New Mexico considers tapping special reserves for education


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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Democrats in the New Mexico House of Representatives are reviving efforts to tap into the state's permanent land fund to expand early childhood education.

A bill filed Wednesday by Reps. Javier Martinez and Antonio Maestas seeks a constitutional amendment to divert funds from the state's $15 billion Land Grant Permanent School Fund.

The fund receives royalties from oil and natural gas production and other income from land given to the state by the federal government. Public schools, state universities and other beneficiaries currently receive a 5.5 percent annual distribution from the fund. That will drop to 5 percent starting in July.

The constitutional amendment would devote an additional 1.5 percent of the fund each year to expanding early childhood education programs, and another half percent to traditional K-12 schools. It would require voter approval in the fall.

The plan already has encountered resistance from fiscally conservative lawmakers, including the chairman of the influential Legislative Finance Committee.

Martinez said faltering state revenues from the natural gas and oil industry could make it more difficult to maintain educational spending at current levels.

"There is no sustainable permanent funding stream that can be depended on," said the Albuquerque Democrat. "It is evident that we can't fund this out of the general fund."

The Legislative Finance Committee has recommended a 9 percent spending increase of $21.4 million on early childhood programs through the general fund. The Legislature publishes new revenue estimates and spending recommendations next week.

The proposed constitutional amendment would funnel an additional $300 million into education.

Democratic U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich endorsed the early childhood education provisions of the legislation, urging leading members of the state Legislature to put the issues to voters in the fall.

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