New Mexico In Depth 2019 Legislative Special Edition

NM In

2019 8

lookatatcritical critical A Alook issuesbefore beforestate state issues lawmakers lawmakers

legislative special edition

how the NM Legislature can be

more transparent, accessible and responsive — and what’s keeping that from happening

NSHOT FO O R O M

2019 looks to be huge for education.

Will New Mexico pass the test? Page 6

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New Mexico In Depth

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

New Mexico In Depth 2019 Legislative special edition • Jan. 13, 2019 Trip Jennings

Marjorie Childress

Reporters

Sponsorship design

Illustrations

Special thanks to our columnists:

Executive director

Jeff Proctor Sylvia Ulloa

Marjorie Childress

Design

Jason V. Harper

Deputy director

Peter St. Cyr

Andrea Serrano, Demis Foster, Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez, Eric Griego, Fred Nathan, Hailey Heinz, Heather Balas, Heather Ferguson, Paul Gessing, Ryan Flynn

New Mexico In Depth is dedicated to journalism in the public interest that tells in-depth stories of people who represent our diversity and examines systems and institutions in a way that informs and empowers people and communities.

This special edition is produced in conjunction with NMID’s media partners: Las Cruces Sun-News, Santa Fe New Mexican, Farmington Daily Times, Alamogordo Daily News, Carlsbad Current-Argus, Ruidoso News, Deming Headlight, Silver City Sun-News and the Rio Grande Sun.

Contents INTRODUCTION...............................................................4 ARTICLES Will lawmakers pass the test on education?..................... 6 School spending will have big role in budget talks...... 10 Money greases wheels of political machine................... 14 Legislature fleshes out details of ethics commission....... 16 Renewable energy a key target as new era dawns..... 17 Changes, more money seen for criminal justice.............. 20 Las Cruces school part of pioneering model.................. 22 COMMENTARY Group seeks to stabilize what works in higher ed........ 29 Legislature should enact voters’ mandate on ethics...... 30 Legislature faces both peril, opportunity in 2019........ 31 To improve schools, spend more in the classroom.......... 32 Conditions for state’s children are ripe for change...... 33 Oil, gas are fueling a renaissance................................... 34 Lujan Grisham will give the people a voice.................... 35 With surplus, now is the time to go big............................ 36 It’s time to deliver for working families........................... 37

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Introduction

Join us again in this important conversation Dear Readers,

the Martinez administration combined a shoot-first-and-ask-questions-later mentality with faulty information to As New Mexico’s 54th dismantle a key network of providers Expect education, then, to legislative session kicks off that worked with tens of thousands dominate this session. But this week, a key theme will who struggle with mental illness and public officials are called to be change. addiction. multitask.

There are needs The state’s new governor, Trip Jennings As in previous years, you’ll find clamoring for attention all over Democrat Michelle Lujan familiar issues in this, our fifth annual New Mexico, say lawmakers.

Grisham, has an ambitious special legislative edition: budgeting, State agencies are struggling with agenda. Her timing is good as she education, transparency, government high numbers of vacancies, others takes over from Republican Susana ethics, and criminal justice, as well as a are experiencing high turnover due Martinez. The state’s financial picture resurgent effort to increase the amount looks brighter than it has in years; and to low salaries. New Mexico judges, of renewable energy utilized in New she’ll work with the largest Democratic meanwhile, are the lowest paid in the nation and there are not enough public Mexico’s electrical grid. Plus numerous majority in the state House of Repreessays by columnists about what they defenders. sentatives in years. hope to see during the 60-day session.

Expect roads to be a priority, too.

Legislators and the governor will We hope it helps you understand The state’s thoroughfares have deterioget to work against the backdrop of a some of the key issues that will be recent decision by state judge Sarah rated, lawmakers say. Not good when debated during the session. Thanks for Singleton finding that New Mexico many folks say New Mexico needs reading. We hope you’ll follow along is guilty of violating at-risk students’ more robust economic development with us during the session, at www. constitutional rights to a sufficient and businesses rely on a good transnmindepth.com, for reports from our education. That means Lujan Grisham portation network. expanded team of veteran reporters, and the Legislature will focus on re-enAnd Lujan Grisham might begin to NMID Fellows and interns during the visioning education for the 21st centu- rebuild the state’s behavioral health legislative session. ry within the context of New Mexico’s system, which was decimated when particular social realities, or risk judicial censure.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative session Find our complete coverage online at

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Will lawmakers

pass the test?

By Sylvia Ulloa and Trip Jennings New Mexico In Depth

As the legislative session commences, public education is Issue No. 1 during the next 60 days in Santa Fe. And hanging over the debate about teachers’ salaries and envisioning schools for the 21st century will be state judge Sarah Singleton’s ruling that New Mexico has violated the state Constitution for not adequately educating at-risk students.

New Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham spoke about rising to the challenge days after her victory with Kennedyesque imagery.

“We have an opportunity to do a moonshot in education. That has never occurred before” she told a national TV audience on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” But it’s unclear how Lujan Grisham and the Democratically controlled Legislature will respond to

2019 looks to be a huge year for education in NM

Singleton’s gauntlet.

Even with a $1 billion surplus, top lawmakers are saying there may not be enough to satisfy every education need this year.

Lujan Grisham suggested the same in mid-December, as she listed a litany of needs her administration is inheriting from Republican Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration.

“We’ve got some serious vacancies” in state agencies, Lujan Grisham said. “Capital outlay is always tough. We’ve been starving local communities for the last eight years.”

“I want to make sure we hit our marks in public education, which is a priority,” Lujan Grisham said.

But “the notion that we have $1 billion, let’s spend every penny and see

much authority to give tribal and local communities to decide what is culturally and linguistically appropriate curriculum to comply with already-existing state laws.

And state lawmakers will try to loosen government bureaucracy what happens next year means that that gets in the way of increasing the we are not serious about stabilizing population of children 4 and youngwhere we are.” er in public PreK and private child In other words, prepare for a lot of care programs around the state. scrapping over how to fund public education.

Meeting the needs But the debate won’t only play out of at-risk students over how much more to pump into The reason education is at the K-12 education, already the state’s top of the agenda in 2019, beyond single-largest expense, but also over the newly consolidated Democrathow best to serve the state’s sizable ic control of state government, is a population of at-risk students. years-old lawsuit brought by parAmong the discussions will be ents and school children that alhow to produce more Native Amer- leged New Mexico has perpetuated ican teachers to instruct at schools long-standing inequities against serving large numbers of Native certain populations, specifically students and raising the quality of English-language learners, Native staff at high-poverty schools, which American, economically disadvanstruggle with large numbers of in- taged and special education stuexperienced teachers.

Continued on 7 ➤ Another debate will focus on how

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition Continued from 6 ➤ dents.

In July Singleton found the state had violated those students’ constitutional rights to a sufficient education. Lujan Grisham said during her run for governor that she would not appeal the decision.

As the Santa Fe judge noted in her ruling, New Mexico is home to a large population of students that qualify for one at-risk factor.

Nearly three of every four students in the state come from low-income families. One in seven are English language learners; the same percentage are disabled. One in 10 are Native American.

Singleton’s ruling, in fact, reads like a litany of deficiencies: there aren’t enough up-to-date textbooks in some districts; high-poverty schools attract a majority of entry-level teachers, who are usually

the least effective instructors.

“The evidence leads to the conclusion that the quality of teaching for atrisk students is inadequate,” the wrote.

Lujan Grisham judge “Unfortunately, in New Mexico high poverty schools have a disproportionately high number of low-paid, entry level teachers.”

In the perennial conversation over how to parcel out the state’s resources year after year, Singleton’s ruling appears to shift the power equation from state officials and top lawmakers to at-risk students and their advocates, many of whom come from the state’s communities of color.

