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

SPONSOR:	Garcia		DATE TYPED:	02/25/03		HB
SHORT TITLE:		NM Write-Read-Succeed Program				SB	751
					ANALYST:		Gonzales

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY03	FY04	FY03	FY04
	$250.0		See Narrative	Recurring	General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Responses Received From

Office of Cultural Affairs (OCA)

State Department of Education (SDE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 751 appropriates $250.0 from the general fund to the Library Division of the Office of Cultural Affairs for the purpose of implementing a New Mexico write-read-succeed program to improve youth literacy.

Significant Issues

This appropriation is contingent upon the Library Division receiving matching funds from sources other than the state equal to or greater than the appropriation. No more than five percent of the appropriation may be used for administrative and evaluation purposes.

OCA indicates a positive relationship between economic success and literacy.

SDE indicates this legislation supports the State Board of Education’s (SBE) strategic goal of Academic Achievement: Improve student performance.

The Write-Read-Succeed Program is a national writing literacy program featuring published and professional authors as role models and mentors to help middle school and high school students improve their writing and reading skills and stay in school.

• The program uses local celebrities and published authors to reach and motivate students and to show young people that writing has value. The workshops feature a “performance component” such as a contest or reading to demonstrate that writing is fun and rewarding.

• Special collaborations are also planned with public and charter schools and youth organizations, such as the YMCA and Public Television, to produce after-school and summer writing programs anchored by the celebrity-author appearances. The workshops consist of 15 to 20 students with one literacy coach (always a published author or professional writer). The literacy coach’s first duty is to provide a safe and nurturing environment for the students to give and receive supportive critique. Improved literacy is measured by monitoring the students’ on-going writing and reading involvement, their grades in writing-related skills, their participation in contests or other public sanctioned events and if students who are at-risk of dropping out stay in school.

• In 2002, some of the participating schools included Abiquiu Elementary/Middle School, Truman Middle School, Monte del Sol Charter School, Espanola Valley High School and Rio Grande High School.

If funded, the program intends to serve 1,500 students through 50 after-school weekly literacy workshops at 10 schools statewide. The workshops will be conducted year-round.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

The participants would presumably be tested before their enrollment in the program and after completion of the program to show an improvement in youth literacy.

This legislation supports the SDE’s performance measure to increase the percent and number of schools with grades 9-12 that have a dropout rate of three percent or less.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $250.0 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY04 shall revert to the general fund.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

There would be modest work to administer the grant.

JMG/njw