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

SPONSOR Vaughn

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/21/08

HB 75

SHORT TITLE

NMSU Early Childhood Program

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$16.5

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Public Education Department (PED)

New Mexico State University (NMSU)

No Response

Children, Youth & Families Department (CYFD)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 75 appropriates $16.5 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New Mexico

State University to pay for a pilot program through the Alamogordo campus that will provide on-

site professional development training to early childhood service providers in Otero and Lincoln

counties.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $16.5 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund. Any

unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2009 shall revert to the

general fund.

House Bill 75 – Page

2

The HED states that this request was not submitted by NMSU-A to the New Mexico Higher

Education Department for review and is not included in the Department’s funding

recommendation for FY09.

The HED’s evaluation table of FY09 Research and Public Service Projects provided to the LFC

classifies this project as a “supports state priorities" project. Reasons for this classification

decision are not provided. (LFC Report 07-20, Higher Education Department Review of

Selected Research and Public Service Projects, January 12, 2008, Table 4, p73.)

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

According to NMSU, the purpose of this program is twofold: 1) to provide training in areas as

positive guidance for young children, meeting the needs of children with special needs, nurtition,

and safety and developing early literacy; and 2) encouraging early childhood providers to seek

additional coursework in early childhood at institutions of higher education. The training

sessions will be provided during convenient times and on-site for early childhood providers

(evenings and weekends) on the Mescalero Apache Reservation, Tularosa, Cloudcroft and

Carrizozo.

NMSU states that The Early Childhood Training Module Pilot Program would provide eight

training modules for early childhood providers on topics such as positive guidance for young

children, meeting the needs of young children with special needs, developing early literacy,

nutrition and safety for young children and assessment of programs. Professional development

and training in New Mexico is often difficult for early care providers to obtain due to financial,

time, and distance constraints. Often, entering providers make little more than minimum wage,

and they do not know the procedure for defraying the cost of college coursework. In addition,

sometimes early childhood providers (especially individuals from minority backgrounds) do not

view themselves as "college material" and as a result, they do not pursue opportunities in

postsecondary education.

According to the PED, Currently, the PED does not have any early childhood programs funded

in Otero and Lincoln. Therefore, there is no duplication of professional development efforts if

this bill is enacted. However, there could be some duplication with professional development

training efforts with CYFD’s funded early care and education programs and their Training &

Technical Assistance (T&TA) efforts in Otero and Lincoln Counties.

GH/bb