UPDATED: Gov’s reading retention bill stalled in committee

SANTA FE — An effort backed by Gov. Susana Martinez to retain students who can’t adequately read before 4th grade was tabled this morning by the House Education Committee.

Rep. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque and chairwoman of the Education Committee, said the governor’s bill would have required significant increases to school budgets in order to afford the retentions and required remediation programs. However, Stewart said, the necessary funding was not included in the proposed schools budget.

“These schools have been cut to the bone, so every time they add an unfunded mandate, they just produce more consternation among educators across the state,” Stewart said.

Governor’s spokesman Enrique Knell said the Education Committee “played politics with the bill.

“Making sure our kids can read by the time they leave the 3rd grade, and intervening to help struggling students before they get frustrated and drop out, are not partisan issues,” Knell said in a statement.

A similar version of the bill also is being considered in the state Senate. That bill, SB 260, was passed by the Senate Public Affairs Committee last week and is headed to the Senate Education Committee for consideration.