Reps revive push to tap permanent fund for early education

New Mexico continues to rank at the bottom nationally in academic measures. Education advocates from both parties have said that expanding early education programs would help reverse this trend, but lawmakers and the governor have never been able to agree on how to fund such programs. While most Democrats see the state’s largest endowment, funded with oil and gas royalties and other state land revenues, as the best way to pay for early education, Republican lawmakers and Gov. Susana Martinez have fiercely opposed this.

A high-ranking Democratic senator also has said the plan would be fiscally irresponsible.

State Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, says Maestas and Javier Martinez will have to kick through a narrow goal post to get their resolution past him during the upcoming 60-day session, scheduled to begin Jan. 17.

Smith has blocked similar measures in the past, arguing that the Land Grant Permanent Fund is intended to last for generations and should not be tapped for additional education programs. Currently, a large percent of investment revenues from the fund already go to public schools and other beneficiaries — including $638 million in fiscal year 2017.

Under the proposed constitutional amendment, the state would draw of 1 percent from the average total of the Land Grant Permanent Fund over the past five years, or about $14 billion, Maestas told a crowd gathered for a news conference Thursday at the nonprofit CHI St. Joseph’s Children in Albuquerque.

“It is a moral imperative that we fully fund early childhood initiatives in this state,” Maestas said after announcing the joint House resolution. “This isn’t the government’s money, this is our money.”

The two lawmakers, as well as representatives from teachers unions who attended the news conference, referred to various studies showing that investing in early childhood education programs pays off down the line by boosting academic achievement and graduation rates and lowering imprisonment rates.

“If we are really serious about lifting up our state … investing in education, including early childhood education, is necessary,” said Charles Goodmacher, a spokesman for the National Education Association of New Mexico.

Brenda Frayre, vice president of the Partnership for Early Educators United in New Mexico, said the state is “the worst of the worst” in national statistics when it comes to both education and crime because “nobody wants to step up” to fix the problem. This effort, she said, could make a difference.

State Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, introduced a similar bill that didn’t pass last year, when Republicans controlled the state House.

Maestas and Javier Martinez said that with Democrats in control of both the House and Senate this year, their joint resolution might have a better chance of passing. And because the resolution is asking for a constitutional amendment to be placed on the ballot, rather than direct legislative action, it doesn’t require the approval of Gov. Susana Martinez.

But they’ll still have to get the measure past Smith. He said Thursday that if the resolution comes to his Senate Finance Committee, “It’s going to be a steeper hill to climb.”

Established in 1912 when New Mexico gained statehood, the Land Grant Permanent Fund draws revenue from leases and royalties from oil and gas drilling operations and other activities on state trust land, as well as income from returns on invested capital.

Though final figures for the fund have not been tallied for 2016, Charles Wollmann, a spokesman for the New Mexico State Investment Council, which oversees the fund, estimates it will be about $15 billion by January.

The Santa Fe New Mexican is a sister-paper of The Taos News. Contact Robert Nott at 505-986-3021 or rnott@sfnewmexican.com.