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

SPONSOR Gonzales

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/07/06 HB 699

SHORT TITLE

TAOS PUEBLO DAY SCHOOL

SB

ANALYST Weber

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$115.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Indian Affairs Department (IAD)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 699 appropriates $115 thousand from the general fund to Indian Affairs Department

for the purpose of supporting the Taos Pueblo Day School

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $115 thousand contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 shall revert to the

general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Indian Affairs Department reports.

Taos Day School (TDS) is located on the Taos Pueblo Indian Reservation in Northern New

Mexico, 3 miles north of the town of Taos. The school serves one hundred and seventy (170)

students in grades kindergarten through eighth. Fifty-two percent (52%) of TDS students live in

House Bill 699 – Page 2

households below the poverty level. All students are Native Americans. The majority of the

students are a mixture of Native American tribes, Hispanic or Anglo. Twenty-four percent (24%)

of the children are full-blooded Taos. Fourteen percent (14%) are from another tribe altogether.

Ninety-one percent (91%) of the children at the school receive free and reduced

lunches. (Retrieved from

http://www.laplaza.org/edu/tds/

)

The Taos Day School’s “Baby Faces” program is an early childhood program that serves

children from prenatal to 3 years old. For the past three years, two parent educators have gone to

the homes of their students to teach literacy, culture, language preservation, and parenting skills;

in addition, these teachers have conducted screenings and tracked milestones for early childhood

development. The program partners with the Taos Day Care, Headstart, and “Little Angels”

programs in the community and has the support of the Governor of the Taos Pueblo. Early

intervention for these children is significant and has a positive effect on the intellectual,

emotional, social, and physical development of the children. In the Pueblo of Taos, this also

affects the cultural development of Baby Faces participants. They also conduct monthly group

meetings and literacy skills.

For the past 3 years, the program has been funded by the Title 1, however these funds have been

drastically cut. The appropriation would provide mileage, salaries for two staff (Parent

Educators) and other program costs.

This program, unique in design and concept in the Taos Pueblo, is a special project with the

Indian Affairs Department. HB 699 would appropriate funds needed to keep the program

services for the Taos Pueblo.

As it relates to Tribal Literacy Even Start Programs: One of the biggest challenges for many

American Indians is overcoming isolation from the larger society, yet at the same time dealing

with the influences and opposing cultural forces outside the reservation which contribute to

parents’ reluctance to attend adult education classes and becoming involved in their childrens’

schools and spending more time in the “outside” community. Further, extreme poverty and a

high rate of unemployment are challenges for most American Indian communities and for many

Even Start families. One factor is geographic isolation. Lack of sufficient space and facilities

for project activities is a challenge as well as culturally relevant early childhood curriculum

materials and resources. (National Evaluation of the Even Start Family Literacy Program,

Report on Even Start Projects for Indian Tribes and Tribal Organizations, Executive Summary,

Feb. 18, 1997)

HB 699 would address areas important to Tribal communities:

•

Help break the cycle of poverty and illiteracy by improving the educational opportunities

of the nation’s low-income families by integrating early childhood education;

•

Supplement the academic achievement goals of the Taos school in accordance with their

own National Education goals;

•

Assist children from low-income families to achieve early childhood development

standards.

MW/yr