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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

1/29/08

HB

SHORT TITLE Regional Educational Technology Assistance

SB 323

ANALYST Haug

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY08

FY09

$600.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Higher Education Department (HED)

Public Education Department (PED)

Department of Information Technology (DoIT)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 323 appropriates $600.0 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of New

Mexico State University for the Regional Educational Technology Assistance Program.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $600.0 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 on the list of priority projects submitted by NMSU to the New Mexico

Higher Education Department (NMHED) for review and was not included in the Department's

funding recommendation for FY09.

Senate Bill 323 – Page

2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

The HED states:

The Regional Educational Technology Assistance Program's (RETA) mission is to

promote innovative uses of technology to improve teaching and learning by:

•

Serving educators and other education-related professionals and organizations.

•

Establishing collaborative partnerships to leverage resources.

•

Providing quality professional development opportunities.

•

Developing media-rich educational resources.

According to the Co-Director of RETA at NMSU, a proposed increase in funding is to

expand services to build organizational capacity and to cover the increase in operational

costs. The intent is to increase the number of free face-to-face and online professional

development workshops (approximately 180 additional workshops and/or services)

provided by the RETA instructors.

The $100,000 reduction in RETA’s funding between 2005-2007 required closing two

regional resource centers.

The RETA Program supports and is aligned with the P-20 mission for public education.

In 2007-2008, RETA collaborated with the New Mexico Public Education Department’s

Educational Technology Bureau to provide professional development in support of the

Laptop Learning Initiative and work on the planning and implementation of IDEAL-NM

and professional development for IDEAL-NM online teachers.

The PED states:

•

The Regional Educational Technology Assistance (RETA) program offers professional

development opportunities to educators across the state in the integration of technology

into academic content. The program emphasizes developing regional expertise among

classroom teachers who can act as peer technology mentors in their communities. In

addition, the program addresses issues of education technology policy at a statewide level

and provides resources to pre-and in-service teachers through partnerships with

institutions of higher education at several Regional Resource Centers (RRCs) throughout

the state. The program works to reach teachers of students who are often underserved by

more traditional professional development efforts. RETA also deploys the I-safe

program that is congressionally funded and supports teachers in the three-tier teacher

licensure advancement process, which involves the development of a professional

development dossier and assists with professional development related to the New

Mexico Laptop Learning Initiative.

•

NM’s state leaders have helped addressed the challenge of 21

St

Century learning by

funding the NM Laptop Learning Initiative (LLI) and IDEAL-NM/New Mexico Cyber

Academy. A critical component in the success of both these initiatives is teacher

professional development, because the technology is only as effective as the knowledge,

skills and attitudes of the users. In short, in order for NM teachers and students to meet

Senate Bill 323 – Page

3

the technology integration mandates of No Child Left Behind and expand educational

opportunities via distance/online learning technologies, they need ongoing professional

development and support. Given the many competing demands for districts and limited

funding, ongoing professional development for technology integration is often sporadic,

not available or not accessible.

•

Rural public school districts often have difficulty providing their staff with professional

development activities due the geographic proximity of their districts and the locations of

the desired training. Staff frequently is required to travel to a more urban location and

may incur overnight accommodations. High-quality distance learning professional

development activities can provide a more desirable alternative for rural public school

districts.

•

RETA is currently receiving $400,000 from the Teacher Professional Development Fund,

managed by the PED, through a contract with NMSU.

•

In alignment with the New Mexico Professional Development Framework (6.65.2.1

NMAC) and the Legislative Education Study Committee’s Oct. 15, 2007, Staff Report on

Professional Development

, PED staff will ensure that the appropriated funds and the

resulting services and/or products align with the New Mexico Professional Development

Framework (PDF).

GH/mt