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This color indicates active hyperlinks to documents or other pages Wednesday, February 1 Legislative Hotline Bill to Make Retirement More Difficult for New Employees In Senate Education Committee Wednesday 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 the requirement new employees who choose this retirement option. This bill will be heard in the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday morning. Let committee members know that is not fair to create a retirement system for new employees inferior to that afforded current employees and it is not fair further increase the disparity between educational retirement and that of other public 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.
Educational Assistant Career Ladder Bill in House Education Committee Wednesday Morning House
Bill 206-Educational Assistant Career Ladder,
introduced by Representative
Rick Miera, provides an EA
career ladder and minimum salaries: Level 1 $12,000; Level 2 $13,000;
Level 3 $15,000; Level 4 $17,000. The first hearing for HB206 will be
Wednesday, February 1st in the House
Education Committee. Ask committee members to pass this
important legislation. This bill has also been introduced in the Senate by Senator Mary Kay Papen as Senate Bill 232.
Click
on this link to ask legislators to provide salary equity to all education
employees.
Proposed House Budget Has 5% Raises! The draft General Appropriations Act (House Bill 2) reported out of the House Appropriations and Finance Committee (HAFC) today has 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 It is likely that this budget will pass the House today or tomorrow. Then the attention will shift to the Senate. There is still $147 million in recurring revenues available for appropriation. $54 million dollars would be required for an 8% raise. Only $18 million would be required to reach the Governor's goal of a 6% raise. The message to Senators must be: The future can be better protected by paying for the need in our state's classrooms today. Put less in reserves and more in our schools! 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.
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