NM Democrats unveil education plan

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Democratic lawmakers unveiled their education plan in the roundhouse Monday morning.
    
One of the key proposals is a constitutional amendment that would allow millions of land grant fund dollars to be invested in early childhood education.
    
Another is a bill intended to give schools early alerts about struggling students and make it harder to promote them if they need to be held back two years in a row. 
    
The bill would still give parents the right to veto a decision to hold their student back, something Governor Susana Martinez wants to get rid of.
    
However, Senate Education Chair John Sapien says that would not be fair to parents.

”We will continue to keep our eyes on the prize of keeping the family involved in making sure that they're involved in their children's education and taking the word "mandatory" completely out of our vernacular when it comes to your attention of children,” Sapien said.
    
Some of Governor Martinez’s proposals include eleven million in merit-based raises for teachers, and an expansion of early literacy programs and AP courses statewide.