Lawmakers warn New Mexico schools might have to take bigger hit
The state senator who heads the Legislative Finance Committee had grim news Thursday for Public Education Secretary Hanna Skandera: New Mexico’s public schools are going to take a big hit in the upcoming fiscal year.
“We’re in dire need of ‘now’ money,” said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, during a hearing at the Roundhouse. “Some of that hide is going to have to come out of education.”
A couple of months ago, lawmakers wrangled with a spending shortfall of more than $600 million, wiping out nearly all of the state’s cash reserves and approving cuts to most state agencies, including the public education and higher education departments. But the state still faces a financial crisis.
Earlier this week, economists and budget officials said further declines in projected state revenues mean New Mexico is down as much as $70 million for fiscal year 2017 — and the outlook for 2018 revenues is even more dismal.
Skandera, appearing before the committee to present her funding request for fiscal year 2018, said she was holding the budget for public schools relatively flat in response to the state’s financial challenges. Her proposed budget of about $2.7 billion is a few million dollars below her agency’s original budget for fiscal year 2017 — reflecting the belt-tightening in October.
But several lawmakers said the state’s schools — which consistently place at or near the bottom in national rankings for educational measures — may have to give much more.
They discussed several ideas for how to shore up the state’s budget woes. One plan, which Smith said was proposed Monday by the state Department of Finance and Administration, would sweep from school districts any cash balances that exceed the recommended range of 3 percent to 5 percent of a district’s operating budget. That action would provide well over $100 million, Smith said.
Other legislators suggested consolidating small school districts and placing a moratorium on any new charter schools, which critics say draw state funds away from traditional public schools.
Skandera said poorly performing charter schools should be closed, but she argued that a moratorium would deny parents and students access to good charter schools in the future.
Skandera told the committee that her budget proposal includes $4.5 million in cuts to grant funding for targeted programs. She highlighted, however, gains made in certain districts and schools around the state that have used such funding for reading programs, training for principals and efforts to cut down on the number of habitually truant students and dropouts.
“We’re beginning to round a corner,” Skandera said, adding that these initiatives are giving the state “better return on our investment.”
Several school superintendents testified in support of her claim, saying the targeted funds offer opportunities for districts to focus on specific improvements.
But a few Democrats on the committee didn’t buy it.
Sen. Howie Morales, D-Silver City, said the presentation made him “nauseous” because it overlooked teacher shortages, budget challenges facing individual schools and the complicated measures used to calculate the state’s A-F school grading system. “Our system has been going backward. … Our schools districts are continually suffering,” Morales said.
Rep. Patricia Lundstrom, D-Gallup, said Skandera’s budget presentation was “almost a sales pitch.”
“I don’t see upholding our students’ success as a sales pitch,” Skandera responded.
Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, said he didn’t like the idea of superintendents having to “chase” money offered through the state grants.
But Rep. Larry Larrañaga, R-Albuquerque, defended the spending strategy, saying the grant money otherwise would go into the general budget for public education and would end up in a “black hole, where everybody gets 25 cents.”
The Santa Fe New Mexican is a sister-paper of The Taos News. Contact Robert Nott at 505-986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.