One of the challenges in addressing Singleton’s lawsuit will be a push

and pull over who gets a seat at the table to determine what are the best solutions for at-risk students.

A big question is whether an entrenched strata of educational policy experts and advocates will make space for the perspectives of those constituents who brought the lawsuit in devising solutions, and who may have serious critiques of the status quo. Many of those constituents feel they have been dismissed by those in power, to the detriment of their children.

“State officials have sometimes said Native American parents don’t care about the education of their children,” said Regis Pecos, co-director of Santa Fe’s Leadership Institute and former chief of staff to longtime Democratic House Speaker Ben Lujan.

To dispute the point, Pecos points to the survival of Indigenous languages and cultural practices in

7 New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos and three reservations as evidence of the resilience of tribal communities.

In Pecos’ view, and others, New Mexico is finally being forced to grapple with a problem centuries, not years or decades, in the making.

To make the point, he cites last month’s update of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights’ influential 2003 report called “A Quiet Crisis: Federal Funding and Unmet Needs in Indian Country.” The 314-page update found that, despite some progress, the crisis in Indian Country remains because of the federal government’s failure to adequately support “the social and economic wellbeing of Native Americans” over the last two centuries.

As a result, Native Americans “rank near the bottom of all Americans in health, education, and emContinued on 8 ➤

8 Continued from 7 ➤ ployment outcomes,” according to the report’s authors.

Edward Tabet-Cubero of the Learning Alliance said some of the same deficiencies are found in communities where Spanish is a child’s first language and, which more likely than not, have higher rates of poverty.

It’s why Tabet-Cubero, the former director of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which along with MALDEF successfully sued the state, suggests that more dual language education be incorporated in public schools around the state.

Students in dual language programs are taught literacy and content in two languages.

“We have some of the most progressive policies (on dual language education) but we don’t implement them,” Tabet-Cubero said, adding that only 115 of the state’s 900 pub-

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition lic schools have implemented dual language learning.

Advocates would like to see more community input into education standards through state advisory councils with broad local representation as well.

Communities should be given greater say in what educational success looks like, they say. For example, the state created the Indian Education Act in 2003 but hasn’t lived up to its promise. The act was meant to ensure equitable and culturally relevant learning environments and the maintenance of Native languages, which Pecos and Native educators say is crucial to fostering confidence and buy-in from tribal students in a system that often dismisses them.

Singleton noted the dearth of “culturally relevant instructional materials for American Indian students enrolled in public schools” in her ruling, saying that it violat-

ed the statute and, by extension, “the (state) constitution‘s adequacy clause,” as well.

All of this is why Pecos, Tabet-Cubero and others say $1 billion is the bare minimum of what the state should spend to start adequately addressing a complex challenge centuries in the making.

They hope for major progTabet-Cubero ress with Lujan Grisham in the governor’s mansion and a larger caucus of progressive lawmakers in the state House of Representatives.

“The question is what we will get,” said Tabet-Cubero.

In the classroom

At the heart of education debates this year will be the classroom and it’s where a lot of high-profile discussions will focus.

Foremost is giving big raises to teachers and other educators such as administrators, educational assistants, counselors and social workers.

New Mexico was 46th in the nation on teacher pay in 2017, according to the National Education Association’s annual ranking. When people talk about “putting money back into the classroom,” that’s a big part of it.

There were 1,173 educator vacancies in New Mexico in October, according to the 2018 New Mexico educator vacancy report produced by New Mexico State University’s College of Education, and 740 of those were teacher vacancies.

While many agree on better pay for New Mexico’s teachers, expect a debate to focus on how much the increase should be.

Advocates, plaintiffs and lawyers in the seminal “Yazzie-Martinez” lawsuit have proposed $45,000, $55,000

and $65,000 for the different experience levels of teachers. Some believe making wages competitive with surrounding states and paying tuition and living expenses for education students are necessary this year.

“That’s a big chunk of what the money should be spent on,” said Lauren Winkler, an attorney for the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty who worked on the lawsuit.

But not everyone is on board.

Sen. Bill Soules, D-Las Cruces, chair of the Senate Education Committee, said it would take a couple of years to get to that point. He saw $40,000, $50,000 and $60,000 as more likely this session.

Another area where consensus has formed is in filling a backlog of textbooks and other teaching material and paying for new buses and infrastructure. Because the state can’t consistently count on money from an oil and gas industry known for boom and bust cycles, there is pressure to use this year’s surplus to help restore an underfunded education system that limps along at pre-2008 funded levels in inflation-adjusted dollars.

In addition to raising teacher wages, there will be a push to give teachers more mentorship, training and class prep time. And Sen. Mimi Stewart, D-Albuquerque, a former educator who heads up the Legislative Education Study Committee, said she’s hoping to get away from the “shame and blame” teacher and school evaluation systems that have driven many teachers from the field.

Half of teachers in New Mexico leave the profession within five years of graduating college. According to the NMSU teacher vacancy report, onethird of the state’s teachers surveyed said they had testing-related job insecurity. The national average was 12 percent.

Continued on 9 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition Continued from 8 ➤ Early childhood

Support for universal access to PreK appears to be, well, just about universal. The program grew under Gov. Susana Martinez and legislators protected it during tough budget years. Now Lujan Grisham has said access to full-day preschool for all New Mexico children will be the hallmark of her administration.

That doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy.

When the program was first passed in 2005, the state thought it would take about five years to phase in. Fast forward to 2018, and only one-third of New Mexico 4-yearolds are in New Mexico PreK, according to the Legislative Finance Committee’s annual early childhood accountability report. And many of those children are in half-day programs, which can be challenging for working parents and are less effective for children.

The problems for expanding access are manifold, but they start with a lack of qualified teachers.

New Mexico Voices for Children’s Bill Jordan said his group has been frustrated by the slow rollout. It’s something he blames on poor priorities from lawmakers and the former governor.

“It’s a chicken or egg question,” Jordan said. “Do you need the funding or do you need the workforce?

Well, you can’t get one without the other. They simply haven’t funded early childhood in the way that they should.”

Poor pay for private preschool teachers has led to high turnover and few people are entering the field. The median wage for preschool teachers in New Mexico was $26,670 in 2015, according to a 2016 U.S. Department of Education report on wages in early childhood education. Compare that to the me-

dian pay for a Kindergarten teacher in New Mexico, $52,870, and you can see why many preschool teachers take their experience and head to a public school — especially since PreK is expanding into many New Mexico elementary schools.

Another issue that needs solving is the competition between New Mexico PreK and Head Start, a federally funded program to help low-income children.

As New Mexico PreK has expanded, Head Start has been shrinking, from 5,046 preschool slots in 2012 to Dow 3,486 in 2017.

Rep. Rebecca Dow, R-Truth or Consequences, wants to pump the brakes on PreK expansion and take a more holistic approach to early childhood care and education that serves children from birth to age 5, rather than just emphasizing preschool slots for 4-year-olds.

Dow, the director of a nonprofit childcare center, believes the Legislature should focus on hiring social workers, supporting foster parents and the families of children removed from their parents, expanding eligibility for childcare assistance to at least 200 percent of the federal poverty level and making sure any raise in the minimum wage doesn’t boot families out of the program and cause unintentional financial harm.

“I’m an advocate for the poor. We want families to become self-sufficient. Well, that starts with them being able to work and go to school,” she said. “It starts with child care.

Which doesn’t start at 3, it doesn’t start at 4. It starts when their child is 6 weeks old. It’s full day, it’s yearround.”

Any expansion to universal PreK will require money. The question is how will the state pay for it.

