A Weekend Conversation

As I was traveling through Northern New Mexico yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with a local teacher about my education plan.

She reminded me how hard it has been to get any real education reform in New Mexico. Between the failure of No Child Left Behind and the current budget battles in Santa Fe, our education system seems to be on life support. Got me thinking about Richardson's early days in office and how a then new administration had to stand up to a strong Republican Party to increase funding and accountability for our schools.

So we did some digging and found an old ABQ Journal Article, in it this article State Republican Party
Chairwoman Ramsay Gorham said the party would mount a statewide campaign against the constitutional amendments that would increase both funding and accountability at public schools.

Read the article for your self.

Push For Schools Draws Crowd

David Miles Journal Capitol Bureau

Albuquerque Journal August 07, 2003

Governor, U.S. Senators Back Two Amendments

A bipartisan coalition of political powerhouses on Wednesday helped launch a campaign to persuade voters to approve two proposed constitutional amendments they say would increase both funding and accountability at public schools.

Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson, Republican Sen. Pete Domenici and Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman
appeared at Albuquerque's Duranes Elementary School to rally support for the proposals. Richardson later made a similar pitch in Roswell and Las Cruces.

"You've never seen such an ecumenical meeting of politicians in your whole life," said former Republican Gov. Garrey Carruthers, who spoke in favor of the proposals.

Voters will decide in a statewide special election on Sept. 23 whether to change the state constitution
to create a governor-appointed secretary of public education and increase the annual payout from a $6.8 billion permanent fund to public schools and other beneficiaries.

Representatives from several business and education groups joined politicians to kick off the campaign. Groups in favor of the proposals include the New Mexico PTA, the New Mexico Federation of Educational Employees, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and the New Mexico Business Roundtable for Educational Excellence.

Bingaman said the permanent fund proposal would help pay for higher teacher salaries.

"This is one of those issues that I think should be a no-brainer for the people of New Mexico,"
Bingaman said.

Domenici initially opposed the proposal but said he changed his mind after two of his children, whose
children attend public schools in Albuquerque, lobbied him.

"My children convinced me about their children -- my grandchildren," Domenici said. "That's
what twisted my arm in this case."

The proposal is expected to generate as much as $78 million a year in additional revenue for public schools and other beneficiaries of what is commonly known as the Land Grant Permanent Fund. During the 2003 fiscal year, $332.8 million was distributed from the fund, including $275.7 million to the Permanent School Fund, which helps pay for public schools.

Supporters this year created New Mexico Citizens for Accountability and Reform in Education, a political action committee to raise money in favor of both proposed constitutional amendments.

Amanda Cooper, secretary of the committee and campaign manager, said she hopes to raise $2 million and spend most of that on a statewide advertising campaign.

State Republican Party Chairwoman Ramsay Gorham on Wednesday said the party will mount a statewide campaign against the permanent fund proposal but has not worked out the specifics.

Gorham portrayed opponents of the proposal as underdogs in the election campaign and said the GOP is a long way behind in the fund-raising race.

"It's going to be like the movie 'Seabiscuit,' '' said Gorham, a state senator from Albuquerque.

State Commissioner of Public Lands Patrick Lyons noted that the value of the permanent fund has dropped in recent years. Lyons said he is skeptical of State Investment Office projections that predict the fund's value will increase if voters approve the constitutional amendment proposal.

"We're in this for the long haul of education," Lyons said.

Lyons, a former Republican state senator from Cuervo, is scheduled to speak against the proposal at 6 p.m. today at Tanoan Country Club in Albuquerque.

If voters approve the proposed constitutional amendment, the annual distribution rate from the Land
Grant Permanent Fund to public schools and 19 other beneficiaries would increase.

The rate would immediately increase from 4.7 percent to 5 percent of the fund's average market value over the previous five years. It would increase to 5.8 percent starting in the 2005 fiscal year for the next eight years.

The rate would then drop to 5.5 percent for the next four years, after which it would decrease to 5 percent.

On the other proposal, Richardson said having a Cabinet-level secretary of public education would make the governor more accountable for education policy.

"The current system -- a 15-member state Board of Education and a superintendent -- is too bureaucratic," Richardson said. "They fight each other; nobody is held accountable."

New Mexico currently has a policy-making state Board of Education with 10 elected members and
five members appointed by the governor.

The proposed constitutional amendment would create a secretary of public education appointed by the governor and a 10-member elected Public Education Commission. The powers and duties of the commission would be spelled out in state law in the future.