Daily Update
Tuesday February 25

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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.

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

Lull Before the Storm

The legislative education front was relatively quite today.  However, this is the proverbial lull before the storm.  Most bills have been introduced (except a few "dummy" bills held aside for leadership to use in an emergency), and the rush to make sure that they get some kind of hearing will soon be in full swing as we move into the last three weeks of the legislative session.  Many important education decisions remain to be completed.  Final funding levels must be set; public employee collective bargaining legislation must be completed; education reform measures must be dealt with; new revenues must be identified to deal with this year's "creative" education financing; and many truly bad ideas, from vouchers to the loss due process rights, must be derailed.

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 last week. The bill now waits in the Senate, where it is referred to the Senate Public Affairs Committee and the Senate Judiciary Committee.  It will be heard in the Senate Public Affairs Committee on Thursday!

Senate Bill 46 passed the Senate Floor last 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.  It will be heard in the House Labor and Human Resources Committee on Thursday afternoon!

We need to call all House Members, and all Senators now, to urge support for House Bill 508 and Senate Bill 46.

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.

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.