Lujan Grisham has endorsed a long-running effort to tap the Land Grant Permanent Fund — the state’s $17 billion trust fund for education.

Reps. Antonio “Moe” Maestas and Javier Martinez, both Democrats from Albuquerque, have prefiled their resolution to take out an extra 1 percent of the fund to pay for early childhood programs, which was approved in the House in 2018, but never Martinez made it out of the Senate.

“We’re as hopeful as we’ve ever been,” Martinez said. “Having the fourth floor fighting for the concept will be very helpful with regard to how we deal with the Senate.”

Breaking down silos for children’s services

Lujan Grisham has revived a concept from the Richardson administration, the children’s cabinet.

Programs that serve New Mexico’s children are scattered across the state government, most heavily in the Children Youth and Families De-

partment, the Public Education Department, the Department of Health and Human Services Department.

The problem is particularly notable with New Mexico PreK, which is administered by both the PED and CYFD, with different teacher qualifications required by each. (Curriculum has been standardized in recent years.)

Lujan Grisham reinstituted the children’s cabinet immediately, naming a director before she was even sworn in.

“I think because the governor has been in state government in those positions before, that she will understand the importance of it,” said Jordan, of NM Voices.

A competing plan for coordinating efforts has been introduced by Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque. Padilla proposed the creation of an Early Childhood Education and Care Department. His bill would transfer programs for children from birth to age 5 housed in the PED, CYFD, Health Department and Human Services Department into the new department.

Padilla’s proposal has gained the endorsements of Diane Denish, who as lieutenant governor under Bill Richardson chaired the children’s cabinet, and the New Mexico Early Childhood Development Partnership.

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Fortune smiles on New Mexico

By Trip Jennings New Mexico In Depth

A person would have to live under a rock to have missed New Mexico’s gilded fortunes over the past few months.

You have to go back years to find New Mexico sitting on more than a $1 billion surplus.

In a normal year, the historic windfall would provoke dueling choruses: fund what you can while you have the money versus save the money for a rainy day.

But 2019 is not a normal year.

The dueling choruses will still try to drown each other out as lawmakers meet in Santa Fe to draft a state budget. And, the Legislature and Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will spend countless hours constructing and then negotiating a $7 billion or so budget deal.

But, unlike in previous years, a

Spending on schools will have outsized role in budget talks

new player is on the budget scene.

Looming over the back-room horse trading that is sure to happen over the next two months will be state judge Sarah Singleton. Her 76-page ruling last July found New Mexico guilty of shirking its constitutional duty to adequately educate at-risk students.

In April, Singleton is scheduled to review a portion of the state budget that pertains to New Mexico’s plans to educate its children in the wake of her historic ruling. Depending on her finding, the Santa Fe judge might commend New Mexico or order it to do better.

This is a major deviation from how state budgeting is usually done in Santa Fe.

As hard as it is to get a majority of lawmakers to agree on a state budget, it’s probably going to be harder this year with attempts to achieve consensus on how much New Mexico should spend to adequately educate all its children. Especially when the people who successfully sued the state and who were vindicated

by Singleton’s ruling are saying New Mexico needs to spend $1 billion in additional education dollars, at minimum, to begin to address the educational inequities exposed.

“That’s not aspirational. It’s defining the floor,” said Edward Tabet-Cubero, the former director of the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which along with MALDEF successfully sued the state.

In her ruling, Singleton sided with MALDEF and the Center in example after example of insufficiencies and inequities that fall disproportionately on Native Americans and English-language learners, students with disabilities, and low-income students. Three-quarters of New Mexico’s public school children are eligible for free and reduced lunch, an indicator of poverty.

“There’s a moral imperative to get this right for our kids now,” Tabet-Cubero said.

Regis Pecos, an expert witness in the eight-week trial litigating the education lawsuit in 2017, agrees, noting that Singleton found New Mexico hasn’t adequately implemented statutes already on the books for Native American and at-risk students.

“People can raise their eyebrows and say that’s not realistic,” said PeContinued on 11 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

cos, who is the co-director of the Leadership Institute and one of the founders of the new Native American Budget and Policy Institute.

In response, he points out that the state’s spending on schools hasn’t returned to pre-recession levels, which exacerbates a decades-old problem of poor education, especially when it comes to educating the state’s Native students who, for generations, have endured efforts to diminish their cultural and linguistic heritage, the lingering vestiges of colonialism.

“This is a watershed moment,” Pecos said. “We have to be strong in our convictions not to compromise in what is in the platforms.”

It’s too early to handicap the advocates’ chances of winning the full $1 billion by session’s end, but it’s a long shot if history is any indicator.

Singleton’s ruling has propelled to the forefront arguments made by

“

There’s a moral imperative to get this right for our kids now.

— Edward Tabet-Cubero, former director, New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty

education advocates for years, adding greater urgency to a debate that has centered most recently on early education. Supporters argue that fully funding early education has the most potential for solving the state’s entrenched economic and social problems, backed up by science and track-records of similar investments in other states. But some lawmakers argue that New Mexico needs a better plan for how to utilize the funds before unlocking a big chunk of money.

The incoming Democratic governor has acknowledged that New Mexico must do better for its stu-

“

Continued from 10 ➤

dents.

“I want to work with those plaintiffs and those stakeholders and I am not pollyanna how hard that work will be,” Lujan Grisham said in December at the Roundhouse. “But it’s worth doing to get public education right and that’s what I will instruct the Public Education secretary designee to do.”

It’s unclear, however, how far Lujan Grisham is willing to go in directing additional funding.

If it’s not clear by now, education will not only be issue No. 1 during the 2019 legislative session but also will steer the budget debate, too.

Rep. Patricia Lundstrom of Gallup, the chairwoman of the House budget committee, which drafts the state budget each year, acknowledges the state’s obligation, saying the lawsuit “is driven by lots of needs and things we need to respond to.”

But there is a large question budget writers must ask themselves as they think of education spending, and it has less to do with the significance of New Mexico’s educational needs and more to do with everything else across New Lundstrom Mexico clamoring for attention.

There are the state agencies with high numbers of vacancies and others that are experiencing high turnContinued on 12 ➤

NEEDED: RECURRING, RELIABLE PUBLIC TRANSIT FUNDING 44 transit systems provide free and low-fare transportation options to residents and visitors throughout the state.

Last year, 16 million trips were made using public transportation; 1.7 million in rural New Mexico People who use public transit include: • Commuters • Students • Veterans • Seniors • People with Disabilities • People without Cars • Visitors & Tourists But the needs exceed available federal and local funding by approximately $3 million per year.

More information on the state’s transit systems and needs at nm-ta.com

AVERAGE

$3 Million PER YEAR SHORTFALL in Federal Funding & Local Matching Requirements

www.nm-ta.com

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Continued from 11 ➤ over due to low salaries. Meanwhile, New Mexico has the lowest-paid judges in the nation and not enough public defenders.

Lujan Grisham and her new Human Services secretary are talking about rebuilding the state’s behavioral health system, which was disrupted by former Gov. Susana Martinez.

And expect roads to get some loving care this year thanks to the $1 billion surplus, Lundstrom said.

“Down in the Southeast, where there’s all this oil and gas production, we’ve heard consistently about the needs for improved roads because of the wear and tear,” Lundstrom said.

House Minority Leader James Townsend, R-Artesia, agrees but goes further.

“We got some real capital needs on roads and bridges across the state that we have pushed off, that we will try to address,” Townsend said.

Townsend’s hometown in Eddy County is at the epicenter, along with Lea County, of a 21st century version of the Gold Rush that is responsible for the state’s eye-popping surplus.

New Mexico’s budget waxes and wanes on the health of the oil and gas industry.

But this time, the oil boom well underway is different, some people say.

