Native American education

The 68 Navajo students at Lybrook bring their district hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal funding each year, — $381,000 in fiscal year 2025 — money meant to help Indigenous students. Families and school staff believe the money received for Lybrook students is instead going to other schools in the district, whose student populations are almost entirely non-Native.

Native students in New Mexico’s largest school district miss class more than their peers and score lower in reading, science and math. Now, the district is partnering with Native-led groups in what officials say is an effort to change that.

Native American students make up 11% of public school enrollment in New Mexico. Yet there are not enough resources for them to learn their Native languages. A bill passed in the recent legislative session would create new schools under a state-tribal compact to address those gaps.