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This color indicates active hyperlinks to documents or other pages Thursday, February 9 Legislative Hotline Senate Finance Committee Mauls
Education Budget! Ignoring the public and school employees alike, the Senate Finance Committee reduced education funding by about 12.8 million from the already too low levels in the General Appropriations Act passed by the House. All public employee salaries increases were cut by .5% from the levels in the bill passed by the Houses. The Senate Finance Committee on a unanimous vote ( with Senator Nancy Rodriguez absent for a family emergency) gave the inadequate measure a do-pass recommendation. In will likely be on the Senate Floor Thursday or Friday. All members of the House and other Senate must be informed of how betrayed the school community feels by these actions. Ask them to restore the cuts and increase to the levels recommended by the House Education Committee.
Senate Finance Committee Cuts Salaries-Follow this Link to Send an Urgent Email to Senators 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!
Bill to Provide Education Support Providers Licensure System in House Today An amended version of House Bill 418, Instructional Support Provider Licensure, introduced by Representative Mimi Stewart is scheduled to be heard today on the House Floor. 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. Bill to Raise Your Retirement Payroll Tax in Senate Education Friday Senate Bill 541 cannot be seen as anything other than a crass attack on public school and higher education employees' paychecks. This bill sponsored by Senator Sue Beffort-Wilson simply makes you pay more of your salary in educational retirement withholdings. It would raise withholdings to 8.6% by full implementation in 2008, .7% more than current law. It is scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee Friday morning. Follow this link to Send an Email to Ask Your Senator to Oppose Senate Bills 541
Bill to Give Private Schools Tax Money for Technology also in Senate Education Friday Also scheduled to be heard in the Senate Education Committee Friday morning is Senate Bill 743 This bill adds a new section to the Technology for Education Act to allow accredited private schools to receive distribution from the Educational Technology Fund. Even though well intended, the measure would allow public money to spent for private purposes. Ask members of the Committee to oppose Senate Bill 743 . Bill to Cut Retirement Benefits for New Employees in Senate Finance 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. Since Senator John Arthur Smith is the powerful vice-chair of this committee, this measure is almost assuredly headed to the Senate Floor. 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 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. Minimum Wage Bill Clears House House Bill 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. 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. 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
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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