New Mexico State Senator Dede Feldman's Blog

Education Cuts and the Special Session: Implications for New Mexico's Children

Read what my guest blogger Representative Mimi Stewart has to say about the upcoming New Mexico legislative special session and the implications of education budget cuts for New Mexico's children. Mimi is an educator and represents New Mexico's 21st District. She has served in the legislature for 13 years is entering her 16^th year as a legislator in the New Mexico Legislature!
--- Dede

The special session is approaching and in almost every newspaper article, the question comes up, "Should we cut education?"   Those in favor, most of the Gang of 12, who are making decisions for the rest of us, answer,  "Yes, because the education portion of the budget is so large, it's only fair to cut education!"  

Of course, we've already cut education.   Last session, for the first time in my 15 years of serving in the Legislature, we cut the education budget significantly.  Not only did we cut funding per student by almost $60, affecting all aspects of all 89 school district budgets, but we did not fund health insurance increases and we required most employees to pay more for their own retirement out of their salary.  

We also used Federal stimulus money to plug a $167 million hole in our ability to fully fund the budget for education…..a temporary fix that will create more problems later.

So now we're in trouble. 

Education is now about 43% of the state budget, way down from 52% 10 years ago.   There are 330,000 students in the public schools, being taught by 21,000 teachers and almost as many support people, without which the schools could not operate. Think of any societal ills, and then ask how these problems might impact students and thus our public schools. Children of alcoholic parents have horrible home lives and terrible parenting.   Children of adults in the penal system often don't know where they will be sleeping that night or are being raised by someone else.   For those and so many other children, we need counselors, social workers, extended school year programs, and before & after school programs. 

A Public Vote on the Public Option at Sen. Bingaman's Town Hall - A Re-Post

Reposted  from Democracy for New Mexico with gracious permission from post author, Dr. Steven Kanig, who has lived in Albuquerque since 1976 and practiced nephrology for 25 years. He's currently an elected delegate of the New Mexico Medical Society to the American Medical Association and is helping New Mexico with a project to develop a statewide health information exchange.

Matters of the Heart… and of the Pocketbook

Crowds of people swarmed the Roundhouse this past Thursday in anticipation of the vote on Domestic Partnerships.  The measure ended up loosing, by an even wider measure than expected, mostly as a result of the opposition from the NM Conference of Catholic Bishops.  The Bishops appeared to be changing their position in last minute negotiations and with the removal of all mention of marriage in the bill, but, in the end they did not compromise.  I got lots of input on the bill, with most of my constituent mail favoring it, and most of my out-of district calls and e-mails warning me not to risk Hell.  There were prayers sent my way, and also threats of one kind or another. I voted for the bill because I think it a matter of equality and civil rights.  As a married woman (40 years!) I currently posses many more rights  (including the right to make end-of -life decisions for my spouse , qualify for health care and retirement benefits, get inheritance and visitation rights) than my unmarried friends-- gay and straight.  Why should I get more rights than my friends Joan and Denise, Lynn and Brenda, or Perry and Caroline?  They have been in committed relationships for years.  That's not the America that I love.

Tax benefits for developers building in special Tax Increment Development Districts (TIDDs) were also on the calendar this past week, with the Senate ultimately approving $408 million in bonds for Sun Cal's development on the West Side, $164 million for Winrock Mall and a smaller amount for downtown Las Cruces.  The debate-and my survey, in which 76% of respondents opposed TIDDS on the West Side-convinced me to be cautious about these deals, which give away 75% of future tax revenue, and threaten to drain businesses from nearby areas, like Senate District 13 and downtown Albuquerque. I hope that they do actually create jobs and attract out of state industries, but I worry about Sun Cal's bankrupsies in other states and the huge tax-give away that these deals represent, just when we so desperately need the revenue for schools and health care.  On a smaller scale, like in downtown Las Cruces, they make sense to revitalize blighted areas, though.

From Farm to School: The Rio Grande Community Farm Delivers

Last week, the Rio Grande Community Farm, located on the Los Poblanos Open Space at Montano and Rio Grande, made history.  It delivered the first batch of local produce to APS for use in cafeterias in the Valley High School Cluster.  I'm proud of them.  Our sugared-out  kids will benefit-- and so will local farms struggling to find markets and thus survive. A WIN-WIN indeed. This is the way to keep local farms in business and prevent childhood obesity and diabetes.  I'm glad to have helped by providing seed money for the healthy purchase.  This is the kind of pilot program which needs to spread district and even statewide.  For more information on the local food movement, and how you can get involved, go to www.farmtotablenm.org.
 
Pictured here: August 21, 2008. Pictured from left to right: Joan Quinn, RGCF Heritage Board Member; State Senator Dede Feldman, Heritage Board Member and sponsor of legislation appropriating funds to buy locally grown produce;  Steve Carleton, APS Food Services Supervisor; Stephanie Dobbie, current RGCF Board Member, Minor Morgan, RGCF Treasurer; Marcia Walton, RGCF Staff.

