Daily Update
Monday February 24

Hotlines
Return to Legislature 2003

Legislative Session Contacts for Legislators-Phone: (505) 986-4300, Letters:
New Mexico State Capitol Building, Santa Fe, NM 87503, or Fax: (505) 986-4610.

[The "Hotlines Link"  will take you to our daily hotline archive.  You may view previous hotlines to place current events in perspective.]

Legislative Education Study Committee Listing of All Introduced Education Legislation as .pdf Document

 Senate Joint Resolution 6 Needs Support Now!

Senate Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava, received a do-pass recommendation from the Senate Education Committee last Monday.  The measure will place a constitutional amendment before the voters  to amend the state constitution to increase from 4.7 percent to 6.0 percent the amount of the annual distribution from the Permanent Fund to public schools and other recipients of money from the Permanent Fund, providing about 80 million new dollars annually for public schools. 

House Committee Sticks with  Funding Compromises

Compromises between education groups, the Governor, and leaders of the House and Senate appeared firmly in place Monday, as the House Appropriations and Finance Committee amended most major parts of the compromise into House Bill 2 , the General Appropriations Act.  The amendments included accelerating the 6% salary increase for teachers and other certified instructional personnel to November and a 3% salary increase for other school employees.  (State and higher education employees remain at 2.5% increases in the measure.)

Senate Bill 845, sponsored by Finance Committee Chair Ben Altamirano, introduced Thursday, received a do-pass recommendation in the Senate Finance Committee late Thursday and passed  the Senate on a 35 to 5 vote late Friday evening. This measure contains the same funding levels for the State Equalization Guarantee (SEG) as found in House Bill 2.

The next step will probably be the passage of House Bill 2 in the House tomorrow or Wednesday.  It is possible that the Senate will pass the same measure, removing the need for a conference committee on differences in House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 845.  There are still some differences in some educations funding in the two bills that do not involve the SEG.  It's also possible that a conference committee will need to work out differences in the two measures; or a separate spending bill could carry some of the additions the Senate wants--stay tuned.

After several days of negotiations regarding school funding with our lobby team, the NMFEE lobby team, school administrators, the Governor and leaders of the House and Senate Education Committees, the major parts of school funding proposals appear to be holding.

The major components of the compromise funding proposal include:

• A requirement that school districts cut administrative spending by one percent of their total budgets, resulting in 18 million dollars statewide.
  

• A require that school districts spend 16.4 million dollars of cash balances.
  

• A  requirement that school districts provide a 3% raise for all classified staff starting at the beginning of the 2003-2004  school year; this will be reflected in base funding for 2004-2005.    
  

• A requirement that school districts provide a 6% raise for all teachers and instructional staff (such as librarians, counselors, special ed ancillary, etc.) starting in December or November (remains to be worked out between Senate and House) of 2003 (about 1/3 of the way through the year); this would be reflected in the base funding for schools in the 2004-2005 school year and become a permanent part of salary bases at the 6% increase.
  

• A guaranteed minimum salary for beginning teachers of $30,000 starting at the beginning of the next school year.
  

• Caps on school district cash balances and the requirement that school districts use 1% of non-instructional budgets along with 16.4 million dollars from cash balances to help fund salary increases were also agreed to fund the 3% salary increase for classified staff.
  

• 6.3 million dollars (in Senate version only- remains to be worked out) to  help districts growing at least 1% to fund  new students over beyond the previous year's level.
  

These efforts represent the foundation of fundamental changes in education for the state.  If we remember that early proposals provided only teachers with any salary increase and the potential for cuts in school district non-instructional personnel, this compromise is a great step in the right direction.

When we consider that most of our neighboring states are dealing with deficits and proposing cuts in public education funding, this proposal seems even more substantial.

The Rest of the Reform Story

House Bill 212, sponsored by Representative Mimi Stewart for the Legislative Education Study Committee, represents the recommendations of the Education Reform Task Force.  Passage of this measure is also vital to completing the education reform agreements.  The measure provides real reform including a new licensure system for teachers tied to minimum salary levels, which when fully implemented after five years, will provide $30,000 starting salary for level I licenses, $40,000 minimum salaries for level II licenses, and $50,000 minimum salaries for level III licenses.  While the bill mainly addresses teachers, it is a good first step to comprehensive reform and is supported by most education advocacy groups. This bill should move out of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee soon.  Call House members in support of House Bill 212.

Bargaining Bills Awaiting Action in Opposite Legislative Chambers

The House version of the public employee bargaining bill House Bill 508, sponsored by House Speaker Ben Lujan passed the house today. The bill now waits in the Senate, where it is referred to the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee. The House vote was:  42-YES; 21-NO; 1-EXCUSED; 6-ABSENT