New technology and geographical luck have placed New Mexico above a portion of one of the world’s richest supplies of petroleum. A recent assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey found “an estimated mean of 46.3 billion barrels of oil, 281 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, and 20 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.” That’s the largest assessment ever made by the Survey, prompting former U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to say “energy dominance is

U.S. Geological Survey/Department of the Interior

This map shows the Delaware Basin. within our grasp as a nation.”

It’s good news, especially for the state’s budget writers, and some people are predicting surpluses for years.

That’s because to get all that oil, companies have to pay New Mexico.

But Townsend is wary. It’s a skepticism born of experience.

“I have seen some very promising numbers and we’re all hopeful,” Townsend said. “But we’ve been there before.”

It’s not lost on policy makers that only two years ago, in 2016, New Mexico was slashing services and programs due to an oil and gas in-

dustry crash. The market for oil is global, with production shifting high and low due to factors largely outside New Mexico’s control.

Experience dealing with oil and gas boom-bust cycles makes John ArContinued on 13 ➤

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition Continued from 12 ➤

budget has enough revenue coming in to pay all the bills,” said Bill Jordan, policy director for New Mexico Voices for Children, an advocacy organization.

Proposals to raise revenues, particularly in a year the state is enjoying such a large surplus, might face an uphill battle, said Richard Anklam of Tax Research Institute.

They’re going to have to “explain why we need that in an environment when we have more money.”

But Jordan said a lot of programs were underfunded over the years.

“That’s one of the reasons why we’re focusing so heavily on revenue and tax policy,” he said. “We really want to try to get it right this time and make some improvements so the next time a recession comes along we’re not laying off teachers again.”

The push-and-pull the next 60 days over the level of spending for education against all the state’s other needs — and the debate whether tax increases are needed to pay for it all — will be intense.

Smith, the powerful Senate Finance committee chairman, summarizes the challenges.

“I like to think I look way down the road. We’ve got some members who can’t see next week,” Smith said.

“Somewhere you try to strike a balance.”

thur Smith, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, nervous, too, especially when people talk about how much they want to spend, even in good years.

“When one industry … is providing 45 percent of our entire recurring (yearover-year operational) budget, it make us a little apprehensive,” Smith said.

“You’re putting a lot of eggs in one basket. That’s not Smith a good practice.”

Some people, however, believe the state deserves it all — fully funded education, properly maintained roads and other necessities. And they say the state wouldn’t be so dependent on oil and gas had taxes not been repeatedly slashed. More than a decade ago, Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson and the Legislature changed the state’s personal income tax structure, dropping the top state income tax rate from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent.

Advocates want to reverse at least some of that and also want a rollback of corporate tax cuts approved in 2013.

“Our No. 1 priority is going to be NMID’s Sylvia Ulloa contributed to focused on making sure that the state this story.

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Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham chats with New Mexico lawmakers in December.

Trip Jennings/ New Mexico In Depth

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Behind the veil

Money greases wheels of political machine; legislative process shrouded in secrecy

Steinborn works toward full disclosure of spending on lawmakers, bills

By Marjorie Childress New Mexico In Depth

For New Mexico’s volunteer legislators, campaign contributions provide more than just dollars to run an election. The money allows them to crisscross the state to meet constituents or go to legislative meetings. They can pay for telephone costs, stamps, conference travel out of state, and they can be donated to charities the candidate selects. They can help fund other candidates running for office, a way legislators develop potential legislative allies, not to mention power.

Since 2013, according to an NMID analysis, lobbyists or their employers have given half or more of campaign funds contributed to 21 percent of all state representatives and senators, and 56 percent of state lawmakers received at least 30 percent.

New Mexico is the only state that doesn’t pay its legislators a salary.

And lobbyists and their employers don’t mind picking up a lot of the tab they incur in the course of their work.

They also don’t limit themselves to contributing cash to influence legislation. Many spend money on advertising, gifts, food and other entertainment to develop relationships with legislators. You’ll find them providing big galas, hamburgers during late night floor sessions, or intimate meals at restaurants.

Campaign contributions are “just a small percentage of the money spent to influence us,” said Sen. Jeff Steinborn, D-Las Cruces. “It’s important that citizens of the state know that total number.”

But poor disclosure laws make it impossible to know the full amount of the money spent Steinborn to influence legislators, or the objectives behind all that money.

Steinborn wants to change that, introducing several bills this legislative session to require public disclosure of the total amount employers spend on lobbying, as well as the specific bills and issues that lobbyists work on during the session.

Polling by Common Cause New Mexico, a good government advocacy organization, shows that 90 percent of New Mexicans think it’s a good idea for lobbyists to disclose the bills or issues they’ve been hired to advocate for.

“Every time we ask if lobbyists have an undue or higher level of influence on elected officials than average citizens do, those (polling) numbers are always incredibly high,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of

CCNM. “The public wants to know which lobbyists are lobbying on which issues and how much money is really being spent.”

The lack of lobbying transparency is one of the “cloak-and-dagger aspects” of the legislative process, said Steinborn. “It’s not always what you see, it’s what you don’t see that’s played the hand of god in killing a bill, or whatever.”

Steinborn has introduced lobbying transparency legislation regularly, first as a state representative and now as a senator. In 2015 as a state representative, he successfully shepherded a bill that required more disclosure from lobbyist employers and mandated that lobbyist reports be public-

ly available for 10 years rather than two. It’s thanks to that bill that lobbying contributions to elected officials can be accessed by the public going back to 2013. But that same bill saw major revisions before it was passed.

The Senate Rules Committee stripped out language requiring disclosure of what bills or issues lobbyists are working on. And the House Regulatory and Public Affairs Committee removed requirements that lobbyist expenditure reports list each individual lawmaker they spend money on, and it struck a requirement that employers disclose estimates of their full lobbying costs.

The ideas in Steinborn’s bills arContinued on 15 ➤

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

15

Wirth maintains high hopes for campaign finance reform in 2019

By Marjorie Childress New Mexico In Depth

Almost a decade-long effort to revise unconstitutional elements of New Mexico’s Campaign Reporting Act will continue in 2019. Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, has slogged away for years to clarify rules for when political activity during elections has to be reported, after a court found back in 2009 that the

current law is too broad and therefore unenforceable. Under his bill, independent groups not required to register as political committees but who engage in political activity would have to disclose their political spending along with funders of that spending.

This go round ought to be easier than earlier years. Once Wirth was elevated to Senate majority leader in 2017, he successfully passed his bill only to see it vetoed by Republi-

can Gov. Susana Martinez, who said it might hinder contributions to non-political charities. Since then, Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, a Democrat, has implemented reporting rules for nonprofits that are highly similar to what Wirth has proposed.

During the 2018 election, due to those rules hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on political advertising by nonprofit organizations that aren’t required to register as

PACs were publicly reported. Without the Secretary of State reporting rules, none of those expenditures would have been made public.

Now, a group of Republican legislators is suing Toulouse Oliver, saying she overstepped her boundaries in implementing the rules. Regardless of how that court case plays out, Wirth said he’s bringing the bill back because the statute itself needs to be reformed.

Rue won’t drop push for transparency on infrastructure money allocation

By Marjorie Childress New Mexico In Depth

Back in 2015, as part of a reporting project focused on efforts to reform New Mexico’s infrastructure funding process, New Mexico In Depth decided to look into how individual legislators were divvying up personal pots of public money they are allowed to allocate for building, improving or equipping physical property. A list of each legislator’s funded projects isn’t published online, so we filed a public information request, which was then promptly denied.

The Legislature cited state statute to claim they are allowed to withhold the information.