Corn Maze Now Open

As if growing vegetables for school kids weren't enough, the RGCF  recently opened its annual corn maze, a family treat that builds leadership, trust and orientation skills for young and old alike.  And it's just good old fashioned fun.  The maze, located at Los Poblanos Fields Open Space at 1701 Montano Rd. NW is open Friday evenings from 6:00-9:00 pm, on Saturdays from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm, and on Sundays and Holidays from Noon-6:00 pm.  Adults are $8 and children 4-12 are $4.  Kids under 4 are free.  Don't loose 'em!   There's a special moonlight Maze Sep. 12-13 and Oct. 10-11.  Call 505-345-4580 to book groups or classes or go to www.riograndefarm.org for the whole low-down.

Special Session Brings Relief to New Mexico Families

If you've been following the news, you've no doubt heard that the Special Session has ended with the Legislature giving the Governor most of what he proposed amidst a lot of hand wringing about the state's future financial picture.   At the start of the session, we had several important  "nay sayers" in the Senate who didn't want to do anything because they believed the financial projections were way overblown and the Governor was just out for political gain at the upcoming Democratic convention.   When the consensus forecast we were working with didn't seem dire enough, they even brought in their own independent economist.  By the end of the session however, they were persuaded to come around to a more limited spending level.   Good bargaining strategy,  no? Who knows, though, maybe we'll thank them in the future.

Anyway, the items I favored to bring relief to working families were funded-not fully, but meaningfully.  They are:
 
In the health care area:
* Additional health care coverage for children to the tune of $20 million (which will leverage approximately  $97 million in federal funds) When implemented, t his will allow an additional 18,000 kids up to 19 years old to obtain coverage through the Medicaid and SCHIP program
* $10 million worth of services to approximately 430 individuals with developmental disabilities who have been on a waiting list for years
* $2.5 million for mental health services to children under 19 years old

To help the family budget:
* $7.2 million in child care assistance, which will allow approximately 550 additional children to obtain subsidized childcare at  day-care and home-care centers around the state
* An increase in the working families tax credit from 8% to 10%, which will help low income working families.  This will cost the state approximately $7.6 million per year.
* $56 million in tax rebates that will benefit the lower end of the income scale with relatively small checks.
* About $2 million was added to the Low Income Energy Assistance Program
(LIHEAP) which helps low-income families and the elderly pay their heating bills.

We also appropriated funds to help school districts cover the increased cost of diesel for school buses, made emergency allocati ons to address flooding in Ruidoso, and allow the Secretary of State to train more precinct judges for the upcoming election.

And, of course, we put a ton of money into unfinished road rural projects.
I was not too crazy about the rebates, since the amount is so low.  Families over $70,000 will get no rebate-but at least the low income folks will get something to buy a tank of gas or a load of groceries.  With the economy worsening, I guess every little bit helps.

Leave No Child Inside: APS's Valley Cluster Funded to Move Kids Outdoors Thanks to Outdoor Classroom Program

Last week, the State Parks Division held an event down at the Rio Grande Nature Center (a state park) to herald the second year of the statewide Outdoor Classroom Program.  And the proof of the program's appeal was in the pudding - or actually, in the Bosque - as scores of elementary and high school students descended on the Nature Center from as far away as Ramah Navajo and as close as Georgia O'Keefe Elementary, in the Heights.
   
The idea behind the program is to get children outside, in nature, where they can learn science, geography first hand, and fall in love with nature.  In today's world lots of kids stay inside, playing video games, looking up their friends on Myspace-with occasional trips to the mall.  That's a far cry from my own childhood, where there was ample time to play outdoors, at the woods at the end of the street.  Now, in much of the country, there are no woods at the end of the street. But, thank goodness, there's the Rio Grande Bosque, and, further afield, the mountains, the desert and everything that makes New Mexico, well, New Mexico.

I thought the Outdoor Classroom program was a perfect fit for kids here in the North Valley where ten years ago I attended an alarming focus group for middle schoolers at Garfield Middle School. And it wasn't just the pizza and soda, with which the facilitators got the kids to participate, that was alarming. Many of these kids never went to the bosque and seldom played out side.  Meanwhile, the rate of obesity and diabetes continues to go up among this group.
 
That's why I was delighted in March when my appropriation for at least one outdoor learning experience for every 5th grader in the APS's Valley Cluster went through, and the overall program received $500,000 for school districts around the state. 
Yippee! Leave No Child Inside!

Moms Are Rising & A Win-Win for Young Families

Autumn greetings! Fall is such a special time in New Mexico.  For me it’s like when you clean your windshield after a dust storm, and see clearly for the first time.  What makes the light change like that? Does anyone out there know?  I think it’s one of the great treasures of New Mexico.
            
