SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Gov. Susana Martinez plan to meet with leaders of New Mexico's Indian tribes and pueblos next week in the first tribal-state summit since she took office.

The summit scheduled Monday at Pojoaque Pueblo's resort hotel and casino will include sessions on education, tribal economic development and infrastructure, health care, and natural resources and water. The latter issue looms as a costly obligation for the state, which is responsible for paying more than $100 million to implement its share of water rights settlements with tribes and pueblos.

In education, student testing shows an achievement gap among ethnic and racial groups in New Mexico: white and Asian students typically fare better in tests than Hispanics, Native Americans and blacks. For example, 67 percent of white students were proficient in reading this year compared with 44 percent for Hispanics and 35 percent for Indians.

The high school graduation rate for Indian students also is lower than for other racial and ethnic groups.

A 2009 state law requires the governor to meet with tribal leaders each year in a summit to address issues of mutual concern. American Indians accounted for 9.4 percent of New Mexico's population last year, according to Census Bureau. There are 22 tribes and pueblos in New Mexico.

This year's summit had been planned in July, but was postponed after wildfires broke out across the state.

Scott Darnell, a spokesman for Martinez, said Tuesday the governor has met individually with a number of tribal leaders since taking office in January but that the summit “allows the collective voice of New Mexico's Native American population to be heard and voiced to state government.”

“The governor appreciates the opportunity to interact with leaders from our tribal communities and work in a collaborative way on key challenges, such as raising student achievement and improving health outcomes among Native Americans,” Darnell said in an email.

The state Department of Indian Affairs has budgeted $25,000 for the cost of the summit.

The governor planned to attend along with her chief of staff, Keith Gardner; Deputy Chief of Staff Ryan Cangiolosi; Indian Affairs Secretary Arthur Allison, who is a member of the Navajo Nation; and other cabinet secretaries.

The agenda called for the summit to run from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., with four one-hour sessions on various topics. It would be a more compressed schedule than last year during Gov. Bill Richardson's administration when the summit went until 5 p.m., and the agenda provided for 90-minute sessions on some of the same issues scheduled to be discussed this year.

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