Sen. Sander Rue, R-Albuquerque, has introduced bills each year since Continued from 14 ➤ en’t novel. The National Conference of State Legislatures has compiled lobbying regulations of all 50 states, with synopsis of each on its website.

A wide swath of states require disclosures of the sort Steinborn is seeking. The NCLS finds that state laws

then to change that secrecy. He’ll do so again in 2019.

Here’s how the process works now: Before the session begins, the Legislative Finance Committee prepares a statewide infrastructure budget, based on guidance from legislative and executive staff, who gather a range of input from state agencies and local governments and districts.

That budget goes through the legislative process with subtractions and additions during the session. Once funding is allocated to statewide projects, any remaining funds are divided between the House and the Senate, and each of those chambers then divvy up the money equally among legislators to assign as they see fit.

The legislators’ funding decisions are then put together in a collective list that doesn’t show who funded what.

And that list is then incorporated into the final budget. The governor will often wield her lineitem veto authority to strike out portions of the budget beRue fore signing it.

Under the current process, while not necessarily likely, it’s possible that a legislator could claim credit for funding a project without having actually assigned a dime to it. Other sorts of wheeling and dealing could go on that the public has no way of investigating.

Rue’s efforts to bring sunshine to capital outlay allocations haven’t gotten far, yet. Legislators balk, mainly

those in rural parts of the state who fear their constituents won’t understand why they didn’t fund a project, even though they may have worked with a group of legislators representing an entire region to prioritize projects with the most pressing need. Legislators fear that publishing their individual allocations will be politicized, with attack ads rolled out against them during election years.

But, Rue said, while he understands those fears and acknowledges there are a lot of differences in the challenges rural versus urban legislators face, how a legislator assigns public money should be made public.

“At the end of the day, it’s taxpayer money,” Rue said. “We should be able to answer their questions and explain what we did.”

“generally require lobbyists to submit public reports that identify how much money is spent on lobbying, what legislative issues are being lobbied, and for which officials’ benefit the expenditures are made.”

“It takes some courage and fortitude to regulate yourself,” Steinborn said about why some of his proposals

meet resistance at the Roundhouse.

“It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s very uncomfortable.”

Steinborn is quick to say that the role of lobbyists is important. Everyone deserves an advocate, he said.

His bill would simply level the playing field for those who can’t afford to pay their own lobbyist.

“Information and disclosure make citizen participation possible,” Steinborn said. “Without it, frankly, we have a gamed system designed to tilt that pendulum intentionally or through an action to just those who have resources to hire lobbyists and that’s just not fair. And I don’t think that’s healthy for our democracy.”

16

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Legislature fleshes out details of ethics commission in 2019

By Trip Jennings New Mexico In Depth

Three-quarters of voters in November supported enshrining an independent ethics commission in the state Constitution, making New Mexico one of more than 40 states with similar oversight bodies.

Just getting an ethics commission took more than a decade and contentious year-in, year-out legislative debates.

But the most the difficult year may be 2019.

State lawmakers over the next 60 days will make big decisions about the seven-member commission: how much power it has, how much funding it gets, and, perhaps thorniest of all, how open and transparent its work will be.

These questions will revive old battle lines from the past nearly 15 years when a bipartisan collection of supporters in the Legislature annually squared off against an equally bipartisan coalition of opponents.

The sticky question of transparency tackles when an ethics complaint is made public. Transparency advocates favor making complaints public early in the process.

“If the complaint is deemed frivolous — that needs to be public, too, and the basis for the (commission’s)

finding,” said former Republican state Rep. Jim Dines, one of the legislative sponsors of the constitutional measure. “It helps instill trust in the process.”

Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, long a critic of the ethics commission idea, however, has said she fears political attacks dressed up as allegations of ethical lapses.

If you post the allegation publicly and there is nothing found, “you are … aiding and abetting that person who made an inaccurate accusation,” Lopez said last month at a working group meeting convened to hash out details Dines in advance of the session.

“People will go back and use it for whatever purposes. If you’re going through a divorce, people can use it.”

Expect the case of former Democratic state Rep. Carl Trujillo, who lost a primary election this year after a lobbyist accused him of sexual harassment, to feature in the debate.

After the election, a legislative panel dismissed the allegations when Trujillo’s accuser refused to sit for questioning by his attorneys.

Dines, however, said his preference for more openness rather than less would not change what’s already occurring in New Mexico: People can file complaints with the Secretary of State’s Office and those are public, he said.

State lawmakers also will be asked how big a set of teeth to give the government watchdog.

“We want to make sure they have the maximum level of subpoena power,” said Heather Ferguson, executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, a good government organization.

Ferguson and others want to ensure the seven-member commission has a robust enough staff to do its job well, which includes ensuring “the expediency of an investigation,” she said.

Cost estimates have ranged from $800,000 to $1 million.

These are important details. Some states have created toothless ethics commissions by perennially underfunding them.

Another major legislative debate will revolve around whether to give the new commission authority to investigate and adjudicate civil, non-criminal cases currently prosecuted by several state agencies, including the offices of the Attorney General and Secretary of State.

Dines prefers this approach, as do

others. But state Rep. Damon Ely, D-Albuquerque, who is expected to sponsor an ethics commission bill, said he is coming around to the opposite view: That the new commission should not have exclusive authority to investigate and prosecute those alleged offenses.

“I really worry that what’s going to happen, unintentionally, is that the commission will be jealous of its powers, the secretary of state theirs,” Ely said. “I’d much rather build legislation that allows them to partner and gives them flexibility to do things.”

There are many uncertainties as to what a Lopez fleshed-out ethics commission will look like at the end of the 60-day session. What is certain is there will be debate, a lot of it, before a final version emerges.

Lopez, the ethics commission skeptic, said she has heard of “five other legislators who will file a measure.”

A veteran lawmaker of more than 20 years, Lopez predicted a flurry of legislative amendments and committee substitutes before all is said and done.

“The games are on,” she said.

The inside story on the vote, the people and the politics that drive New Mexico Politics.

Joe Knows. www.joemonahan.com

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Green goals

Courtesy of PNM

PNM’s South Valley Solar Energy Center is one of 15 solar sites the company has built since 2011.

Renewable energy a key target as new political era dawns

By MARJORIE Childress New Mexico In Depth

New Mexico was in the first wave of states to require gradually increasing amounts of renewable energy such as wind, solar and geothermal to power its electrical grid. Signed into law in 2004, the state’s Renewable Energy Act required private utilities to ensure that 20 percent of the electricity they provide to consumers comes from those sources by 2020.

Since then what was once a novel idea has gone mainstream. Twenty-nine states, the District of Colum-

bia, and three territories have similar laws. More than half have higher goals than 20 percent. And after eight years of pent up desire to continue aggressively scaling up clean energy policies and infrastructure, renewable markets advocates will have a governor in 2019 in sync with their goal of increasing renewable portfolio standards (RPS) targets beyond 20 percent.

RPS standards are responsible for a “cost dive” in solar and wind energy production over the past 10 years, said Conservation Voters New Mexico policy director Ben Shelton, and can continue to drive a growth in the

market.

Roughly half of all growth in renewable electricity generation is due to state RPS requirements, according to an annual report produced by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. And while the role of RPS laws in spurring national growth in the field has fallen over time, in the West they are still central to renewable energy growth, the report states.

That market growth is essential, Shelton said, for two reasons. The most pressing is the need to decarbonize electricity to reduce greenhouse gases.

“Climate change is coming; it’s

crushing New Mexico already,” he said, pointing to stressed water systems throughout the state.

And secondly, he said, it can be an important economic driver in the state. With so much wind and solar energy potential in New Mexico, he said, “there are jobs in it.”

