Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance

committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports

if they are used for other purposes.

Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).

Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and

attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.

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

SPONSOR Nava

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/3/2006

HB

SHORT TITLE Regional Educational Technology Assistance

SB 488

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$800.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 488 appropriates $800,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University (NMSU) for the Regional Educational Technology Assistance program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $800,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert

to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This proposal was not included among the special program funding requests submitted by

NMSU to the Higher Education Department (HED) for review. Consequently, this proposal has

not been included in the HED fiscal year 2007 funding recommendations to the Legislature.

Senate Bill 488 – Page

2

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

NMSU would bear administrative responsibility for managing the funds provided through this

legislation.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HED reports that the RETA Initiative started as a pilot program in 1995-96 with a grant from

Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to assist New Mexico school districts with technology

planning and implementation with the goal of developing a statewide cadre of educators to sup-

port each other locally and regionally.

In 1996-97, funding was secured from a federal Technology Literacy Challenge Grant (TLCG)

which flowed through the former State Department of Education (SDE), now the Public Educa-

tion Department (PED). This funding continued through1997-98.

As the TLCG funding was coming to an end, the RETA program partnered with the Gadsden

Independent School District in 1998 and applied for a federally funded Technology Innovation

Challenge Grant (TICG) from the U.S .Department of Education. The application was success-

ful. The Gadsden School District, serving as the local education agency, was awarded a five-year

grant for $8,700,000 which funded the RETA program from 1998-2003.

With the TICG funding about to end, legislation was sponsored during the 2003 Legislative ses-

sion and RETA received a $500,000 General Fund appropriation for FY04 that flowed through

the PED' s Curriculum, Instruction, and Learning Technologies (CILT) Divison. For the next two

fiscal years, RETA received an annual $500,000 General Fund appropriation that flowed

through PED.

The goals of the RETA program are to:

•

Provide professional development for K-12 teachers integrating technology with their

curricula to improve student learning;

•

Partner with school districts, regional education cooperatives, and post-secondary institu-

tions to develop innovative teacher preparation and professional development programs;

and

•

Expand regional resource centers at post-secondary institutions statewide

RETA's partners include a consortium comprised of New Mexico's 89 public school districts,

New Mexico State University's College of Education; the Public Education Department, the New

Mexico Council on Technology in Education, the Center for Children and Technology, and the

U.S. Department of Education.

Currently, RETA has three regional resource centers located at the following campuses: New

Mexico State University in Las Cruces (main center), Western New Mexico University in Silver

City (satellite) and Northern New Mexico College in Espanola (satellite).

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

Why is the appropriation for this program proposed to be made to NMSU rather than PED as has

occurred in the past two years.

DKE/yr