Lujan
Grisham signs education
package
Monday,
April 5th, 2021 at 4:27pm
SANTE FE — Gov. Michelle
Lujan Grisham began a critical week Monday by signing
legislation designed to
deliver extra funding to schools serving large Native
American communities and
some of New Mexico’s poorest families — part of a burst of
action as she faces
a Friday deadline to act on more than 130 bills.
Also approved Monday were
measures establishing an independent office to review
special education in New
Mexico and banning discrimination based on a student’s
cultural hairstyle.
It was the start of what will
be a busy week.
Awaiting action by Friday are
proposals that would require private employers to offer
paid sick leave,
establish a Civil Rights Act, authorize medical
aid-in-dying and ban animal
traps on public land.
The approval of a package of
education bills Monday comes as New Mexico confronts the
loss of in-person
classroom time during the COVID-19 pandemic, on top of
already-poor academic
outcomes.
One measure signed Monday,
House Bill 6, is expected to send an extra $60 million in
federal Impact Aid to
districts with vast amounts of tribal and other tax-exempt
land. The state had
previously deducted much of the federal money from the
districts’ funding
allocation, blocking the funds from reaching their
intended target.
Lujan Grisham said the
legislation ends “a longstanding practice that was
fundamentally unfair,
disadvantaging too many Native American students and
communities.”
Another measure, Senate Bill
17, is expected to distribute $30 million over the next
two years to schools
serving a concentration of low-income families. The
funding is for math,
reading and other programs to support students.
“The need is great, and
resources are limited,” Public Education Secretary Ryan
Stewart said in a
written statement. “That’s why it’s critical to target
extra funding to the
schools where it is most needed.”
A $7.4 billion budget plan is
awaiting action this week — an appropriations bill for
which Lujan Grisham has
line-item veto authority.
Also
on deck are bills to extend public campaign financing to
District Court
judicial candidates, expand tax breaks for working
families and create a
citizens’ redistricting committee.
Any bill the governor doesn’t
sign or veto by Friday is automatically rejected, a
procedure known as a pocket
veto. The deadline applies only to bills passed in the
final days of the
regular 60-day session, which ended March 20.
A proposal to legalize retail
sales of marijuana, by contrast, has extra time. It was
passed in last week’s
special session, so the governor has until April 20 to
act.
As for the regular session,
Lujan Grisham has so far signed 23 bills and vetoed one —
out of 158 bills
passed in the 60-day session.
Among the bills signed Monday
are:
— Senate Bill 140, updating
New Mexico’s child support laws to avoid the loss of $148
million in federal
funding.
— House Bill 222,
establishing an ombud’s office to investigate and resolve
problems with special
education. It would operate within the state Developmental
Disabilities
Planning Council, independent of the Public Education
Department.
— House Bill 29 and Senate
Bill 80, prohibiting discrimination in schools based on a
student’s cultural
headdress or certain hairstyles, such as braids, cornrows
or weaves.
— House Bill 6, sending an
extra $60 million to school districts that have a small
tax base because they
cover tax-exempt land for Native American communities and
military bases. The
measure changes New Mexico’s education funding formula to
allow the districts
to keep federal Impact Aid intended to help them pay for
education.
It’s expected to make a
particular difference in McKinley and San Juan counties in
northwestern New
Mexico.
— Senate Bill 17,
distributing extra funding to certain schools based on a
family income index.
The state budget proposal would authorize $15 million a
year for the effort
over the next two years.