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

SPONSOR Tripp

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

02/04/08

HB 606

SHORT TITLE NMSU Coop Ext 4-H Youth Development

SB

ANALYST Williams

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$25.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to: HB 567: $10,000 for Lincoln and Otero Counties 4-H; HB 494: $25,000 for Chaves

and Eddy Counties 4-H; and HB 575: $25,000 for Lea County 4-H.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Public Education Department (PED)

New Mexico State University

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 606 appropriates $25,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University for the purpose of supporting the cooperative extension service 4-H

youth development program statewide.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $25,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 09 shall revert to the

General Fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMSU indicates the funding will increase capacity and commitment to reach diverse youth

audience with programs that develop life skills and supplement the local schools with curriculum

House Bill 606 – Page

2

that provides experiential educational programs. The university states a key strategy is “to forge

partnerships between NMSU, local schools and communities to promote life skills acquisition

that supports academic performance and work force participation" with four approaches: 1)

outreach … to enhance in-school, and out-of-school time, including after school programs; 2)

enhancing core curriculum by working with schools; 3) ensure stronger foundation for youth and

community engagement; 4) reach new audiences of underserved youth. With particular

emphasis on underserved youth, NMSU plan to provide teachers or classroom volunteers with

experiential learning lessons and activities aligned to New Mexico educational standards and

benchmarks.

An expansion proposal for this program was not submitted by NMSU to the HED for

consideration in Fall 2007. The January 2008 LFC report “Higher Education Department

Review of Selected Research and Public Service Projects" discusses best practices for funding

these types of projects.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

The 4-H Youth Development Program emphasizes 35 life skills including: Leadership,

responsible citizenship, critical thinking, problem solving, decision-making, conflict resolution,

respect for others, and communication. The 4-H program is the largest youth organization in the

world with 7 million youth members and 603,000 volunteer leaders. The 4-H program is 95

years old. NMSU notes, in 2006-2007, more than 74,000 of the state’s youth were involved in 4-

H. Last year, 5,220 adult 4-H volunteers contributed over 260,000 hours of volunteer service,

with a value of $4.7 million.

A report by the Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development found: “Many strengths

characterize existing community-based youth development programs. These strengths include

tradition, durability, commitment, credibility, diversity, wide-spread support and extensive

reach."

POSSIBLE QUESTIONS

1.

How would performance outcomes be measured.

AW/bb