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SPONSOR: |
Heaton |
DATE TYPED: |
|
HB |
191 |
||
SHORT TITLE: |
Office of Early Education |
SB |
|
||||
|
ANALYST: |
L. Baca |
|||||
APPROPRIATION
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
||
FY03 |
FY04 |
FY03 |
FY04 |
|
|
|
$500.0 |
|
|
Recurring |
GF |
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates
to Appropriation for the Department of Education in the General
Appropriation Act
Responses
Received From
State
Department of Education SDE
Commission
on Higher Education (CHE)
Children,
Youth & Families Department (CYFD)
Department
of Health (DOH)
SUMMARY
Synopsis
of Bill
House Bill 191
appropriates $500.0 from the general fund to the State Department of Public
Education (SDE), amends the Public School Code to create the Office Of Early Education
and provides for its duties; transfers the appropriations and property of the
Office of Child Development in Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD)
to the SDE; and repeals Sections 32A-16-1 through 31-16-4 that established the
Office of Child Development.
Significant
Issues
The bill has elicited diverse reactions from
agencies providing the analysis.
The CHE reports that House Bill 191 is
consistent with recommendations in the “Blueprint for the Alignment of Early
Education in New Mexico” requested by the LESC September 13, 2002 and prepared
jointly by the Department of Children Youth, and Families (CYFD) and the State
Department of Education (SDE).
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of
$500.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining
at the end of fiscal year 2004 shall revert to the general fund.
According to CYFD, while the bill is aimed
at integrating early care services, it would actually remove the Office of
Child Development from CYFD, the agency that administers all child care funding
(and child care accounts for a major part of early care and education services
statewide).
The
bill would transfer 8.0 FTE and $5.322 million from CYFD to the SDE. Any
costs associated with the transfer would have to be absorbed by CYFD’s existing
resources.
ADMINISTRATIVE
IMPLICATIONS
CYFD reports that the agency remains responsible for the
development and implementation of the federal Child Care and Development Fund
(CCDF), of which the mandated quality requirements are just one part. The oversight of CCDF money remains with CYFD
and the movement of the funds to SDE would have significant administrative
implications. The quality set-aside
childcare funds currently meet the grant requirements of the CCDF.
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
The DOH points out
that SDE has not had a strong focus on early childhood education from birth to
5 years of age except for special education 3 and 4 year olds and a small Even
Start literacy program.
In support of this change, SDE cites a recent
study that identified the five major challenges of coordinating early childhood
programs and points out that the bill addresses all five challenges:
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
1.
Will SDE be able to carry out the
provisions of the Bill?
2.
Have the agencies affected by this bill
discussed the logistics of the transfer if this bill is enacted?
3.
Does this transfer fragment the
responsibilities of CYFD and will CYFD still be able to meet its
responsibilities under federal statutes?