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Legislative
Session Contacts for Legislators-Phone: (505) 986-4300, Letters:
Link to State Department of Education Bill Analyses as .pdf documents Link to Details on New Mexico's New Public Employee Collective Bargaining Law Compromise on New Secretary of Education Hits Snag The Constitutional amendment requested by the Governor to create a Secretary of Education appointed by the Governor came a step closer to reality Sunday night. A conference committee of the House and Senate has been working on a compromise of differences between House and Senate versions of a constitutional amendment to change state level public school governance. The compromise appeared to be passage of enabling legislation , Senate Bill 911 by both Houses before the passage of the conference committee report on the constitutional amendment, Senate Education Committee Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution 2 et al. If the public passes the constitutional amendment, slated for a special election in November (the same special election where we expect constitutional amendment increasing school revenues from the permanent fund) the secretary of education will temporarily assume the powers and duties of both the state board of education and the state superintendent of public instruction until July 1, 2004 according to Senate Bill 911 . The expectation is that the 2004 legislature will rewrite relevant portions of the public school code, many of which are automatically repealed on July 1, 2004 by Senate Bill 911. The ten elected members of the State Board of Education will become the State Public Education Commission, with powers and duties to be determined by law. The powers and duties of the Secretary of Education will also be determined by law after the effects of the enabling legislation sunset in July 2004. The House unexpectedly skipped approval of Senate Bill 911 on Monday. It moved straight to approval of the conference committee report on the compromise language for the constitutional amendment, Senate Education Committee Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution 2 et al without approval of the enabling language of Senate Bill 911. The compromise apparently worked between the two houses appears, at least temporarily, to have hit a snag. Since the passage of this amendment is an important component of Governor Richardson's education reform package, the rest of the package-funding and education reform-appears on hold until agreement on Senate Education Committee Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution 2 et al is back on track. The measure is supported by NEA-NM because it contains an elected board to allow citizen and employee input into state education policy. Urge both the House and Senate to accept the conference committee recommendation, including Senate Bill 911, on Senate Education Committee Substitute for Senate Joint Resolution 2 et al Budget Bill Passes Senate; Moves to Conference Committee The General Appropriations Act, including public school funding, passed the Senate on Saturday. The House refused to concur with Senate amendments to its version of the spending bill and the measure is now before a conference committee to work out differences. The compromise funding proposal is expected to be back before both houses with little change from the Senate version early next week. The major components of the measure regarding school funding include:
House Measure to Allow Public to Vote on Property Tax Increase for Schools Squeaks By House Vote 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. This measure narrowly passed the House Saturday. We need to Urge Senators to give the voters this opportunity to provide a new and reliable funding source for public schools. Amendment for New Revenue Source Moves to Next Committee Senate Joint Resolution 6, sponsored by Senator Cynthia Nava received a do-pass recommendation in the House Voters and Elections Committee on Saturday. The vote in the House Voters and Elections Committee was:
The measure will next (when scheduled!) be heard in the House Taxation and Revenue Committee. We need to urge all members of this committee to pass this measure on to the full House and begin to urge all House members to support this important opportunity for voters to express their support for education. As originally drafted, the measure would have placed 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 77 million new dollars annually for public schools. The measure was amended by Senator Manny Aragon to gain the needed support to pass the Senate. The amendments decrease the amount of money allotted from the permanent and gradually reduce that amount over 12 years. The amendments allot a 5% distribution for the rest of fiscal year 2004 (through June 30, 2004) a 5.8% distribution (the original measure had 6%) for eight years beginning July1, 2004 (about 65 million new dollars), then a 5.5% distribution for five years and a 5% distribution in perpetuity. The amendment also set a base of 5.8 billion dollars beneath which the permanent will not be allowed to drop; if the fund goes below this amount, the distribution rate reverts to 4.7%. Link to the Senate roll call vote, Yes-28; N0-14
We need to urge all House Members
to support Senate
Joint Resolution 6. 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! Senate Passes Funding Fairness for Growing Districts Late Thursday, the Senate passed House Bill 169, sponsored by Representative Tom Swisstack. This measure will provide 1.5 units of funding for all new students in Districts growing at more than 1% per year. Currently those students are not funded under our school finance system of providing funds based on prior year student numbers. School Reform Bill Awaiting Hearing in Senate Finance Committee The final piece of the education reform package is House Bill 212, sponsored by Representative Mimi Stewart for the Legislative Education Study Committee. This is the major reform measure supported by NEA-New Mexico for this legislative session. The Bill, representing the recommendations of the Education Reform Task Force, passed the House last Friday. 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. The bill is still in the Senate Education Committee awaiting assignment to the Senate Finance Committee. The measure will move to the finance committee when several technical issues are resolved. House Bill 212 awaits a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee; committee members are:
We need to urge members of this committee and all Senators to pass this important component of school reform.
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