New Mexico AG Report Exposes Severe Racial Disparities in Gallup-McKinley County School Discipline

The New Mexico Attorney General’s investigative report into Gallup-McKinley County Schools (GMCS) lays bare a two-tiered crisis in school discipline. First, the district-wide suspension rate is at least double the statewide average, meaning every student in GMCS faces harsher punishment than peers in other districts for similar infractions. Second—and far more starkly—within the district, Native American students lose eight to ten times as many instructional days to out-of-school suspensions as white students, while Hispanic students lose three to four times as many. This is not a minor disparity; it is a structural denial of equal educational opportunity, actionable under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The federal government, however, has largely abandoned this fight. The Trump administration’s Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has weakened Title VI enforcement, rescinded guidance on racial disproportionality, and withdrawn pattern-or-practice investigations into school districts. GMCS, which serves a student population that is over 90% students of color—mostly Navajo and Hispanic—receives substantial federal funding through Title I and Impact Aid, but the current OCR has not investigated its discipline practices despite years of documented disparities. The state AG report thus fills a void left by a retreating federal government: it calls for mandatory data reporting, restorative justice programs, and a moratorium on exclusionary discipline for non-violent behavior. While the state cannot withhold federal funds, it can use its own statutory authority and public pressure to force reform.

The report’s findings align with a broader pattern documented by civil rights groups: when the federal government stops enforcing Title VI, local districts with the highest percentages of students of color—like GMCS—become laboratories for discriminatory discipline. The Trump administration’s simultaneous campaign against DEI programs and race-conscious remedies has emboldened districts to resist reforms. For advocates, the NM AG report is both a warning and a roadmap: without reinvestment in federal civil rights infrastructure—staffing up OCR, reinstating pattern-or-practice probes, and enforcing Title VI funding conditions—state-level actions like this remain heroic but insufficient stopgaps.