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This color indicates active hyperlinks to documents or other pages Monday, February 6 Legislative Hotline Legislature Shifts into High Gear for Last Ten Days of Session The Super Bowl is over and the Legislature has only ten days left to complete its business. The most important of which is completing a state budget. That process, too, will move quickly in the next few days. Senator Cynthia Nava has submitted amendments to be considered by the Senate Finance Committee aimed at increasing education funding to the levels recommended by the Legislative Education Study Committee, including restoring salaries to a 6% average for all school employees. Senators' amendments to the General Appropriations Act were due by noon Saturday. The Senate Finance Committee will consider the amendments and make its recommendations for changes to the bill in the next day or two, before reporting an amended General Appropriations Act to the Senate Floor. Now is the time to act to ask committee members and other Senators to make changes to the bill that reflect our goal of increasing school funding above the level approved by the House. Follow this link to ask legislators to improve Public School Funding!
The General Appropriations Act (House Bill 2) that passed the House on February 2 has only a recommended 5% salary increase for most school employees. This represents a reduction by the House Appropriations and Finance Committee (HAFC) of some $18 million from the amount recommended by the House Education Committee (HEC) (but an increase of one half percent above that recommended by the Legislative Finance Committee). We need to let legislators know that this is the year to prioritize school employee salaries! In a year of an unprecedented $541 million in recurring revenues, House Bill 2 shortchanged education with only a 5% salary increase. In the House Appropriations and Finance Committee, on the SAME day that revenue projections increased by $12 million….SCHOOL EMPLOYEES SALARIES WERE SLASHED BY $18 MILLION! In a year of an
unprecedented $541 million in recurring revenues, House Bill 2-the General
Appropriations Act, as it passed the House shortchanged education with
only a 5% salary increase. The General Appropriations Act amended in the Senate Finance Committee will quickly move to the Senate Floor early this week. A conference committee of the House and Senate will almost certainly have to work out differences between the version passed by the House and the version passed by the Senate. At any of these steps public school funding and raises could increase or decrease. We must keep pressure on all legislators to make sure that the only changes in school funding are for the better; let legislators know that they need to increase salaries to at least the House Education Committee’s recommendation of an average increase of 6% for all school employees! Take Action Now and Often During the Next Few Days! Follow this link to ask legislators to improve Public School Funding!
Educational Assistant Career Ladder Bill Moves Forward in Senate-Ready for Hearing in House 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 House
Education Committee removed the measure
from the table Saturday morning. The Senate version of the bill, Senator Mary Kay Papen's Senate Bill 232 received a do-pass recommendation from the Senate Education Committee on Friday. It goes next to the Senate Finance Committee.
Click on this link to ask legislators to support the Educational Assistant Career Ladder legislation
Bill to Provide Education Support Providers With Licensure System and Minimum Salaries to be Heard in Committee Today House Bill 418, Instructional Support Provider Licensure, introduced by Representative Mimi Stewart amends the School Personnel Act to provide a licensing framework and minimum salaries for certain instructional support providers: Level 1, $30,000; Level 2, $40,000; and Level 3, $50,000; and appropriates $6.2 million from the General Fund to PED for FY 07 to provide the minimum salaries. House Bill 418, Instructional Support Provider Licensure, has been introduced by Representative Mimi Stewart. This legislation is needed to make sure that education professionals, such as counselors and therapists, are not treated unfairly. It will create the same minimum salary structure as that currently in law for teachers ($30,000 for level 1, $40,000 for level 2, and $50,000 for level 3 licensed professionals) and instruct the Public Education Department to create a progressive licensure and compensation framework for all instructional support providers. A hearing is scheduled this morning in the House Education Committee on this measure. Minimum Wage Bill on House Calendar Today House 258, sponsored by Speaker Ben Lujan, will increase the state's minimum wage to six dollars seventy-five cents ($6.75) an hour after December 31, 2006 and seven dollars fifty cents ($7.50) an hour after December 31, 2007. The measure grants an exemption for food processors who can prove the need, provides a cost of living increase of the annual Cost of Living Index or 3% whichever is less, and protects Santa Fe's already higher living wage ordinance. This important fairness measure will likely be heard on the House floor today. Let all Legislators know that raising the state's minimum wage is an important fairness issue for all the state's workers.
Bad Retirement Bill About to Hit Senate Floor! 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 is awaiting a hearing in the Senate Finance Committee after being sent with no recommendation from the Senate Education Committee last week. This bad legislation will almost certainly be moved to the Senate floor from the Senate Finance Committee were Senator Smith is the powerful vice-chair. Let Senators know that is not fair to create a retirement system for new employees inferior to that afforded current employees and it is not fair to 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. Follow this link to Send an Email to Ask Your Senator to Oppose Senate Bill 206. New Mexico Education Partners Announce Petition Campaign 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.
Links to Help You Craft Your Message and Send Emails to Legislators
Find and Contact Your Legislator |
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