SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The Latest on activity in the New Mexico Legislature (all times local):
12:30 p.m.
Advocates for charter schools in New Mexico are criticizing a bill to increase state educational funding that would place a cap student enrollment at autonomous public schools for one year.
Objections to the limit on charter school growth were raised Monday as a Senate panel took up a proposal to increase state spending by more than $300 million for at-risk students, to extend annual class time and to boost minimum teacher salaries.
The bill would cap charter school enrollment at 27,000 students for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Democratic state Sen. Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque is sponsoring the bill and says it leaves room for about 1,000 new charter school students. She says charter schools have consumed a disproportionately large portion of new educational spending over the past decade.
Democratic Sen. Bill O’Neill called the measure a “frontal assault” on a rapidly growing charter school in Albuquerque where he serves as a board member.
About 8 percent of students in New Mexico attend charter schools.
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Proposals for improving public schools in New Mexico are being presented at the Statehouse by a coalition of educators, nonprofit advocacy groups and the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the state Public Education Department.
New Mexico lawmakers are considering a variety of proposals for spending increases on public education designed to raise teacher salaries, extend the school year and overhaul bilingual instruction.
A coalition of teachers, school administrators, parents and others called Transform Education NM planned to announce its legislative agenda on Monday.
A district court judge says the state is failing to meet fundamental guarantees to an adequate education and has set an April deadline for the New Mexico Legislature and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham to come up with a solution.
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