New Mexico Parents Fight Gender Policies as Students Rank Last Nationally
While New Mexico schools received $4.76 billion, students rank last nationally. Parents rally against gender policies that let children socially transition without parental consent, defying widespread state opposition.
New Mexico pours $4.76 billion into public schools each year. Its students rank last in the nation across every academic measure. While budgets balloon, many classrooms enforce policies allowing children to socially transition without telling their parents. The practice faces opposition from 88 percent of New Mexicans.
The chasm between educational failure and ideological enforcement defines a mounting parental rights movement. New Mexico students placed 50th in all four 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress categories. The rankings cover 4th-grade reading, 4th-grade math, 8th-grade reading, and 8th-grade math. The state's 8th-grade math score of 256 marks the lowest performance since 1990. Only 14 percent of students demonstrate proficiency.
Independent Women launched a statewide campaign on June 3, 2026. The group aired a video advertisement titled "New Mexico Women: What's Happening in Our Communities?" and reported thousands of petition signatures. Advocates demand transparency from school districts that prioritize gender ideology over basic education.
"School should be a neutral ground where we just have to be totally committed," said Erica Ramirez, Independent Women's Network member and New Mexico Voices Las Cruces chapter leader. "The objective should be scholastic development in every student in the state of New Mexico and the whole country."
New Mexico's HB 7, the Reproductive and Gender-Affirming Health Care Act, sits at the center of the dispute. Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the measure on March 16, 2023. The law requires all public bodies to protect access to gender transition, including social, hormonal, and surgical procedures. Non-compliant schools face $5,000 fines or actual damages.
Most residents remain unaware of the statute. Independent Women polling shows 54 percent of New Mexicans have never heard of HB 7. Only 15 percent say they are very familiar with the law. A December 2024 survey of 625 residents found 88 percent disagree that teachers and school nurses should transition children without parental knowledge.
A separate Wick Insights survey shows nearly 90 percent of New Mexicans oppose minors accessing medical or social transition without parental consent. Nearly 70 percent say children 18 and under should not access gender-related treatment at all. That opposition includes 70 percent of Hispanics and nearly 60 percent of Democrats.
Eight school districts maintain explicit policies allowing social transition without parental knowledge or consent. The districts include Albuquerque, Gadsden Independent, Gallup-McKinley, Las Cruces, Los Alamos, Moriarty-Edgewood, Rio Rancho, and Santa Fe.
"New Mexico is a transgender sanctuary state," said Paula Edwards, a pseudonym for an educator and instructional coach in New Mexico. "As a teacher, if I worked in the local school district, I would be required to socially transition a child as young as five. If a Billy came in and he decided he wanted to be Bonnie, I would be required to socially transition that child without informing the parent."
The parental rights movement gains momentum as federal enforcement intensifies. The Trump administration's Justice Department announced an investigation into 36 Illinois school districts on April 30. Officials are examining whether districts include sexual orientation and gender ideology content in pre-K-12 classes without parental opt-out notification.
"This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms," said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon. "Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children."
The investigation cites Title IX and two Supreme Court decisions. Mahmoud v. Taylor, decided in June 2025, held that schools cannot force LGBTQ curriculum without offering parental opt-out rights. Mirabelli v. Bonta, issued in March 2026, prohibited schools from concealing gender transitions from parents.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed the inquiry as a "sham investigation." He called it the Trump administration continuing to "punish states the president does not like." The ACLU of Illinois' Ed Yohnka criticized what he called "some ideological culture warrior in Washington, D.C., telling Watseka what their curriculum should be."
New Mexico's education crisis stretches far beyond test scores. Chronic absenteeism jumped 119 percent by 2023. The state now carries the highest chronic absence rate in the nation. During the 2023-24 school year, 29.77 percent of students were chronically absent.
"In New Mexico, students who can't read at grade level are being passed onto the next grade anyway, chronic absenteeism is being ignored, poorly behaved students are allowed to disrupt classroom learning without consequence, and parents are being shut out of major decisions about their own children," said Neeraja Deshpande, policy analyst for Independent Women.
Deshpande pointed to states like Mississippi and Louisiana, which have improved their education rankings. "Decline is a choice, and dysfunction is a choice," she said. "There is so much federal leverage right now. The Department of Education and Trump have so many executive orders, so many directives saying there are only two sexes. Kids shouldn't be mutilated. Kids should not be transitioned behind their parents' backs."
The New Mexico Governor's Office, Public Education Department, school district officials, and multiple LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations did not respond to requests for comment about the Independent Women campaign or HB 7.
Ramirez highlighted the contradiction between age restrictions and gender transition policies. "In New Mexico, you cannot consume alcohol until you are 21. You cannot have a permanent driver's license until you are 21. You can't even get a tattoo until you are 18 without parental consent, but you can (socially) transition a 5-year-old," she said. "It just does not make sense."
Behind every statistic stands a family caught between a state government and the classrooms where their children spend their days. Parents are demanding a voice in that education. They want schools focused on what they believe matters most — teaching their kids to read, to do math, and to grow up with their families informed every step of the way.