Dr. Kurt Steinhaus

Creating Educational Stability in the New Mexico Public Education Department

By Todd Fuqua

The Public Education Department had received $1.6 billion in COVID relief from the federal government. Dr. Steinhaus wanted to make sure the money was spent efficiently and in a way that would do the most good.

“It’s amazing actually how much I have done in this amount of time,” he said. “We focused on keeping schools open, learning in person while addressing unfinished learning after schools were closed last year.”

Dr. Steinhaus took the secretary position following his retirement from a 45-year career in public education, finishing as superintendent of Los Alamos Public Schools in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Upon taking office in Santa Fe, he identified his short, medium and long-term goals. The rate of success has been phenomenal, given how much the pandemic affected education in the state.

“This is the most challenging job I’ve ever had, and I love it,” said Dr. Steinhaus. “I get up every morning, jump in with both feet and run with it. When I was chosen for the job, I told the governor that I’d do it on one condition: That my decisions are based on what’s best for students and families. Sometimes those decisions are difficult and controversial.”

Among his short-term goals was to declare the 2021–22 school year a “year of literacy.” Dr. Steinhaus said deans of schools of education at colleges and universities and principals and teachers at public and private schools across the state have leapt at the chance to make the initiative a success.

Photo Courtesy NMPED

A midterm goal involved using the COVID relief funds to get school districts to meet deadlines on their plans focused on student learning.

A long-term goal is for New Mexico to be the fastest growing state in math and language arts achievement in kindergarten through eighth grade.

To do this, he presented a budget to the State Legislature that raised salaries for all teachers and administrators to draw and retain qualified and capable educators.

Taking on the education secretary position meant drawing on his experience as an administrator and as a student at ENMU.

“I think one of the most important things about getting my degrees was building relationships with colleagues. I’ve kept in touch with my classmates and have reached out to them for advice and consultation in my career,” he said. “Learning how to become a teacher from my ENMU instructors played a huge part in my career success.”

The ultimate goal is to create a sustainable educational system that will continue for years after Dr. Steinhaus is retired – a system that will be successful for years, regardless of who is at the helm.

“I want to put New Mexico on a path that sees these initiatives grow every year. That’s important because secretaries of education come and go,” Dr. Steinhaus said. “I think of it as a flywheel. It takes a lot of energy to get it started, but then it’s easy to keep it going. Education in New Mexico is tough to get going, but once it does, things are easy from there.”