The New Mexico Public Education Department has asked the court overseeing the Yazzie/Martinez education equity lawsuit to overrule plaintiffs’ objections and approve its final remedial plan.

In the latest update in the decade-long case, the state argued that its remedial action plan, filed with the First Judicial District Court in November, sufficiently meets the court’s requirements and should be approved. The state also argued that the plaintiffs’ objections to the plan do not “fairly represent” its contents or necessitate revisions.

District Court Judge Matthew Wilson ordered the PED to complete a remedial plan in April 2025, after finding that at-risk students were still not receiving sufficient educational support, as required by the court in the case’s original decision.

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After PED submitted its remedial plan, Yazzie/Martinez plaintiffs filed their formal objections in February, pointing to insufficiently defined goals, a lack of measurable benchmarks and few details about funding needed to implement the plan. They also filed a motion for further relief at that time, asking the court to rewrite the remedial plan along with contracted experts and tribal consultants.

In its response filed on March 23, the state called those objections “flawed, misleading, and in some cases deliberately obtuse,” according to court documents. The state also asked the court to deny the plaintiffs’ motion for further relief and request another plan. “The existence of objections does not justify disregarding PED’s work, in collaboration with stakeholders, [Legislative Education Study Committee, contractors, and other state agencies, in its entirety,” according to court documents.

New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty Education Director Melissa Candelaria told Source NM in a written statement that the Yazzie/Martinez plaintiffs, whom they represent in the lawsuit, “strongly reject PED’s claim that its final plan will meet the needs of the students at the heart of this case or deliver the constitutionally sufficient education they are owed. We will respond through the legal process, but the fundamental issue is clear: you cannot build a stronger education system while shutting out the educators, families, and communities who experience it every day and understand what students truly need.”

Transform Education New Mexico, an advocacy organization, told Source in a written statement that the plan should be a “vision for change” and include steps toward “real transformation.”

“As it stands, teachers and students continue to bear the cost of a broken system that has not meaningfully changed classroom realities,” TENM Executive Director Loretta Trujillo wrote. “Real transformation will require meaningful investment and a willingness to restructure the system itself. With that commitment, we can create the kind of education our students have long been promised and deserve.”