January 21

The Legislature opened with the traditional ceremony today.  The governor's state of the the state address emphasized the importance of education and teacher salaries.  He continued his demand that school districts use 5% of administration for direct instruction, especially teacher salaries.  He called for moving to the average regional teacher salary next year with a 6% teacher salary increase.  As we move into the 2003 legislative session, we applaud Governor Richardson for making teacher salaries a priority.  We applaud his initiative to force a critical look at school district cash balances.  However,   we need to emphasize to the governor and legislators that we need equitable salaries for all education  employees.  

We are mindful that there are three other budget proposals: the state board of education's (SBE), the Legislative Finance Committee's (LFC), and the Legislative Education Study Committee's (LESC).  

Each of the four budget proposals has strengths and drawbacks.  The LESC proposes funding the three-tiered teacher licensing program proposed in the reform bill of 2001 and giving all employees a five per cent salary increase, raising school funding some 168 million dollars.  The LFC proposes funding the first year of the new licensure system, providing a 2.5% raise for teachers and a 2% raise for other employees, and about 60 million new dollars.  The SBE proposes a 5.5% salary increase for all employees and about a 198 million dollar increase.  The governor proposes redirecting some current dollars, a 6% salary increase for teachers, the use of cash balances to find money for other employee raises and about 40 million new dollars.

Also the LESC's ad hoc Task Force is proposing reform legislation similar to that vetoed by Gary Johnson in 2001.  This legislation would set minimum salary levels for teachers based on their level of New Mexico teaching license.  Level I minimums would immediately rise to $30,000 this year with a 2.5% increase in teacher salary schedules for a total cost of a 28.25 million dollars.  Level two minimums would become $40,000 and level III minimums would become $50,000 in steps over the next five years.   The reform committee only addressed  teacher salaries.  The LESC recommends a 5% salary increase for other employees.

We believe that the give and take of a legislative session will eventually produce a budget for the state and public schools.  We will advocate for all of our legislative priorities as this process unfolds.  Those priorities include equitable salaries for all education employees and the right of all employees to bargain collectively with their employers.  Now is not the time to attack any of the budget proposals!  We must await details of all of them and then use the legislative process to produce the best compromise.  

Our message to legislators should be:

The Governor has made schools a priority.  We need to go further and add additional revenues to school funding to provide equitable salaries for all employees.  We need to use this legislative session to explore addition long-term revenue streams for public schools.

Don't forget these two important events: