How Education Funding Could Change In New Mexico -
By Cedar Attanasio Associated Press/Report For America
The New Mexico Legislature is expected to increase near-term education funding and pursue long-term reforms that will change how schools are funded.
Education accounts for about half of the approximately $7 billion in general funds that lawmakers will haggle over during the 60-day legislative session that started Tuesday.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and legislative researchers have recommended increases in education funding to overcome learning losses and enrollment declines caused by the pandemic.
Lawsuits targeting the state s school funding formula also are creating legal pressure for spending increases.
These New Mexico lawmakers were named to head legislative committees Walter Rubel, Southern New Mexico Journalism Collaborative
LAS CRUCES – Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, has been named chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, replacing longtime leader John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who was defeated in the Democratic primary last year.
Muñoz survived his own primary challenge last year, and went on to win re-election to his fourth term. He had been serving as the committee’s vice chairman.
The Finance Committee takes the lead in drafting the annual budget, and typically has the final say on any spending bills before they get to the Senate floor. New senators Crystal Diamond, R-Truth or Consequences, and Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, were both named as committee members, as were southern New Mexico senators Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces and William Burt, R-Alamogordo.
Credit Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup LAS CRUCES - Sen. George Munoz, D-Gallup, has been named chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, replacing longtime leader John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, who was defeated in the Democratic primary last year.
Munoz survived his own primary challenge last year, and went on to win re-election to his fourth term. He had been serving as the committee’s vice chairman.
The Finance Committee takes the lead in drafting the annual budget, and typically has the final say on any spending bills before they get to the Senate floor. New senators Crystal Diamond, R-Truth or Consequences, and Siah Correa Hemphill, D-Silver City, were both named as committee members, as were southern New Mexico senators Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces and William Burt, R-Alamogordo.