CVNM pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the 2018 election cycle to influence who would sit on the state’s Public Regulation Commission, which regulates utilities, and who would win races for governor and state land commisContinued on 18 ➤

18 Continued from 17 ➤ sioner, two positions that together greenlight new laws, manage state lands, and oversee agencies that regulate energy industries. Their favored candidates in the races for governor and state land office — Michelle Lujan Grisham and Stephanie Garcia Richard, respectively — won in the general election.

The goal for an increase in New Mexico’s RPS touted by advocates mirrors Lujan Grisham’s campaign platform for electricity powered by renewables: 50 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2040.

That the governor means business became crystal clear when she appointed Sarah Cottrell Propst as her secretary of the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department.

Propst was an adviser to Gov. Bill Richardson on energy and environment issues and deputy secretary of the state Environment Department

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition in 2010. Before her appointment

by Lujan Grisham, she was executive director of Interwest Energy Alliance, a trade association for the renewable energy inShelton dustry focused on expanding markets in the West. In her role at Interwest, Propst advocated for an increase in New Mexico’s RPS. Announcing the appointment in December, Lujan Grisham said there was “no one better” than Propst “to make sure that New Mexico, in fact, becomes the clean energy state.”

Like Shelton, Propst said the primary goal of an increase in renewables is twofold, to protect the environment by removing polluting energy sources and to diversify the economy in New Mexico.

The evolution of the renewables

industry over the past decade signals that renewable energy is a growth industry, she said in an interview, but because of the pace of change Cottrell Propst it’s daunting to predict where the industry will be in 10 years.

“Costs have gone down between 60 and 70 percent for wind and solar technologies … faster than anybody anticipated back in 2007 when we were negotiating the last round of RPS increases,” she said. “So we know that this technology and cost will not stay the same for renewables or energy storage. History shows us it’s good to be ambitious, it’s good to be bold.”

Renewable energy advocates, including the governor, will benefit from November’s blue wave that

swept a significant Democratic majority into the state House. Just four years ago a brief but historic Republican majority in the House voted to do away with the renewable portfolio standard. There are still conservative voices in the House and the Senate, both Democrat and Republican, who can be expected to approach proposed new renewable targets with skepticism.

Then there’s the largest industrial utility in the state, Public Service Company of New Mexico, which provides electricity to 500,000 households. PNM is retiring its coal-fired San Juan Generating Station and focused on increasing what it terms emissions-free energy. Renewables are an important part of the company’s plans.

“It’s a standard feature of a modern power supply system,” said Pat O’Connell, PNM’s director of planContinued on 19 ➤

19

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

IOU=Investor-owned utility

Continued from 18 ➤ ning and resources, who said he expected a bill this session that creates higher targets.

“Growing the RPS makes sense. I expect that to happen. How far do we want to go and how soon do we want to get there are the questions,” he said, noting that the company plans to have reached 25 percent in renewables by 2023.

O’Connell said 80 percent is a “big target,” and lawmakers should think about what their goal is. When the RPS was first created, he said, the goal was to incentivize the growth of renewables, which has successfully happened.

“Wind is cheaper, solar is cheaper, that’s why absent an RPS, renewable energy will continue to grow,” he said.

“So the incentive piece is a success, and the environmental benefit piece

of RPS has certainly occurred as renewable energy continues to grow.”

PNM Director of Communications Ray Sandoval emphasized O’Connell that the company isn’t anti-RPS. Policy makers are targeting 80 percent because people think RPS drives up renewables, Sandoval said. “But it causes problems for us in terms of reliability and how you support all of the renewables with the current technology on our system.”

O’Connell and Sandoval said the focus of PNM is on decreasing carbon emissions, rather than increasing renewables. The company has invested in solar and wind farms around the state and has long-term goals that

include a 71 percent reduction over 2005 levels in emissions by 2025, and 87 percent by 2040. That would work out to a decrease in carbon dioxide emissions from 7.7 million metric tons in 2005 to .97 million metric tons in 2040.

But the company’s emissions-free mix includes roughly 25 percent from the Palo Verde nuclear generating station in Arizona. That percentage won’t grow — all of the emissions-free gains the company projects come from renewables. And nuclear energy doesn’t fit into the clean energy category for advocates or Propst, because of the nuclear waste it generates.

“We need to sit down with everybody in a room … the utilities, coops, the conservation groups, consumer advocacy groups, the attorney general’s office … and hammer something out that works,” she said. “Some

of these utilities are going to have to stretch. They are by their nature conservative and advocates are going to push them and we’ll have to see what makes sense.”

Propst takes a pragmatic yet ambitious tone when discussing the future, much like Lujan Grisham often does. The governor wants New Mexico to join the group of states that have set goals for 50 percent or more, Propst said, but wants to be intentional in how to get there. And she wants to work with industry.

“We know it’s an even greater shift for our whole system (the 80 percent goal) so we want to be very careful as we move in that direction that we don’t do anything that jeopardizes reliability or increases costs too quickly,” Propst said. “Fifty and eighty are two different goals at two different points in time.”

20

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

new decade,

new direction Changes, more money seen for criminal justice system

By Jeff Proctor New Mexico In Depth

Lawmakers are hopeful that 2019 brings an opportunity to significantly overhaul major parts of the New Mexico criminal justice system, after what one key state senator called a “lost decade” that saw myriad ideas but scant action.

Bills are expected to address chronically high crime rates across the state, with a focus on speedier justice in cases involving violence and more lifeboats for people whose lesser crimes have saddled them with the stigma of a criminal record.

There’s talk of a massive “omnibus” bill that would feature changes to New Mexico’s probation and parole systems, reparations for crime victims, the way law enforcement uses eyewitness testimony to seek convic-

tions and several other laws.

Then there are the reforms that, in years past, have found support from both political parties but ultimately met the veto pen of Gov. Susana Martinez, a former prosecutor who for eight years stuck to her belief that New Mexico needed tougher penalties for lawbreakers, but largely stiffarmed proposals to address systemic injustices.

Those shifts — likely to be proposed in individual bills — would include limiting the use of solitary confinement in the state’s prisons and jails, creating a pathway for some offenders to have their criminal records wiped clean after a period of time and prohibiting private-sector employers from inquiring about job applicants’ past convictions in most instances.

House Speaker Brian Egolf, D-Santa Fe, said lawmakers even plan to

propose a bill that would decriminalize personal possession of small amounts of all drugs in New Mexico. That would include drugs such as heroin and cocaine.

The reform discussion has been percolating against a backdrop of legislators’ deep dives into how other states have codified a shift in criminal justice thinking and, perhaps more importantly, $1 billion-plus in “new money” — the largest surplus to flood the Roundhouse in years.

Further, Democrats gained eight seats in the state House, increasing their majority, while maintaining their majority in the Senate. Senators were not up for election in 2018.

Democrat Michelle Lujan Grisham won at the polls, too, flipping the governor’s mansion from Republican to Democratic control.

“It’s such a refreshing and hopeful place to be, because this really

has been a lost decade for our state on criminal justice,” said Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe. “We have new leadership now that wants to work with all sides to keep our state safe and to address what causes many crimes in the first place. And we have the money to do at least some of it.

We’re starting from a huge position of strength we haven’t seen since 2007 or 2008.”

Just two years ago, Wirth, an attorney, warned in an interview with NMID that the state was “on the tipping point of a constitutional crisis.”

He pointed to chronic underfunding for the courts, prosecutors, public defenders and treatment for people living with drug addiction and mental illness who had been caught up in the system. “The most pressing criminal justice issue right now is having Continued on 21 ➤

21

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition Continued from 20 ➤ a court system that’s able to address the laws that we’ve asked them to enforce. Nothing gets done before we attend to that.”

