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

SPONSOR Nava

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/27/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE NMSU Pre-Freshmen Engineering Program

SB 32

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$250.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to House Bill 147.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

New Mexico State University – College of Engineering (NMSU-COE)

Public Education Department (PED)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 32 appropriates $250,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of NMSU

for expenditure in FY 2008 to support the Pre-Freshmen Engineering Program (PREP) to en-

hance recruitment and retention of freshmen engineering students.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $250,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2008 shall revert to the

General Fund.

Senate Bill 32 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

Since 1997, the NMSU PREP program has provided an intensive mathematics-based pre-college

summer program that provides educational enrichment for approximately 200 middle and high

school students. Participants learn logic, algebraic structures, physics and technical writing and

participate in field trips that provide an opportunity for hands-on learning. This program seeks to

stimulate interest of underrepresented students in the field of science, engineering and mathemat-

ics.

New Mexico State University submitted a request for $250,000 in its base budget request to the

HED. The Department recommended continued funding of $28,500 in its funding recommenda-

tion for FY08.

This bill is a Special Projects Expansion. It was originally appropriated ($28,500) during the

2005 session as SB190 (Laws 2005, Ch. 34). The $28,500 was continued in the 2006 session via

HB2 (Laws 2006, Ch. 109), which continues the expansion through FY07.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

Senate Bill 32 does not indicate performance measures. Per the 2005 PREP Annual Report, ac-

countability is evaluated using a follow-up survey that measures the number of students who suc-

cessfully complete PREP and go on to major in science, engineering and/or mathematics. The

survey also tracks the percent of members that are women and/or are from underrepresented mi-

nority group.

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP OR RELATIONSHIP

House Bill 147 appropriates $200,000 for a similar program at the University of New Mexico.

BM/sb