant refrain of Florida cheerleading. “We keep hearing about Florida, Florida, Florida,” Rep. Sheryl Williams Stapleton (D-Albuquerque) said at one committee hearing this winter. “This is New Mexico; not Florida.”

Apodaca Education Building

Well, a national study of public schools has just come out, trumpeting the gains that Florida has made — specifically in offering advanced placement courses to public school students that “holds true across rich and poor districts.” But the glowing review didn’t come from a think tank promoting free-market solutions like the Cato Institute. Or from conservative news sources such as Fox News, the National Review or The Weekly Standard. The heralding of the “Florida model” came from ProPublica, a media outlet that describes itself as an “independent non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism,” that has partnered with such progressive voices as the New York Times, PBS, NPR and the Huffington Post. In 2010 ProPublica became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize. Read full story here: News New Mexico

Praise for Skandera's Ideas