New Mexico’s judges are the lowest paid in the nation, according to the National Center for State Courts. In 2016, the state’s chief public defender was held in contempt of court after he told a judge his office couldn’t take on any more new cases if it was to fulfill its constitutional obligation to provide an adequate defense. And district attorneys across New Mexico have struggled keeping staff due to what they pay.

Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, told NMID he expects to see increases for all three proverbial “legs of the stool” holding up New Mexico’s criminal justice system.

But he cautions that legislators shouldn’t eye changes in criminal justice without considering the state’s behavioral health system in the same conversations. That’s because drug addiction, poverty and mental illness often sit at or just below the surface when someone commits a crime.

“That’s maybe where we don’t get all we want” in terms of budget hikes for new treatment centers, more social workers and incentives for behavioral health providers to grow and expand,” Maestas said. “With behavioral health, it’s a very steep climb. The (former) governor dis-

mantled an already fragile system — she didn’t need to do that, but she did. It will take time to rebuild.”

Still, Maestas, who co-chairs the Legislature’s Courts Corrections and Justice subcommittee with Republican Sen. Sander Rue, said the subcommittee has been working with the nonprofit Council of State Governments to identify funding priorities.

“We have information from other states, we have some data now,” he said. “What’s great about these criminal justice proposals I expect to see is that they will actually save money in both the short and the long term. And bigger picture, we know that every dollar we put into behavioral Maestas health saves $2 in criminal justice.”

It may not be quite so simple, however, with powerful fiscal conservatives from both parties calling for saving a large portion of the surplus rather than going on a spending spree.

But New Mexico has not just bucked the national trend in decreasing crime rates. This state also has lagged behind others in how well its criminal justice system functions.

That means advocates for reform on

issues like education and economic development will be competing for large shares of the “new money” that has come courtesy of an oil boom in the Permian Basin.

Fully funding the state’s education system, in addition to being a well identified, long-standing problem in New Mexico, is also now a judicial mandate after the state lost a seminal lawsuit earlier this year.

Maestas pegs infusing schools with the money they need as the Legislature’s No. 1 priority during the session. He puts criminal justice reform at No. 2.

“But because the pie is so much bigger than it has been in years, we don’t really have to fight over it,” he said. “It’s not competing interests anymore; it’s ensuring that each dollar is well spent.”

Maestas and Wirth said the fickle nature of the oil and gas industry should give legislators at least some pause as they decide what to do with the surplus. But they see the debate shifting from savings vs. spending to how much money should be dedicated for one-time fixes on issues like crime reduction vs. recurring spending on judicial salaries and more.

Maestas said the one-time money should go toward staffing at some of the state’s smaller law enforcement agencies, software integration that would help criminal justice agencies communicate better with one another and tools to collect criminal jus-

tice related data.

Missing from the debate this year, Maestas said, will be familiar, pet issues Martinez and her supporters in the Legislature pushed for years.

Those include bringing back the death penalty for certain crimes, beefing up the state’s “three-strikes” law and ratcheting up penalties for a wide range of crimes.

But he said the Legislature is likely to significantly overhaul the state’s criminal code — including by increasing penalties for some crimes — during next year’s 30-day session.

It appears criminal justice reform legislation on the radar for this year has some support from Republicans, not just the majority Democrats. BipartisanWirth ship, Wirth said, should help at least some bills get passed relatively quickly during the session.

Legislators from both parties also recognize the need to slash crime rates around the state, he said.

“It really does feel like the focus is finally where it should be: getting dangerous people locked up quickly, getting treatment for people who need it and ensuring we’re allocating money where it will do the most good long-term,” he said.

“Ethics should mean what [former PRC] Commissioner Jason Marks has publicly and vocally advocated for… accountability through as much disclosure as possible.”

—Albuquerque Journal, 4/4/2010

BUSINESS LAW ■ CIVIL LITIGATION ■ REGULATORY PROCEEDINGS ■ REAL ESTATE ■

1011 Third Street NW | Albuquerque, NM 87102 505.385.4435 | lawoffice@jasonmarks.com

22

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

At this school, it takes a community to educate a child

Las Cruces’ Lynn Middle on cutting edge as part of pioneering model

By Sylvia Ulloa New Mexico In Depth

This month marks two years since Lynn Middle School in Las Cruces re-imagined itself.

A walk around classrooms and its cafeteria reveals signs of the metamorphosis.

On any given weekday students drop in for healthy snacks or warm clothes in the school’s community room. Parents have access to computers, WiFi and office supplies to apply for jobs. Families and neighbors stop in for staples at a monthly food pantry operated by Roadrunner Food Bank.

Meanwhile, a mobile Boys and Girls Club, set up in the school’s cafeteria, keeps them busy and, some say, out of trouble.

Lynn is a community school, a model pioneered in the state at Albuquerque Public Schools.

It’s an idea as old as the one-room schoolhouse, but with a modern twist. Instead of sending students out into the world to get help for

Josh Bachman/Las Cruces Sun-News

Students at Lynn Middle School organize drinks for a Roadrunner Food Bank event on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018, at Lynn Middle School, Las Cruces Public School’s first community school. non-classroom challenges, the school brings the world to them.

Volunteers and organizations swarm Lynn to help children deal

with the effects of poverty so that eligible for free and reduced lunch, they can concentrate on learning. an indicator of poverty.

Like the rest of the state, three-quarters of Las Cruces school children are Continued on 23 ➤

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Supporters of the changes point to signs of improvement at the school.

Since 2017, Lynn has moved from an “F” school to a “D” school in the Public Education Department’s school grading system. The student absentee rate has dropped from around 15 percent each day to about 8 to 10 percent, said Principal Toni Hull. That’s still high, but she hopes to bring it down even further. A new disciplinary approach that minimizes suspensions and seeks resolution to conflict has dropped the number of referrals for discipline from 52 in the first month of school last year, to 26 referrals in the same period this year, according to Hull. Both mean more students are in class and learning.

With the Legislature convening this month, some advocates, educators and lawmakers are pointing to

Fixing real world problems

“

You need to have a community school design, which brings the very social services to at-risk kids to those schools so that you’re navigating food security, health care, housing.

— Michelle Lujan Grisham, during a fall gubernatorial debate with Republican Steve Pearce

community schools like Lynn as an example of what New Mexico needs more of, especially after last year’s ruling by a state judge that found the state guilty of shirking its constitutional duty to adequately educate atrisk students.

Educating these student populations will command center stage when lawmakers converge in Santa Fe and a coalition of advocates, ed-

“

Continued from 22 ➤

ucators and lawmakers hope to persuade the Legislature and Michelle Lujan Grisham to invest money in the community school model.

Last month, advocates gathered in Santa Fe to create the New Mexico Coalition for Community Schools to figure out how they can spread the idea statewide, said David Greenberg, Las Cruces Public Schools community schools coordinator.

A community school model tries to learn why kids are missing school, having trouble concentrating or acting out. Are they at home with a sick sibling because their parents can’t take time off from work? Does getting to a doctor or dentist appointment take half the day because the family only has one car? Do they feel alone and isolated? Do they not have warm coats or decent shoes?

To address those real world problems, schools develop partnerships with health clinics, food banks and youth service organizations that are already helping children and bring them to the school — because that’s where the kids are. They support parents because that strengthens the family. They also work to engage parents because there is a direct link to Continued on 24 ➤

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24 Continued from 23 ➤ student success when parents are involved in their children’s education.

Supporters of the community school idea will find an ally in Lujan Grisham if her rhetoric is any indication.

“You need to have a community school design, which brings the very social services to at-risk kids to those schools so that you’re navigating food security, health care, housing,” Lujan Grisham said last fall during a gubernatorial debate with Republican Steve Pearce televised on KOB. “You’re minimizing adverse childhood experiences. When kids have those things addressed, they’re much better able to close those achievement gaps and to focus on learning.”

