"Third time's the charm," goes the old saying, suggesting that after two failed endeavors, the third attempt always works. Let's see if that's true when it comes to stopping the practice of social promotion.

Gov. Susan Martinez, who has made educational reform a cornerstone of her administration, will push through at least three major education-related bills in the upcoming 30-day legislative session, which starts at noon Tuesday in the Roundhouse.

The governor wants to halt the practice of social promotion of students who cannot read to grade level by the end of the third grade. She attempted to move this program forward in both last year's regular session and autumn's special session. This time around, Martinez and Secretary of Education-designate Hanna Skandera are emphasizing early intervention, rather than retention, within the plan in the hopes of winning support of parents who may not like the idea of their children being held back.

Last Thursday, Rep. Rick Miera, D-Bernalillo, and Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Bernalillo, announced the sponsorship of a counter-bill to the governor's social-promotion bill, one that supports intervention and remedial reading tutorials but still gives parents the right to decide whether their third-grader should be held back or not if he/she cannot read to grade level. Their bill also applies to math.

Expect the governor and Skandera to put forward a plan to retool the state's teacher-evaluation system, which currently works on a basic pass/fail set-up. While that bill is still being shaped, it will likely rely a lot on student test scores to determine teacher impact. See my mid-December story on that subject at www.santafenewmexican.com/localnews/Putting-teachers—to-the-test.

Finally, the governor will ask for more than $5.5 million in funding to finance
the new A-to-F grading system for public schools. Since the Legislature passed that law into effect last year, it's likely it will follow up with the funding. Preliminary grades — subject to possible change by this coming autumn, when the bill takes effect — were released last week, with the state basically receiving an overall C. Visit www.ped.state.nm.us and click on the "grades" box to see how your district or school fared.

Here's another website for you: www.nmlegis.gov/lcs. You can find your legislative representative and keep track of what is happening with these bills at this address.

You can also check in on the various legislative education committees, including the Legislative Education Study Committee, formed in 1965 to study (and report on) laws, policies and the cost of education within the state. I attend many of these meetings and find them to be a great resource for learning more about the state's educational system and where various lawmakers stand on this issue.

Glenn Wikle, vice president of Santa Fe's Board of Education, took a moment out of a recent district study session to ask everyone to get out and vote on Feb. 7 for the Senate Bill 9 (SB 9) mill-levy election. This is the public schools capital improvement bill that helps provide funding for student technology as well as maintaining and repairing heating/cooling systems and fire and security alarms; replacing playground equipment, and financing musical instruments, athletic equipment, and buses for activities. It cannot be used for salaries. Visit www.sfps.info to see the district's presentation on SB 9.

Contact Robert Nott at 986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.