LESC endorses bills creating a universal basic income pilot program and overhauling graduation requirements

On the eve of this year’s 30-day session, the Legislative Education Study Committee greenlit a second round of bills on Monday that ranged from changing the state’s graduation requirements for high schoolers to bringing universal basic income for pregnant women.

The committee voted to endorse four new bills, adding to a list of five bills it endorsed in mid-December, and greenlit a revised draft of a fifth one it initially approved last month.

One of the most debated bills the LESC approved would establish a two-year pilot program to provide universal basic income to pregnant women who are at or below 150% of the federal poverty level.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the federal poverty level is currently $15,060 for one person and $31,200 for a family of four.

The pilot program, which LESC Director Gwen Perea Warniment admitted was “somewhat tangentially related to education,” would study the impact $1,500 per month would have on young children and their families.

Lawmakers are looking at accepting some 2,000 people for the program. The bill asks for an appropriation of $80 million.

Sponsor Sen. William Soules, D-Las Cruces, said the idea behind the bill is to give families “an opportunity to pull up out of poverty, rather than having the tenacious tentacles of poverty constantly yanking them down when their child … is most in need of stability.”

There would be a few requirements for people in the program: first, they must participate in home visits from the state; second, they must complete surveys or research forms throughout the pilot; and third, they must go to prenatal appointments.

Failing to abide by those requirements would mean that person would be placed in a control group, to see how their children would be affected after the money stopped.

Some lawmakers expressed initial concern with the program, including Rep. John Block, R-Alamogordo, who questioned both the requirements to participate and whether there were stipulations for how the money could be used.

“I think the impetus for this sounds good. … I could only imagine what they’d say about us if we didn’t vote for this,” he said. “But in my opinion, Mr. Chairman, I don’t think this is good legislation.”

While there “will always be a few with any program that will abuse it,” Soules said the vast majority of people in such programs use the money for things they need, and that placing too many restrictions on it takes away families’ power to make decisions that are best for them.

Some also questioned how the bill was related to education. Soules responded that “everything from when a child is first conceived until they graduate high school is education and does affect education.

“If we can get the first five years of a child’s life right, then education over the next 12 to 13 years goes much, much better. And so this really is a precursor or a setup for good education in the future,” he said.

While the universal basic income bill faced more resistance than some of its peers, it was ultimately endorsed on a 5-3 vote.

Graduation requirements

The LESC also endorsed a renewed effort to revise the state’s requirements for high school graduation on Monday after both the House and Senate greenlit a proposal to change them last session.

That bill was vetoed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, who criticized it for “(weakening) graduation requirements.” But days before Monday’s meeting, governor spokeswoman Maddy Hayden wrote in an email that the office was “working with the sponsors and LESC to amend last year’s bill.”

This year’s version would keep the number of units high school students must earn at 24 — a break from last year’s proposal, which would have reduced those required units by two.

To graduate, students would need:

• Four units of English, the last of which could be more flexible, like a journalism course;
• Four units of math, two of which must generally be Algebra I and Geometry but the rest of which appear to be flexible, and could be fulfilled by such courses as financial literacy;
• Three units of science, two of which must have a laboratory component and the other which can be more geared toward things like work-based learning;
• Four units of social science, which include U.S. history and geography, government, economics and financial literacy, and world history and geography. The final unit is also flexible and can include such things as psychology or ethnic studies;
• Five and a half units of electives, which vary wildly, and also can include financial literacy courses as well as computer science and career-technical education courses;
• Two courses set by the local school district or governing board;
• One unit of physical education, which can include courses in things like dance and marching band;
• And half a unit in health.

This year’s iteration of the bill would give high schoolers the option to take a financial literacy course to fulfill requirements in multiple categories. Algebra II, on the other hand, would no longer be a requirement for high schoolers, though schools would still need to offer it.

Last year, both courses were points of much debate.

In the case of financial literacy, advocates argued that the course should be required of New Mexico high schoolers. On Monday, that still seemed to be the case, with avid financial literacy proponent Think New Mexico arguing the course should be made a standalone requirement.

“Financial literacy should cover a wide range of topics including budgeting, savings, banking, credit, investing, among other essential concepts,” think tank founder and executive director Fred Nathan Jr. wrote in an email. “That is why simply embedding it in economics doesn’t go far enough.”

In Algebra II’s case, some lawmakers were concerned last year that no longer requiring that course would relax the state’s standards too much. But that argument didn’t play out during Monday’s meeting.

Tribal education trust fund

In a revival of a bill put forward by Rep. Derrick Lente, D-Sandia Pueblo last year, the LESC on Monday endorsed legislation that would again attempt to create a “tribal education trust fund.”

That fund, Lente told the Journal , would be aimed at building capacity among Native American communities to do such things as provide curricula relevant to their culture and develop Native language programs.

“Public schooling in America was never built with children of color in mind, specifically Native American children,” he said. “We’re moving … to allowing those that know how to teach their children the best to give them that autonomy.”

To set up the trust fund, the bill asks for a whopping $100 million appropriation from the state’s general fund.

Lente’s early hope for the trust fund was a $200 to $250 million appropriation. That was whittled down to a $50 million ask during the last legislative session, an amount Lente ultimately said wouldn’t be enough, leading to him pulling back on his own bill.

But this year, he feels more confident.

In its budget recommendation for the coming fiscal year, the Legislative Finance Committee suggested setting aside $50 million for the trust fund, and Lente said there was already support in the Roundhouse for finding the second half of his $100 million ask.

Other bills

• One bill would update legislation the LESC endorsed last month about how school districts should be governed. Monday’s version adds new language that would bar newly elected boards from firing their superintendent without cause for the first 60 days after their first meeting. It also adds language laying out requirements for school board meetings to be webcast and posted online.
• The other bill would add requirements for how the New Mexico Public Education Department distributes funds from the Indian education fund, such that it is more based on a Native American community’s need and size.