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A MEMORIAL

ENCOURAGING SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY SCHOOLS IN ORDER TO INCREASE

TEACHER-PARENT COMMUNICATIONS, PROVIDE INCREASED SECURITY AND

HEIGHTEN COMMUNITY PRIDE AND RAPPORT BETWEEN STUDENTS AND

OTHER COMMUNITY MEMBERS.

WHEREAS, school, community and family are inextricably

joined and must work closely together for the benefit of every

child and every community; and

WHEREAS, collaborative working relationships with

schools, the business community, social service agencies,

government agencies, faith-based organizations, civic groups,

neighborhood associations and post-secondary educational

institutions increase parent involvement and student academic

achievement to ensure an overall high quality of life; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque have worked together for a

number of years on a community education model that would

combine resources from public and private sources to serve the

educational needs of all members of a community; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque approved resolutions to

form a community schools partnership and to set forth

principles, alternative approaches and a scope to accomplish

the mission and goals of a community education program; and

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WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque jointly participated with

the Albuquerque business education compact in a 2005 study

with high-level executives and staff members to clarify the

options and steps required to implement community schools

within the Albuquerque public school system; and

WHEREAS, the community schools approach recognizes that

only about twenty-two percent of a child's life until ten

years of age is spent in school and that conditions within the

family, neighborhood, among peers and within the larger

community affect young people's motivation to learn and be

successful in school; and

WHEREAS, the character of family life, family income,

stability, peer and family drug and alcohol use, mental

health, nutrition, housing, neighborhood crime, gangs, the

educational level of family members and the importance family

members place on learning all have an impact on learning; and

WHEREAS, over fifty leaders from community schools in

Albuquerque were interviewed, and their responses contained

important guidance for implementing community schools; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque, along with the

Albuquerque business education compact, reviewed ten national

and international models of community schools nationwide; and

WHEREAS, the community schools task force recognized

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that implementing community schools would require a

significant commitment of staff and financial resources by

Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public schools, the city of

Albuquerque and the state's private foundations; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools, the city of Albuquerque and the Albuquerque business

education compact have each made a one-time contribution of

one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) to fund the start-up

costs and initial operations of the community schools

partnership; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque approved a joint powers

agreement to achieve administrative efficiency in the funding

of programs by the establishment of the community schools

partnership; and

WHEREAS, Bernalillo county, the Albuquerque public

schools and the city of Albuquerque request a significant

commitment of staff and financial resources from the state of

New Mexico to implement the community schools effort;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the state

commit staff and financial resources to implement the

community schools effort; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be

transmitted to the superintendent of the Albuquerque public

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schools and to the members of the legislative education study

committee.