Gov. Susana Martinez isn't giving up her efforts to end "social promotion" of students not academically ready to move forward in school.

But she may face unexpected hurdles, based on comments Monday by Senate Majority Whip Mary Jane Garcia that might have caught the Republican governor off guard.

The Governor's Office had asked Garcia, a Democrat from Doña Ana, to appear with a bipartisan group of state lawmakers Monday at Santa Fe's Carlos Gilbert Elementary School as Martinez announced her latest legislative push only a week before a special session convenes Sept. 6 at the Capitol.

The governor is supporting a bill that would hold back third-graders who can't read at their grade level.

"Report after report, ranking after ranking, the results are the same," Martinez said. "We need reform for our schools."

Garcia was on hand because she had supported a similar piece of legislation that failed to get through the Legislature's regular session earlier this year.

But Garcia publicly had a sudden change of heart, which added drama to Monday's proceedings.

"It's premature," Garcia said of the bill. She pointed out that taxpayers will have to fork out about $50,000 a day for legislators to attend the special session, and she stressed it's not the right time to push for educational reform, given the need to focus on redistricting of political boundaries based on the latest census numbers.

News conferences are usually highly scripted affairs with few surprises, so Garcia's last-minute change of heart telegraphed the uphill climb that Martinez and her team may face in lobbying lawmakers to pass the social-promotion bill.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to talk to you beforehand. But I made this decision just last night," Garcia said to Martinez. "I was mobbed with calls from everybody, saying, 'You can't do that. You can't take away a parent's rights. We don't want our kids to be held back. We want them to go on and achieve.' "

Garcia — a member of the Legislative Education Study Committee and the Education Committee, as well as an advisory member of the Redistricting Committee — twice apologized to the governor for her about-face.

Martinez took Garcia's comments in stride, but the Republican Party of New Mexico immediately issued a news release in which state Executive Director Bryan Watkins said, "Senator Mary Jane Garcia would rather take political cheap shots than improve our schools."

Rep. Nora Espinoza, R-Roswell, also fired back with a feisty tone during the conference, saying legislators can find the time to tackle a variety of issues during the special session.

"I'm tired of excuses," she said in response to Garcia's comments, arguing for quick and decisive action on the bill. "This is wrong. This is morally wrong."

Martinez and Secretary of Education-designate Hanna Skandera first pushed the bill last February. Though the bill had considerable momentum, the "clock ran out" on the regular session before a final vote could occur, the governor said.

Martinez said 80 percent of New Mexico's fourth-grade students cannot read at a proficient level.

She and Skandera said the state can access at least $150 million in state and federal funds to create intervention programs to make sure challenged students are given support as early as their kindergarten year. The state can apply for other state and federal grants to channel more dollars into the program as well, Martinez said.

Florida — where Skandera worked as deputy commissioner of education from 2005 to 2007 under former Republican Gov. Jeb Bush — has such a bill in place, and Oklahoma and Tennessee just signed similar measures into law.

Studies on the topic often spotlight both the pros and cons of social promotion. A recent Westchester Institute for Human Services Research report, for instance, notes that students who are promoted without being able to read are inadequately prepared for college and the workplace.

One counterargument in the Westchester Institute report, however, is that repeating one grade more than doubles the odds that retained students will drop out of school.

Christine Trujillo, president of American Federation of Teachers New Mexico, said by phone Monday that she doesn't think Martinez has "valid data to substantiate moving that social-promotion bill forward. There is no evidence that keeping kids back helps them at all.

"Right now, we are in a position where lots of school districts have more kids than they should have in a classroom, and this will increase class loads."

But Carlos Gilbert teacher Maaite Girdner, who encourages her fifth- and sixth-graders to read 20-plus books a year, said she's OK with the governor's social-promotion bill because it will increase parent awareness and involvement.

The bill not only calls for parental buy-in, but also eliminates a waiver parents can request for their children if they cannot read.

The governor had her share of supporters among the roughly dozen students lined up behind her in the school's library. Though most of them said ahead of time that they had no idea why they were asked to be there, several of them offered an opinion on the governor's social-promotion bill.

"If you don't know how to read, you don't know how to do anything," said sixth-grader Max Singleton.

Staff reporter Trip Jennings contributed to this story.

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