The NM Legislature will convene Jan. 21, 2020, and Governor Luhan Grisham is proposing another increase to education spending supported by another big increase in NM Oil and Gas royalty/tax payments. Estimates are that $800 million additional funds will be available, over last year’s even larger surplus. Perhaps it’s not surprising that an ex-teacher led state government would find education as the proper location for new NM State funding.
Notably, her proposals include “Free College Tuition” for NM students which if passed would greatly increase students at NM Community Colleges as well as 4 year institutions such as New Mexico State. Which would involve increased hirings by those institutions across the board.
Not to be too cynical, but if the State is paying for college tuition, one presumes that tuition costs will rise faster than the previous “faster than inflation” rates.
Also, students will become “funding instruments” to a much greater degree than at present, and recruitment, even of rural and “out of town” students, would likely increase. Serving those “new more rural students” might well involve rolling out ubiquitous online learning instruments for Higher Ed in NM.
Lujan Grisham wants a $74 million increase in general fund spending to expand and improve early childhood services and education — including prekindergarten, home consultations with parents, subsidized child care and nutritional assistance for children. She is also proposing subsidized child care for an additional 4,200 children.
“By providing children high-quality experiences during the most critical and rapid stages of brain development, we can give children the start they need to succeed,” the governor’s proposal said.
The budget sustains major state investments initiated last year in expanding the K-12 school year. Separately, about $320 million would be set aside in a trust fund for early childhood education to bolster future spending with the fund’s investment earnings
The governor also has proposed that the state pick up the tab for college tuition and fees among about 55,000 in-state students across the New Mexico’s network of 29 public community colleges, four-year colleges and universities. That would cost about $35 million during the coming fiscal year if approved by legislators.
The above are just proposals, and it will be up to the NM Legislature to enact a budget, which always turns out to be “different” in significant ways from what the Executive branch proposes. One proposal that PSA would like to see included in “New Education Funding” is a meaningful ramp up of Community Schools programs, such as is slowly getting off the ground in Las Cruces, with David Greenberg leading the way.