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

SPONSOR Nava

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

1/25/2008

HB

SHORT TITLE NM Tech Summer Science Program

SB 295

ANALYST McOlash

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$50.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates HB 45.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

Higher Education Department (HED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 295 appropriates $50,000 from the General Fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NMIMT) for expenditure in FY09 to provide

scholarships to cover the tuition for New Mexico high school students attending a Summer

Science Program (SSP). The program is intended to recruit New Mexico students considering

careers in a scientific field.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $50,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the General Fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY 2009 shall revert to the

General Fund.

Senate Bill 295 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The Summer Science Program is operated by Summer Science Program, Inc., an independent

non-profit corporation, and established in cooperation with California Institute of Technology,

Harvey Mudd College, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, New Mexico Tech, Pomona College, Stanford

University, and UCLA. It is an accredited observing affiliate of the Harvard/Smithsonian Center

for Astrophysics (summerscience.org).

The SSP is a six-week residential enrichment program in which small teams of gifted high

school students apply physics, calculus and programming to determine the orbit of an asteroid

from their own observations.

This prestigious program has drawn young scientists from around the world for 45 years,

accelerating their academic and personal development, and inspiring them to seek equally

challenging educational and career paths. Many SSP alumni have gone on to distinguish

themselves at selective universities.

Established at Thacher School in 1959, SSP now takes place at two campuses: New Mexico

Tech in Socorro and Besant Hill School

in Ojai, California (northwest of Los Angeles). The

curriculum is identical at the two campuses.

The Summer Science Program receives support from these sources

(summerscience.org):

•

Contributions from individual alumni, parents of alumni, former faculty, and other

friends of the Program, and matching grants from their employers.

•

Grants and in-kind donations from foundations, corporations, and other institutions,

including: New Mexico Institute of Technology, Gordon & Betty Moore Foundation,

Mitchell Kapor Foundation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lockheed Martin / Sandia

National Laboratory, and High Tide Foundation.

•

Program fees paid by participants, net of need-based financial aid (which covers less than

half of SSP's operating costs).

According to NMHED, this Summer Science Program requests is for a recurring appropriation of

$50,000 per year (up to eight students at $6,250 each) from the 2008 Legislative session to be

used to fund students for SSP 2009 and beyond.

This request was not submitted by NM Tech to the New Mexico Higher Education Department

for review.

The NMHED funding recommendation for FY09 is a continuance of FY08 recurring funding in

the amount of $72,000.

BM/nt