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

SPONSOR King

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/23/07

HB 879

SHORT TITLE Teacher Professional Development Fund

SB

ANALYST Wilson

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$5,000.0

Unknown

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act which includes $2,500.0 for the

Teacher Professional Development Fund.

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

$5,000.0

Unknown

Unknown Recurring

Teacher

Professional

Development

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Revenue Decreases)

ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)

FY07

FY08

FY09 3 Year

Total Cost

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

Total

$6.3

$6.3

$6.3

$18.9 Recurring General

Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

House Bill 879– Page

2

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 879 appropriates $5,000,000 from the general fund to the teacher professional

development fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2007 and subsequent fiscal years for teacher

professional development.

HB 879 has an emergency clause.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $5,000,000contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of a fiscal year shall not revert

to the general fund.

PED may be required to develop a request for proposal, choose prospective contractors, develop

and monitor contracts and handle all budgetary aspects associated with this project. It is

estimated that it will take approximately 200 hours of a Staff Manager’s time to accomplish

this($25.50/hr. X 200 hrs = $5,100 + $1,530 in benefits) for a total amount of $6,630.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Teacher Professional Development Fund and the requirement for the PED to develop a

systematic framework for professional development are provided for in state statute. The goal is

to ensure through training that New Mexico has quality teachers, school principals and

instructional support providers who will improve and enhance student achievement.

In the 2006 Legislative session HB 3 appropriated $3,000,000 for the Teacher Professional

Development Fund to be used to fund RE:Learning, Regional Educational Technology

Assistance, Strengthening Quality in Schools, Service Learning, Golden Apple, Closing the

Achievement Gap, Leadership Academy and other professional development programs. Several

of these programs have received ongoing appropriations from the General Fund for a number of

years.

HB 879 could serve to support the Public School Support Quality Performance Measure “to

increase the percent of classes taught by ‘highly qualified’ teachers in all schools across the

state." In addition, this legislation supports the New Mexico Accountability Plan for the federal

No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, which requires that 100% of core academic subject

classrooms are taught by highly qualified teachers by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

PED will be able to accomplish the provisions of this bill with existing staff.

RELATIONSHIP

HB 879 relates to SB 246, which appropriates $500,000 for the Golden Apple Program to

support New Mexico teachers; SB 243, which appropriates $180,000 for the Strengthening

House Bill 879– Page

3

Quality in Schools initiative; SB 244, which appropriates $750,0000 for RE:Learning; and SB

245, which appropriates $600,000 for Regional Educational Technology Assistance.

DW/csd