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This color indicates active hyperlinks to documents or other pages Saturday January 28 Legislative Hotline Draft Budget Has 5% Raises! The draft General Appropriations Act (House Bill 2) about to be finalized in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee (HAFC) will have only a recommended 5% salary increase for most school employees. This represents a reduction from the amount recommended by the House Education Committee (HEC) (see below) (but an increase one half percent above that recommended by the Legislative Finance Committee) when it presented its budget to the committee last week. We need to let legislators know that this is the year to prioritize school employee salaries! The proposed budget increases by a total of $394 million with $182 million (8.6%) slated for public schools. That's 46% of the new dollars proposed for public schools. More details will be available on Monday when the bill be likely be reported out of committee. While this is a healthy increase (more than the past few years), it is still inadequate in a year in which there are at least $541 new dollars available for appropriations. Legislators need to think less of protecting the future by squirreling away money and more of protecting the future that is in our state's classrooms today! Take Action Now!
Follow this link to ask legislators to improve the draft budget of the HAFC
Bill to Make Retirement More Difficult for New Employees Moves Out of Committee Senate Bill 206, sponsored by Senator John Arthur Smith, would make it harder for new employees to retire. Currently employees are eligible to retire after 25 years of service or when their years of service and age equal 75, the so-called Rule of 75. This bill proposes a Rule of 80 as requirements for those who choose this retirement option for new employees. We oppose any change that increases the disparity between ERA and PERA members or any change that makes new employees second class citizens with inferior benefits to current employees. Follow this link to Send an Email to Your Legislator About Protecting Educational Retirement! New Mexico Education Partners Announce Petition Campaign Yesterday at the State Capitol, the New Mexico Education Partners (a coalition of education organizations, including NEA-NM, AFT NM, the NM PTA, the New Mexico School Boards Association, and the New Mexico Coalition of School Administrators) delivered “Flashback Baskets” to key legislators with items from 1982 to remind them that this was the last year New Mexico educators ranked in the top half of national salary rankings. This action at the State Capitol takes place in conjunction with a petition drive and other grassroots efforts underway across the state in support on the New Mexico Education Partners’ historic proposal for a $271 million dollar increase in education funding. This investment would move New Mexico back into the top half of the national salary rankings for the first time since 1982. The Education Partners’ proposal would also allow New Mexico to attract and retain the best teachers and staff, helping to move New Mexico’s schools forward with a team of education professionals, small class sizes and up-to-date facilities and technologies.
House Education Committee Recommends 6% Salary Increases The public school budget began its journey through the legislature Monday, January 23, when the House Education Committee (HEC) recommended passage of House Bill 3, the Education Appropriations Act. House Bill 3, as it was originally written, funds a general fund increase of $165.8 million or 7.9 percent over FY06 appropriations. Notable items contributing to this increase include $16.5 million in enrollment growth, $3.2 million in fixed costs, $24.2 million for insurance as well as $13.5 million for an increased employer contribution to the Educational Retirement Board. With regard to compensation, the bill includes $81.7 million for an average 4.5 percent salary increase for all school personnel including transportation employees, $7.5 million for implementation of the$45,000 minimum salary for level 3 teachers after the salary increase, and $3.7 million for an additional 5 percent salary increase for educational assistants. $4.8 million is also included in the bill for fully funding elementary fine arts. The HEC amended House Bill 3 with increases totaling $41.7 million primarily by mandating a 6 percent salary increase for teachers, a 9.5 percent salary increase for educational assistants and an average 6 percent salary increase for all other educational employees including transportation employees. Additional increases are attributed to an increase of $3.5 million in categorical costs for school bus replacements. With the amendments added in the HEC, the measure has most of the recommendations of the the Legislative Education Study Committee budget intact, but still falls far short of the amounts requested by the New Mexico Education Partners. It contains a recommendation for a 6% salary for all school employees except education assistants, who would get a 9.5% increase under the measure. The proposal now moves to the House Appropriations and Finance Committee (HAFC) when HEC Chair Representative Rick Miera made his committee's report on the recommended public school funding measure to the HAFC on Tuesday, January 24. The proposal will then become a part of the General Appropriations Act as that measure is crafted by the HAFC over the next few days. Many members of the HAFC also sit on the interim Legislative Finance Committee, which has recommended a much lower funding level for public schools, including only a 4.5% salary increase for most school employees. Now is the time to let all members of the House and the HAFC know that all the recommended budgets still fall short of what is really needed to provide adequate funding for public schools. Ask HAFC members and your own Representative, to fund the New Mexico Education Partners recommendations, including the average 8% salary increases as the right way to move New Mexico foward! Links to Help You Craft Your Message and Send Emails to Legislators
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