Representative	Vote on House Bill 508
Thomas A. Anderson Bernalillo	NO
Janice E. Arnold-Jones Bernalillo	NO
Ray Begaye San Juan	YES
William "Ed" Boykin Dona Ana	NO
Donald E. Bratton Lea	NO
Gail C. Beam Bernalillo	YES
Joseph Cervantes Dona Ana	YES
Max Coll Santa Fe	YES
Kandy Cordova Valencia	YES
Jose A. Campos DeB, Curr, Guad, & Roosevelt	YES
Anna M. Crook Curry	NO
Daniel R. Foley Chaves, Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
Mary Helen Garcia Dona Ana	YES
Miguel P. Garcia Bernalillo	YES
Ron Godbey Bernalillo, Sandoval & Santa Fe	NO
Roberto J. Gonzales Taos	YES
Irvin Harrison McKinley & San Juan	YES
Dianne Miller Hamilton Grant, Hidalgo & Sierra	NO
Ted Hobbs Bernalillo	NO
George J. Hanosh Cibola & McKinley	YES
John A. Heaton Eddy	YES
Manuel G. Herrera Grant & Hidalgo	YES
Dona G. Irwin Luna	YES
Rhonda S. King Bernalillo, Santa Fe & Torrance	YES
Larry A. Larranaga Bernalillo	Excused
Fred Luna Valencia	YES
Patricia A. Lundstrom McKinley & San Juan	YES
Antonio Lujan Dona Ana	YES
Ben Lujan Santa Fe	YES
W. Ken Martinez Cibola, McKinley & San Juan	YES
Rick Miera Bernalillo	YES
James Roger Madalena Bern, McK, R.A. & Sandoval	YES
Terry T. Marquardt Dona Ana & Otero	NO
Brian K. Moore Cur,Hard,Quay,Roose,S.M. & Union	NO
Andy Nunez Dona Ana	YES
Rory J. Ogle Bernalillo	NO
Danice Picraux Bernalillo	YES
Jane E. Powdrell-Culbert Sandoval	NO
Al Park Bernalillo	YES
Pauline J. Ponce Chaves	YES
Raymond M. Ruiz Bernalillo	YES
Bengie Regensberg Colfax, Guad, Mora, S.M. & Taos	YES
Debbie A. Rodella Rio Arriba, Sandoval & Taos	YES
Earlene Roberts Chaves, Eddy, Lea & Roosevelt	NO
Henry Kiki Saavedra Bernalillo & Valencia	YES
Nick L. Salazar Mora, R.A., S.M., S.F. & Taos	YES
Edward C. Sandoval Bernalillo	YES
Joe M Stell Eddy & Otero	YES
Mimi Stewart Bernalillo	YES
Thomas E. Swisstack Sandoval	YES
Sheryl Williams Stapleton Bernalillo	YES
Daniel P. Silva Bernalillo	YES
Jim Trujillo Santa Fe	YES
Sandra L. Townsend San Juan	ABSENT
James G. Taylor Bernalillo	YES
Thomas C. Taylor San Juan	NO
Don Tripp Catron, Socorro & Valencia	NO
J. Paul Taylor Dona Ana	YES
Joe Thompson Bernalillo	NO
Nick Tinnin San Juan	NO
Richard D. Vigil San Miguel & Torrance	YES
Luciano "Lucky" Varela Santa Fe	YES
Gloria C. Vaughn Otero	NO
Avon W. Wilson Chaves, Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
W. C. "Dub" Williams Lincoln & Otero	ABSENT
Jeannette O. Wallace Los Alamos, Sandoval & Santa Fe	ABSENT
Robert White Bernalillo	NO
Donald L. Whitaker Lea	ABSENT
Eric A. Youngberg Bernalillo & Sandoval	NO
Teresa A. Zanetti Bernalillo	NO

Senate Bill 46 passed the Senate Floor on Tuesday Morning, February 18.  This measure, the Senate version of public employee bargaining now waits in the House, where it is referred to the House Labor and Human Resources Committee and to the House Appropriation and Finance Committee.   All Democratic Senators were present and voted for the bill.  Republican Senator Allen Hurt voted for the bill.  Republican Senators Cararro, Kidd, and Leavell were off the floor and not voting (apparently taking a "walk" to avoid a no vote).  All other Republicans voted against the bill.

Strategy for making sure one or both bargaining passes the other legislative body is being developed.  Collective bargaining will likely be in both houses late this week!  We need to call all House Members, and all Senators now to urge support for House Bill 508 and Senate Bill 46.

We Must Have New Revenue Source for Public Schools

Schools need adequate new revenues, we can't find all the money need for salaries and reform by simply reallocating current budgets (although prioritizing salaries and the classroom over administrative costs is an important priority). The use of cash balances and the need to fund the second year of reform require new revenue!
We need to begin contacting all House Members, and all Senators as well as Governor Richardson, immediately regarding creating new revenue sources for public schools.  
We need to pass measures aimed at creating additional revenues. Some proposals are: 

• Senate Joint Resolution  6 ,Permanent School Fund Distribution, Constitutional Amendment, Sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava; 

• House Joint Resolution 16 Permanent Fund Distributions, Constitutional Amendment sponsored by Representative Bobby Gonzales.

  • Both of these measures will place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in a special election to provide more Land Grand Permanent Fund Revenues for public education.

• House Joint Resolution 4, Statewide Millage Rate for School Funding, Constitutional Amendment, sponsored by Representative Mimi Stewart, will allow the voters to impose two mills of property tax, netting schools about 60 million new dollars per year.

Finding addition funding sources will be cornerstone of education funding and reform.