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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Miera		DATE TYPED:	02/07/02		HB	HJM55
SHORT TITLE:		Report of Special Master in Zuni Lawsuit				SB
					ANALYST:		Kehoe

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY02

FY03

FY02

FY03

NFI

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

State Department of Education (SDE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Joint Memorial 55 requests that the Public School Capital Outlay Council (PSCOC) and Public School Capital Outlay Task Force (PSCOTF) consider the findings of fact and conclusion of the law contained in the report of the special master regarding the case of ZUNI, Et AL. v. THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO. Particularly, the PSCOC and PSCOTF is requested to consider the findings of fact and conclusions relative to special legislative appropriations when developing a formula for determining grants to public schools pursuant to the Public School Capital Outlay Act.

Significant Issues

PSCOTF is currently assessing and monitoring the progress and effectiveness of the programs administered pursuant to the Public School Capital Outlay and the Public School Capital Improvements Acts. PSCOTF did not recommend specific legislation or funding for FY03, pending the results of the 3D/International assessment and the special master’s report relative to the Zuni litigation. However, PSCOTF has appointed a subcommittee to review the current statutory formula for determining the state’s share of project funding under the standards-based program to take effect beginning September 1, 2003. A preliminary report to the LFC in December 2001 indicates the subcommittee has agreed on factors that should be included in the formula. The factors include: tax capacity, local effort and other available revenues.

The current formula does not account for other revenues available to a school district for capital outlay projects, such as direct legislative appropriations. To date, the subcommittee has agreed that the equity of the formula would be improved by including a subtractive factor that takes into account the availability of the following revenues: direct legislative appropriations, 20 percent of local revenues, forest reserve payments and impact aid funds, and payments in lieu of taxes made for capital outlay purposes.

F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LMK/ar