This summer has been frantically busy for me, with the completion of the Health Coverage for New Mexicans study and task force, and continued discussion of ethics and campaign finance reform.  Frankly, my husband says that health care reform is driving him crazy, and if I mention “community rating”, “electronic medical records”, “indigent funds”, “ERISA,” or anything else connected with universal health care, he’s going to kill me.  I don’t blame him.  So, now for something a little different…. 

Moms are Rising in New Mexico

Rep. Danice Picraux (D-Albuquerque) and I were recently honored for our help in passing a bill that will guarantee the right of mothers to breast feed their babies or pump milk for them in the workplace during breaks.  This may sound like a small thing, but it’s part of building a family-friendly New Mexico. Usually, we hear about family values in the context of conservative opposition to same sex marriage, or support for home schooling or abstinence-only campaigns.   But it seems to me that “family values” have to be placed in the context of today’s economic realities.  Those realities are pretty harsh for young women and young families.  Did you now that three quarters of young mothers are in the work force, since it now takes two paychecks to make ends meet? And a full quarter of families with children under six live in poverty? Yet mothers are paid 73 cents to every man’s dollar for the same work, and single mothers are paid even less—60 cents. That’s why an exciting organization, both nationally and locally, has arisen to advocate for family-friendly workplaces and policies like family leave, flex time, and prohibition of discrimination based on family responsibilities. That organization is called Mom’s Rising and it can be reached at www.momsrising.org .

Support to Young Families during Children’s Early Years is a Win-Win, for Them -- and Us
            
Young families need support at home as well as in the workplace, and that’s why I’m so proud of our Lt. Governor, state legislators and the whole early childhood community for pushing us forward with pre-kindergarten and home visiting programs. These programs are just beginning to receive the support they’ve need for years in New Mexico.  Earlier this month I heard a presentation by Rob Grunewald, of the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis.  Not your usual Early Childhood Advocate. He brought studies for Michigan, North Carolina, Illinois and New York about programs there, which had yielded big results.  In fact, he said, investments in early childhood development yield a rate of return of about 16 percent a year—a rate far greater than traditional economic development projects.   Those returns are in the form of decreased costs for special education, lower number of juvenile arrests, fewer months on welfare, fewer teenage pregnancies and higher educational achievement. And that’s not even counting happier, more self-sufficient and fulfilled people!  For more information go to www.minneapolisfed.org  .

Standoff at the OK Corral - NM style (with audio)

With the special session set to begin tomorrow, legislation important to people across New Mexico waits to be acted upon.  Click to hear me discuss the special session --> Dede032307.mp3 .  Please contact your State Senator and urge him or her to stick with it until the important remaining legislation is acted upon.

Go to the following site for contact information for your State Senator the New Mexico Legislature Website .

Ethics Bills, Domestic Partners at Stake in Iffy Special Session

Call your Senator to Stick in Session if These Matter to You


For me, the Senate’s decision Tuesday to Sine Die reflected more than
exhaustion, more than a fit of pique with the Governor and the House.
It reflected a continued dismissal of ethics reform as urgent business
that the state must deal with one way or the other. As many of you
know these were major, contested issues for me during the regular
session. And, for the most part, I lost. But the Special Session
represents another opportunity to pass some meaningful reforms.

...

To recap what you’ve already seen in the news – the enactment of
campaign contribution limits, public financing for judicial campaigns,
an ethics commission were included in the Governor’s proclamation for
the special, along with GRIP II, domestic partners, and an increase in
domestic violence penalties.

In what seemed like a final blow, my bill to limit campaign
contributions was defeated by one vote in the final seconds of the
session when Sen. Joe Carraro changed his vote, and one Democrat whom
I thought was voting for the measure (Sen. John Arthur Smith) voted
no. Sen. Linda Lopez, Sen. Tim Jennings and Sen. Shannon Robinson
were the other Democrats who voted no.  All  —and I
mean all—of the Republicans voted against the caps—the same measure
that they had moved (unsuccessfully) to push back until 3007.

We still have a chance to pass some of these measures, but first you
have to convince your Senator that ethics reform is an emergency.
That’s certainly what the task force felt; it’s what the Governor
wants, and, I believe it’s what the public wants, too.

But only a massive outpouring from you can help. Contact:

Sen. Lopez Linda.Lopez@nmlegis.gov  phone:986-4737
Sen. Pinto John.Pinto@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4835
Sen. John Arthur Smith john.smith@nmlegis.gov phone:986-4363
Sen. Michael Sanchez senatormssanchez@aol.com phone: 986-4727
Sen. James Taylor jamesg.taylor@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4862
Sen. Bernadette Sanchez, especially. bernadette.sanchez@nmlegis.gov phone: 986-4267

More on this later—but for your amusement, I’ve attached a photo of
the inbox I returned to after the session adjourned on Saturday. I’ve
spent most of the week digging out., and figuring out how to get back
to my business.