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

SPONSOR

Rodella

DATE TYPED 02/11/05 HB 328

SHORT TITLE Northern NM State School Teacher Program

SB

ANALYST Woods

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained Estimated Additional Impact Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY05

FY06

FY05

FY06

$565.0

Recurring General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to the appropriation for Northern New Mexico Community College in the General Ap-

propriations Act.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico Public Education Department (PED)

New Mexico Commission on Higher Education (CHE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 328 – Making an Appropriation to Northern New Mexico State School to Implement

a Teacher Education Program – appropriates $565,000 from the general fund to the Board of Re-

gents of Northern New Mexico State School for expenditure in FY06 to implement a teacher

education program. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY06

shall revert to the general fund.

Significant Issues:

PED indicates that New Mexico will need approximately 1,850 new teachers each year for the

next ten years. Further, that there are presently nine undergraduate teacher preparation programs

and ten alternative teacher preparation programs in operation in New Mexico. Together, these

House Bill 328 -- Page 2

programs train approximately 1,500 new teachers each year, although not all become teachers

and some are recruited to other states.

PRD notes that that Northern New Mexico Community College (NNMCC) seeks to apply the

proposed appropriation to design and implement a four-year Special Education Licensure Pro-

gram and endorsement programs in bilingual and reading. The 2004 legislature approved and

supported an NNMCC request to design and implement a four-year standard licensure program

in FY05 and, currently, NNMCC has 114 students enrolled in the four-year elementary licensure

program, which was implemented in the fall of 2004.

PED suggests that NNMCC anticipates that the funding formula to be adequate to support the

four-year teacher preparation program beginning in FY07; and that the appropriation would al-

low for program planning and development and hiring faculty to teach the bilingual, reading and

special education courses in FY06. PED further observes that the establishment of a baccalau-

reate degree program would expand opportunities for teacher education in the region and would

be responsive to helping the high-need districts in NNMCC’s service area fill hard-to-staff posi-

tions in special education, bilingual and reading.

This project is not included in the CHE 2005-2006 Higher Education Funding Recommendation.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

PED observes that expanding the licensure programs available to prepare teachers could help

address PED’s continuing efforts to increase the pool of potential teachers and thereby increase

the percent of classes being taught by “highly qualified” teachers in high-need schools. These

efforts could help PED meet the requirements set forth in the federal No Child Left Behind Ac of

2001, namely that all teachers teaching in core academic subjects must be “highly qualified” by

the end of the 2005-2006.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $565,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY06 shall revert to the gen-

eral fund.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

Northern New Mexico Community College will retain oversight of this project.

While PED states that it (PED) is tasked with approving teacher education programs – and that

the development of a licensure programs would also require PED approval of the expanded

teacher preparation program – this could be accomplished with existing PED staff.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP OR RELATIONSHIP

Relates to the appropriation for Northern New Mexico Community College in the General Ap-

propriations Act.

House Bill 328 -- Page 3

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

CHE indicates that the commission is committed to the adequate and equitable support of neces-

sary instructional, student services, and academic support initiatives for all students in New Mex-

ico. Activities to be funded in this proposal will be funded through the Instruction and General

(I&G) higher education funding formula within the General Appropriation Act in FY06. Fund-

ing of a specific program without consideration of similar needs at all institutions could weaken

the equitability and thus the integrity of the I&G formula.

CHE further suggests that higher education institutions receive indirect cost revenues from fed-

eral contracts and grants. This money is unrestricted in the sense that the governing board of the

institution has the flexibility to choose which projects are supported with these funds. A great

deal of this money is used as seed money to develop new research and public services projects at

institutions. A portion of the indirect cost revenue, or earned overhead, is used to support items

such as the salaries of the accountants responsible for monitoring the contracts and grants, or for

paying utilities and other expenses required to maintain the space where the contract and grant

activities are housed.

CHE concludes that the higher education funding formula allows institutions to retain 100 per-

cent of this indirect cost revenue, and that one of the purposes of retaining these funds is to pro-

vide seed money and matching funds for projects such as the one proposed in this bill.

BFW/lg