New Mexico’s new public education secretary-designate, Kurt Steinhaus, has big plans for the state’s public school system, which has struggled with declining enrollment, teacher vacancies and low student proficiency rates.

He presented lawmakers on the Legislative Education Study Committee with short- and long-terms goals during a hearing Monday, including a five-year plan to address a judge’s 2018 order against the state in the landmark Yazzie/Martinez education lawsuit.

Steinhaus, a former Los Alamos Public Schools superintendent, stepped into the Cabinet-level job in mid-August, following the resignation of former education secretary Ryan Stewart.

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