SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - Proposed reforms to New Mexico’s public education would put school districts in new command of their own fates.
A pair of bills poised for House and Senate votes include major budget and salary increases and widespread access to a program that extends the elementary school year by five weeks.
The House and Senate bills are similar, with few major differences, and are expected to come up for floor votes in the coming days.
The initiatives rely on a House-approved state spending plan that adds about $480 million to annual general fund spending on public education, a roughly 16 percent increase. State legislators and a newly elected Democratic governor are grappling with a court order to increase resources for public education.
State Sen. Jacob Candelaria warned that the proposed infusion of new money to public education will raise expectations and scrutiny for improvements by school districts. New Mexico is one of several states where courts are being called upon to shore up funding for public schools, as frustration mounts with elected officials over state budget priorities and the quality of education.
“The next stage in that litigation is people going after school districts,” he said. “There’s a lot of flexibility in this bill, there’s a lot of discretion to the districts.”
Provisions of the education bills would raise teacher salaries by as much as 12 percent and increase spending on students from low-income and minority families through adjustments to a complex school funding formula.
The reforms also would allow elementary schools with a high percentage of low-income students, and those faltering academically, to extend the school year by five weeks - if they can arrange for all teachers to stay with their classes in return for extra pay. Some school administrators want more flexibility to phase in the program, known as K-5 Plus, while Sen. Mimi Stewart of Albuquerque says it has proven successful only as a “true extension of the school year” with the same teacher.
How many schools will participate in that component of the reform package is unclear.
“We’re going to have to find out if districts are willing, if teachers are willing,” said Republican Sen. Gay Kernan of Hobbs, a co-sponsor of the legislation. “They’re going to have to work more days in the school year.”
The bills set aside $120 million for the K-5 Plus initiative. If low-income and low-scoring schools don’t opt in, other districts can.
The public school district in Los Alamos - the state’s most highly educated and affluent community - already has expressed interest in adding the program if other districts decline, according to staff at the Legislature’s lead budget writing committee.
Minimum salaries would increase roughly 11 percent to $40,000 for starting teachers and $60,000 for teachers with advanced credentials. The House bill differs by locking in additional pay increases in subsequent years.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the state are not fully satisfied with the expanded programs and teacher pay increases, arguing that they don’t do enough to make up for years of budgeting austerity.
“We really wish some bigger steps had been taken,” said Gail Evans, lead counsel to one group of plaintiffs with the Center on Law and Poverty.
Democratic Sen. John Sapien worried the state won’t be able to sustain the increased annual spending, warning of a budget “implosion” if state income falters.
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