6% Rise Sought In Education Spending

The state Public Education Department is requesting that lawmakers increase the overall education budget by about $141.9 million next year, an increase of nearly 6 percent.

The funding request is a preliminary one, as Gov. Susana Martinez has not yet submitted her budget for the Legislature to consider.

The state budget this year included about $2.4 billion for education.

Of the new money in the request, about $67.7 million would be channeled through the state education funding formula, which awards money to districts on the basis of size and need. That would be a 3 percent increase in money flowing through the formula.

The rest would be channeled directly to programs and districts chosen by the PED for things like specific reforms. This is the subject of some controversy among districts, which would prefer to have local control over their spending.

At a recent annual dinner with Albuquerque lawmakers, Albuquerque Public Schools officials specifically asked that new money be funneled through the formula, not parceled out by the PED.

But Rep. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, said he supports more structured funding. Hall, who sits on the Legislative Education Study Committee, said districts, including APS, “have not shown results for me to justify giving them money above the line without any supervision.”

State education chief Hanna Skandera said program-specific funding is important because it improves accountability at the state level.

“We believe, and the governor believes, it’s important to have an expectation of return on investment,” Skandera said. “The governor is holding herself accountable for what she’s recommending.”

Skandera also said the PED will work with districts to ensure the funds are flexible enough to be used in districts that vary greatly in size.

Some proposals in the PED’s recommendation are an additional $17.6 million for replacing aging school buses, and $11.3 million for “rewarding highly effective teachers and principals.”

Skandera said that money will be used to provide stipends to highly rated teachers and principals next school year, when the PED’s new teacher evaluation system begins in earnest. Parts of that system are currently being piloted around the state, and the full system will evaluate teachers based on classroom observations, their students’ test score improvement, and other measures to be determined locally.

In addition to the money for stipends, the recommendation also includes $5 million for the adoption of the teacher evaluation system, up from $1 million in last year’s budget.

The budget also includes increases in funding to early childhood programs. Early reading has been a priority of this administration, and the budget recommendation includes an additional $5 million for early reading, an extra $500,000 for the K-3 Plus program, and an additional $1 million for preschool. A report earlier this year by the Legislative Finance Committee found that preschool and the K-3 Plus program, which lengthens the school day for students from low-income areas, had significant impacts on students’ test scores.

The recommendation also includes $8.4 million to support computer upgrades that will be needed for new online tests of Common Core standards; $3.2 million in rewards for schools that receive “A” grades or improve significantly under the new A-F school grading system; and $2 million for a statewide math test to be used in the early grades for helping teachers determine students’ strengths and weaknesses.
— This article appeared on page A1 of the Albuquerque Journal