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

SPONSOR:	Campos		DATE TYPED:	01/28/02		HB
SHORT TITLE:		Geography Education				SB	179
					ANALYST:		Segura

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained

Estimated Additional Impact

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY02

FY03

FY02

FY03

$500.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates/Relates to Appropriation in The General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

State Department of Education (SDE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 179 appropriates $500.0 to the State Department of Education to contract for geography education in the state’s public schools.

Significant Issues

According to the SDE, this legislation provides a funding match by the National Geographic Society, to create a permanent fund that will support the efforts of the New Mexico Geographic Alliance.

The New Mexico Geographic Alliance supports on-going professional development opportunities for social studies teachers in the state, curriculum support and community outreach for geography education. The program has provided professional development through summer teacher institutes since 1991.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The bill appropriates $500.0 from the general fund and is recurring.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

The department indicates that , while this initiative is not under the direct supervision of the department, the program does relate to the department’s performance measures of addressing quality teachers.

RS/ar