Indigneous language speakers could get teacher salaries

By CEDAR ATTANASIO
Associated Press / Report for America

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico Legislature has advanced that would increase the minimum salaries of some fluent Indigenous language speakers who teach the languages to children in schools but are not state certified teachers. The instructors who speak Navajo, Zuno and various dialects of Keresan sometimes work for school systems at non-teaching jobs. They are paid much less than teachers despite their work teaching languages to students. About 100 people in New Mexico have Indigenous language certificates approved by their tribes and administered by state education officials. The bill would provide state funding to cover those certificate holders with minimum salary protections of middle-tier licensed teachers who make about $50,000 annually..