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

SPONSOR Boitano

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/22/2007

3/1/2007 HB

SHORT TITLE “School Collaborative Improvement Program"

SB 1183/a SEC

ANALYST Schuss

REVENUE (dollars in thousands)

Estimated Revenue

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

FY09

($2,500.0)

($2,500.0) Recurring

General

$2,500.0

$2,500.0 Recurring

School

Collaborative

School

Improvement

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

$10.6* $10.6*

$21.2* Recurring General

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases) * PED estimate

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of SEC Amendment

The amendment proposed by the Senate Education Committee replaces all references to school

principal with cluster leader.

Senate Bill 1183/a SEC – Page

2

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 1183 creates a new section to the Assessment and Accountability Act, creates the

school collaborative school improvement fund, providing that a portion of the unencumbered

balances of the certain general fund appropriations shall revert to the fund. The bill intends to do

the following:

•

In school districts that have more than 35,000 students (applies to Albuquerque Public

Schools), a school principal will have the authority to approve an individual school plan to

implement a school collaborative school improvement program plan. The plan must be

supported by the participating teaching staff.

•

The school principal must include input and concerns from parents, students, school

employees and members of the community in developing the plan.

•

If necessary to the school collaborative school improvement program, the school principal

may apply to the department for a waiver of Public School Code provisions relating to the

length of school day, staff patterns, subject areas or purchase of instructional material. Also,

the school principal would be required to submit a plan budget to the Public Education

Department showing the students and school employees served under the plan.

•

A teacher may communicate with the department to comment on the school principal’s

waiver request after the teacher’s opinion have been turned into the school principal in

writing.

•

Creates the school collaborative school improvement fund that consists of transfers,

distributions, appropriations, reversions, gifts, grants, donations, and bequests made to the

fund. Income from the fund shall be credited to the fund and money from the fund shall not

revert or be transferred to any other fund at the end of the fiscal year. Money in the fund is

appropriated to the department to provide supplemental funding for the implementation of

the school collaborative school program. The department may hold no more than 3 percent

for administrative costs.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The decrease in revenue of $2,500,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general

fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of any fiscal year shall not

revert to the general fund.

This bill creates a new fund and provides for continuing appropriations. The LFC has concerns

with including continuing appropriation language in the statutory provisions for newly created

funds, as earmarking reduces the ability of the legislature to establish spending priorities.

SB 1183 states that 10 percent of all unreserved undesignated balances in reverting funds and

accounts as of the end of each fiscal year effective fiscal year 2008 shall be transferred to the

school collaborative school improvement fund to provide supplemental funding for

implementation of the school collaborative school program waivers granted by the department.

The consensus revenue estimate for recurring reversions to the general fund in FY08 is

$24,800,000. SB 1183 would require 10 percent of that amount, or $2,480,000, to go to the

school collaborative school improvement fund.

PED states that there may not be any fiscal implications if the school reallocates funding to

Senate Bill 1183/a SEC – Page

3

accomplish this program fund. There would need to be a person at PED to work on the review

and recommendations regarding the schools being granted this option. This would require

additional work by current PED staff to review and make recommendations regarding this

waiver request. PED would be able to accomplish this with existing staff. It is estimated that it

would take approximately 320 hours of a Education Administrator A’s time to accomplish this

($25.50/hr. X 320 hrs ($8,160) + 30% $10,608.00 amount)."

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to PED, Schools In Need of Improvement (SINOI) should be excluded from this

process as the schools have not made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for a minimum of two

years and up to six years. These schools need additional support but the federal No Child Left

Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) requires specific steps be taken for schools in Corrective Action,

Restructuring I and Restructuring II.

DFA has included the following issues in their analysis:

New Mexico currently has a school improvement framework which defines requirements

for schools that are designated in need of improvement. In a discussion with the Public

Education Department’s Priority Schools Bureau, SB 1183 would provide an avenue for

identified schools to be excluded from current requirements and mandates if they are identified

as a school in need of improvement. The concern of the department is that if SB 1183 passes,

some APS schools would apply for a wavier from the Public School Code and would not have to

implement the current requirements set in the School Improvement framework.

Currently the following requirements are implemented at schools in need of

improvement:

•

NM PED EPSS Coordinators deployed to specific school sites, as required.

•

Diagnostic Assessment Reports for all Priority Schools.

•

Submission by superintendent of “Semester District Progress Report for SINOI" for

each school with an AYP designation of SI-I, SI-II, CA, R-I, R-II.

•

Relevant documentation of an EPSS strategic plan for continuous improvement

reflecting assessment data and systems alignment.

•

Articulated data-driven instruction and evaluation of programs and curriculum.

•

Implementation of shot-cycle assessments.

•

Facilitation of site Goal Teams.

•

Teams of administrators and teachers are required to participate in Regional

Leadership Training in Baldrige continuous systems improvement model.

•

Teams of administrators and teachers are required to participate in the Professional

Development Institute for Educators.

•

Administration is responsible to maintain relevant documentation of EPSS strategy

implementation and actions taken to implement continuous improvement.

•

Schools are required to maintain documentation of Advisory School Council

activities.

Under current law, Section 22-2C-8.1 NMSA 1978, when a school has moved through

the school improvement designation cycle for 7 years of not meeting AYP the school must

develop a plan for reconstitution. The following options can be chosen:

•

Replace all or most of the staff who are relevant to failure to make AYP;

Senate Bill 1183/a SEC – Page

4

•

Enter into a contract with another organization (excluding private entities per NMSA

22-2C-7 K), with a demonstrated record of effectiveness, to operate the school;

•

Turn over operation of the school to the NM PED, in accordance with state law and if

agreed to by the NM PED; or

•

Any other major restructuring of a school’s governance arrangement that makes

fundamental reforms and has promise of enabling the school to make AYP.

In regards to these options, if a school in APS was identified as a restructuring school and

may have to reconstitute, SB 1183 would provide an avenue out of implementing the PED

requirements. However, as indicated above, option four in reconstitution may give a school the

same avenue that SB 1183 is attempting to address if a collaborative school improvement plan

could demonstrate “any other major restructuring of a school’s governance arrangement that

makes fundamental reforms and has promise of enabling the school to make AYP". In this case,

provisions for such a plan already exist under New Mexico’s current school improvement

system.

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

PED notes that Schools In Need of Improvement should be able to work with PED and jointly

request a waiver from the Public School Code if research indicates that certain restrictions

prevent schools from increasing student achievement. The provision for much of this redesign

could be accomplished by broadening this bill to include the work of PED with Schools In Need

of Improvement.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

PED will have to record, assemble and communicate the comments of teachers regarding the

principals’ program. This leaves districts out of the communication loop and they are

responsible for the performance of the school.

TECHNICAL ISSUES

Attaching this bill to the Assessment and Accountability Act will require PED to resubmit the

State Assessment and Accountability Plan to the federal government for review for compliance

with NCLB requirements. This would take time to submit, review and receive approval/denial/or

revision. The PED may or may not receive approval for the change, which would make the new

legislation invalid.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

PED states that Schools In Need of Improvement should be excluded from the principal applying

for a collaborative to a joint application by PED and the school district. In this manner, the PED

would meet NCLB requirements and provide more latitude to help these schools improve student

achievement.

BS/mt