Building Sovereign Futures: How New Mexico is Reshaping Education for Native Students 

The conversations inside the Indian Education Summit moved quickly between celebration and accountability, from student success stories to difficult conversations about language loss, public safety, and educational gaps for Native students across New Mexico.

But throughout the day, one theme remained constant. Tribal leaders, educators, students, and state officials repeatedly emphasized that progress in Native American education only happens through sustained relationships, meaningful consultation, and investments rooted in culture, language, and sovereignty.

“The literacy score jumps for Native American students are stunning… Students are seeing their potential. Educators are beginning to see relief and change,” Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham told tribal leaders and educators gathered at the summit. “And this is the year other states are going to see that we can’t be stopped in terms of that building and growth.”

Hosted as part of New Mexico’s ongoing government-to-government consultation process, the summit brought together pueblo, nation, and tribal leaders from across the state alongside leadership from the New Mexico Public Education Department, Early Childhood Education and Care Department, and Higher Education Department. The conversations centered on educational outcomes for Native American students, long-term investments in tribal communities, and the future of Native American education as the state prepares for a gubernatorial transition at the start of 2027.

For PED, the summit served as an opportunity to highlight measurable progress, while reinforcing the work that still lies ahead.

PED Secretary Mariana D. Padilla emphasized that many of the improvements discussed throughout the summit were the result of collaboration between tribal communities, legislators, educators, and state agencies.

“These accomplishments are attributed to our collective work,” Padilla said. “We are working every day together to make a difference for our students, our educators, and our families.”

That progress includes the rollout of PED’s new accreditation system, which now incorporates compliance with the Indian Education Act and tribal consultation requirements directly into accountability measures for districts and charter schools.

“One of the things that we added to our accreditation process is the compliance with the Indian Education Act and the importance of tribal consultation,” Padilla said. “This accountability process will allow us to withhold accreditation and funding if schools do not meet requirements.”

Throughout the summit, tribal leaders repeatedly stressed that consultation must be more than symbolic.

“Consultation is not ‘check the box,’” said Ernest House Jr., a member of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe in Towaoc, Colorado, senior policy director at the Keystone Policy Center, and former executive director of the Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs. “It is not performative. It is not simply notification.”

House pointed to New Mexico as a national leader in state-tribal collaboration, particularly through the codification of tribal relationships into state law and the state’s record-setting investments in Indian education.

“And here in New Mexico, putting a record-setting $30 million into Indian education – something never before seen – is huge,” he said.

That investment was one of the summit’s most frequently discussed topics.

Under the current administration, New Mexico committed a historic multi-year investment into the Indian Education Fund, a total of $90 million across three fiscal years, with the state’s pueblos, nations, and tribes already utilizing funding for tutoring programs, language revitalization efforts, student supports, and culturally grounded education initiatives.

Padilla highlighted examples from tribal communities already seeing measurable results.

“The Pueblo of Zuni focuses Indian Education funding on academic support and has provided students with over 600 tutoring sessions just in the first semester of the school year,” she said.

“The Pueblo of Santa Ana Department of Education provides comprehensive academic and social-emotional support to all Santa Ana students in grades kindergarten through 12,” Padilla added. “Due to this incredible work and support being done, they expect 100% of their students to graduate from high school this year.”

Student voices also became some of the summit’s most powerful moments.

Molly, an eighth grader from the Pueblo of Santa Ana, spoke about how the tutoring programs supported through Indian education funding helped improve both her grades and her confidence.

“Tutoring helped me learn better skills in math, science, and ELA,” she said. “It helped me build vocabulary and become more confident speaking up in classrooms.”

For Governor Lujan Grisham, those student stories represented the broader purpose behind the state’s investments.

“Celebrate the small successes because they are not small,” she said after hearing Molly speak. “They become the building blocks for confidence and long-term success.”

Language revitalization and culturally grounded education emerged as another central focus throughout the summit.

Tribal leaders repeatedly emphasized that preserving Native languages is inseparable from preserving identity, ceremony, and community.

“Language is identity,” Governor Raymond Aguilar Jr. of Santo Domingo Pueblo said. “Even if you only learn a little at a time, you keep learning.”

Those concerns align closely with PED initiatives already underway. PED Secretary Padilla noted that New Mexico currently has 151 Native American language and culture teachers serving in classrooms statewide, while Native students continue posting gains in literacy and graduation outcomes.

“The graduating class of 2025 represents the highest recorded four-year graduation rate for Native American students in New Mexico,” Padilla said.

Several speakers also acknowledged the importance of preparing for New Mexico’s upcoming gubernatorial transition as Governor Lujan Grisham enters the final months of her second and final administration.

Padilla stressed that maintaining current momentum will require continued accountability and advocacy long after the administration changes.

“Without a concerted effort to maintain the progress we’ve made together, we absolutely will reverse that progress,” she said.

The secretary urged tribal leaders to continue holding districts, charter schools, and the state accountable for Native student outcomes, transparency, and tribal consultation.

The summit closed much the same way it began – with reminders that relationships remain at the center of the work.

“No one here is going to stop fighting until every student reaches their full potential,” Governor Lujan Grisham said in her opening remarks. “Our north star is those kids. Our north star is these communities. Our north star is these families.”

And as pueblo, nation, and tribal leaders, students, educators, and state officials continued conversations long after the formal remarks ended, the summit reflected the larger message repeated throughout the day: that meaningful progress in Native education is built not only through policy and funding, but through trust, collaboration, and a shared commitment to the future generations.