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

SPONSOR Carraro

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/8/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Middle School Math Intervention Programs

SB 601

ANALYST Aguilar

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$3,000.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 670

Relates to HB 129, SB 140, HB 220, SB 552, SB 32, SB 358, SB 424

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 601 appropriates $3 million from the general fund to the Public Education

Department for the purpose of providing intensive math intervention programs for low-

performing middle schools.

The bill also provides for teacher training, a web-based component, connections between home

and school and a live web-based math competition.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $3 million contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2008 shall revert

to the general fund.

Senate Bill 601 – Page

2

The LFC remains concerned with funding initiatives outside of the funding formula as it tends to

disequalize school funding and diverts funding away from core educational needs.

Appropriations are contained in the General Appropriations Act that addresses this issue in part

by providing funding for math, science and reading summer institutes and professional

development.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA notes that in School Year 2005, 65 percent of 4th graders in New Mexico scored at the

basic level for achievement in mathematics on the National Assessment for Educational Progress

(NAEP). An additional 19 percent scored at the proficient level and 2 percent at the advanced

level of achievement. By 8th grade, these percentages had dropped to 53 percent, 14 percent and

1 percent respectively for basic, proficient and advanced levels of achievement on the math

NAEP. The figures for the 2005 NAEP are given because these are the most current scores

available.

PED indicates that there is no good information on the effectiveness of web-based instruction,

having a home-school connection, or a web-based competition as provided for in SB-601;

however, they also indicate that the proposed arrangement in the bill could provide data to help

assess such an impact.

PA/nt