New Mexico’s system of funding for public school facilities is built upon the foundational values of equity and adequacy. The system is designed to provide a greater amount of state funding to school districts that cannot afford to build a school on their own. Through the collaborative efforts of the Public School Capital Outlay Council, the Public School Capital Outlay Oversight Task Force, and the Public School Facilities Authority, New Mexico has managed to balance complicated streams of state and local revenue, construct schools in both urban and rural areas of the state, and ensure school buildings are adequate for students’ education.
Recent challenges throughout the construction industry have contributed to unprecedented construction costs, and while New Mexico works to incentivize participation in its capital outlay funding processes, the reality of construction costs may stretch the state’s limited capital resources thin. The state will need to continue its ongoing efforts to address issues related to the state and local match formula as it considers additional ways to improve adequacy and maintain equity in funding public school infrastructure.