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

SPONSOR Vigil

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/1/08

HB 631

SHORT TITLE College Tuition For Teacher Tutoring Program

SB

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$15.0

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 Highlands University (NMHU)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 631 appropriates $15.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New Mexico

Highlands University for a pilot program to provide tuition to teachers in the Las Vegas City

Public School District if the teachers tutor students. As part of the program, principals from the

school district and officials from New Mexico Highlands University shall determine the ratio of

the number of hours tutored to the amount of tuition paid.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $15.0 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.

This request was not submitted by New Mexico Highlands University to the New Mexico Higher

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

recommendation for FY09.

House Bill 631 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

NMHU states that the appropriation is consistent with the University Strategic plan and assists

with the university mission of integrating education, research, public service, and economic

development.

According to the PED:

The purpose of the Teacher Tuition Tutoring Award (3TA) Pilot Program is to

acknowledge, encourage, and support teachers who provide tutoring services to children

outside the traditional school day. This pilot program will provide a tuition award to

teachers tutoring in their schools and districts. Earned tuition awards may be used to

attend New Mexico Highlands University and be applied towards classes to earn

additional academic credit. Teachers may apply their award towards classes to increase

their content knowledge, to gain additional endorsement or licensure areas, or towards a

Masters of Arts degree. Three credits of NMHU credit are earned for 40 hours of

tutoring in a school at the P-12 level.

Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary level teachers from the West Las Vegas and

Las Vegas City School districts will be invited to participate in the tutoring tuition award

program. The pilot program will begin in the fall of 2008 and end after the spring of

2009 semester.

The 3TA program will provide tuition support for 40-45 teachers in the West Las Vegas

and Las Vegas City School districts. Approximately 20 teachers will be served per

semester.

The Las Vegas City School district receives funding through the State Equalization

Guarantee (SEG) to meet funding needs. The district has discretion through its SEG,

with approval by the PED, to designate needed funding for teacher professional

development.

Further, the district is receiving $158,215 in Title II, Part A funding for FY 08 to support

an array of activities. Allowable uses of funds through this federal grant are flexible and

generally support improving the quality of educators at all levels. The district has

budgeted $13,343 to Core Content Area goals, $10,000 is budgeted to support Short-

Cycle Assessment goals, $123,500 is budgeted to support Class Size Reduction goals,

and approximately $11,372 is budgeted for grant administration.

GH/bb