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This color indicates active hyperlinks to documents or other pages Tuesday, February 7 Legislative Hotline Legislative Session Has Until High Noon, Thursday, February 16 Still Waiting on Senate Finance Committee to Amend Appropriations Act 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. Disagreement on the final shape of the bill appears to have delayed its appearance before the Senate Finance Committee, providing a little more time to email or call legislators with our concerns. Now is the time to act to ask Senate Finance 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! 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! Follow this link to ask legislators to improve Public School Funding!
Educational Assistant Career Ladder Bill Waiting in Finance Committees 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 gave a do-pass recommendation to the measure on Saturday. The bill was temporarily tabled in the House Appropriations and Finance Committee on Monday. That tabling is part of a strategy to keep the measure alive in case the 9.5% salary increase provided Educational Assistants in the General Appropriations Act does not survive as the Senate Finance Committee amends to the act. 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 is awaiting a hearing in 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 Gets Do-pass Recommendation An amended version of House Bill 418, Instructional Support Provider Licensure, introduced by Representative Mimi Stewart received a do pass recommendation from the House Education Committee on Monday. The amended version is effective with the 2007-2008 school year and 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. 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 and instruct the Public Education Department to create a progressive licensure and compensation framework for all instructional support providers. The bill's next stop is the House Appropriations and Finance Committee. Minimum Wage Bill Clears House House 258, sponsored by Speaker Ben Lujan, passed the House Monday on a near party-line vote of 38-30. With 10 days left in the annual legislative session, the measure headed to the state Senate, where an alternative proposal — $7.50 phased in over three years — is pending. The House bill would increase the state's current $5.15 minimum — same as the federal minimum — to $6.75 in 2007 and to $7.50 in 2008. Employers could pay a "training wage'' of $5.15 for the first 60 days a worker was on the job. And, in a concession to chile producers, food processors could apply to the state Department of Labor for exemptions. The bill passed on a vote of 38-30 after three hours of debate. Democrats went along with a Republican amendment that would bring state and local governments under the minimum wage law. Currently, they're exempt. Supporters said there would be minimal budget impact on state government. The bill 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 now moves to the Senate floor today. Let Senators know that raising the state's minimum wage is an important fairness issue for all the state's workers. Bad Retirement Bill May Get to 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 Calendar 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
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