Lujan Grisham has put community schools into her education platform.

Community in action

On a late fall afternoon, there is a

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition bottleneck at the doors of the Lynn cafeteria as more than two dozen middle-schoolers stream in. They line up for a free dinner of soft tacos, their conversations and laughter bouncing loudly off the cinder block walls. About half of the students are here for Boys and Girls Club, the others for STARS, a program that connects students with mentors from local high schools.

Jason Bernal, teen coordinator at Boys and Girls Club of Las Cruces, said the organization has been expanding the kinds of activities they offer, branching out from games and exercise into STEM and art projects.

He hopes to work with the kids on coding and building a website later in the year.

Boys and Girls Club hopes to expand to other schools within the district, Bernal said, “to give those kids something to do so they’re not getting into the wrong things, they’re not hanging out with the wrong crowds,

Josh Bachman/Las Cruces Sun-News

Celina Corral, right, with the Empowerment Congress, teaches a class on cultural diversity at Lynn Middle School on Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2018.

The Empowerment Congress is one of Lynn’s community partners. they’re not wasting their time away with video games.”

Data collected by the Cradle to Career Policy Institute for Albuquerque Public Schools found that the more children took part in afterschool activities like the Boys and Girls Club, the fewer days of school they missed and the higher their grade-point average.

Since LCPS started the project, it has recruited more than 20 outside organizations and foundations.

Lynn is working with Ben Archer Health Centers on what will be the first school-based health center in a Las Cruces middle school, and it’s building the only dental clinic at a

district school through a partnership with the Doña Ana Community College dental hygiene program.

Behavioral health agency Families and Youth Inc. diagnoses kids on site who might need counseling and other services. Having those resources on campus will mean parents won’t need to take students out of school all or part of the day just to get to a wellness visit or dental appointment.

Las Cruces officials feel good enough about what’s happening at Lynn that they plan to expand the community school model to more schools, similar to the progression Continued on 25 ➤

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition Continued from 24 ➤ that happened in Albuquerque.

Jose Muñoz, who was in Albuquerque when community schools gained a foothold, said the model works in areas around the country and can do the same in New Mexico, where it would fit in communities as different as Las Cruces and Las Vegas.

“That’s the great flexibility of community schools — because it’s agile it can fit any context. In this role now, I see it thriving in rural, suburban and urban,” said Muñoz, director of the Coalition for Community Schools at the Institute for Education Leadership based in Washington, D.C. Las Cruces is not as far along as its larger neighbor to the north and is feeling growing pains, said LCPS Superintendent Greg Ewing. That has included some pushback from teachers, parents and students.

“For us, we have taken our time in rolling out the project. We’re building the model in one location that we hope to be able to replicate,” Ewing said.

The build-up has been a tough slog, but it’s showing small signs of culture change, said Lynn Community School Coordinator Sylvia Chavez.

She is motivated to put in the long days and some weekends because she wonders how much easier her own life might have been if her family had gotten the kind of help Lynn Community Middle School is trying to provide.

Like many students at Lynn, when she was growing up Chavez missed school because she had to help take care of her younger siblings.

“I was that kid, and I want to be the one that helps them,” Chavez Continued on 26 ➤

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26 Continued from 25 ➤ said “If my mom would have had more support, being a single mother, things would have been different.

Even though I did push myself to succeed, it was harder.”

Going to the Legislature

Even though community schools are an idea that has the backing of the governor, expanding the model beyond Albuquerque, Las Cruces and Santa Fe might be tough. The Legislature has not put any money behind the concept despite passing a Community Schools Act in 2013. The current efforts are funded by private money, grants and local governments, in partnership with school districts, said Edward Tabet-Cubero, executive director of the Learning Alliance New Mexico.

The New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty, which along with

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition MALDEF successfully sued the state for shirking its constitutional obligation to educate at-risk and Native students, believes the community school model is one of the remedies that can improve education for at-risk students. It will ask the Legislature and governor to direct state money to spread community schools across the state, said Tabet-Cubero, formerly with the center and now part of a coalition of parents, educators and advocates pushing for more money and reform for public schools.

Even with an expect budget surplus, there will be a lot of demand on the $1.1 billion in “new money,” amid cautions over the volatility of the oil and gas industry that powers most of education spending.

Tabet-Cubero said lawmakers opposed to community schools often view the services they offer as “extras” when, in fact, they are central to educating these children.

Sylvia Ulloa/New Mexico In Depth

Lynn Middle School Principal Toni Hull gets ready for an assembly on the first day of school at Lynn in August. She wanted to set a different tone at the school as it ramps up its community school effort. “I just wanted it to be a memorable experience so that kids and teachers realize that something’s different. And it’s OK to have fun at school,” she said.

Good Communication = Good Fortune

Consistent, Effective, Creative Public Relations GriffinAssoc.com

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Keeping Tabs: New Mexico 2019 Legislative Session Session dates: January 15 - March 16, 2019

Essential government websites:

Location:

•

nmlegis.gov -- The legislative website is the go to place for information you need to stay informed and engaged. On the website you can learn about the legislative process; watch live or recorded webcasts of committee and floor sessions; find and track bills, memorials and resolutions; explore a wealth of research and other publications going back many years; and find contact information for your legislator.

•

www.sos.state.nm.us: The New Mexico Secretary of State website is where you will find information about the money being spent to influence legislation. It includes lobbyist registrations and reports filed on a regular basis by lobbyists and their employers, as well as campaign finance reports filed by elected officials.

State Capital at the corner of Old Santa Fe Trail and Paseo de Peralta in Santa Fe

Contact numbers and email Main switchboard: 505-986-4300

State House of Representatives: 505-986-4751, house@nmlegis.gov State Senate: 505-986-4714, senate@nmlegis.gov Official Twitter page: @NMLegislature Common Twitter hashtag: #nmleg

Getting there:

Drive or, from Albuquerque, take the Railrunner: www.riometro.org Park on nearby streets, or for free in the public garage at 485 Galisteo St.

Find New Mexico In Depth's Legislative Coverage: nmindepth.com or @NMInDepth

Got a tip? nmindepth@gmail.com

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

The Openness Project

Are you up to speed on all the money in our political system?

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opennessproject.com

to follow the money through user friendly, campaign specific visualizations.

The Openness Project was created by New Mexico In Depth to give communities better access to information about political contributions in the state of New Mexico.

The data comes from the New Mexico Secretary of State.

Don't miss out on New Mexico In Depth's year round coverage of New Mexico's most pressing issues:

CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM | ENVIRONMENT & ECONOMY | CHILD WELFARE | ETHICAL GOVERNMENT Find us: nmindepth.com | facebook.com/NMInDepth | twitter.com/NMInDepth Get our articles in your email: http://bit.ly/NMIDsignup

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

commentary

New Mexico First seeks to stabilize what’s working in higher ed

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its creation, the fund has ew Mexicans arships, which should be increased know that obtainprovided roughly 50,000 to at least $1,500 per semester per ing a credential scholarships to New Mex- student. If enacted, these reforms can ensure that the College Afor a degree after high ico residents who do not meet the requirements of fordability Fund continues to help school increases a person’s the Lottery Scholarship. students complete higher education earning potential across a Existing law estabin a wide range of fields. lifetime. However, rising By contrast, another higher education costs and poor- Heather Balas lishing the College Afeducation program known as SUN fordability Fund calls for ly defined pathways can PATH, provides support specifisteady investments into make college seem out of the endowment fund. However, cally to college students pursuing reach, especially for low-income during the last decade the Legislahealth careers. New Mexico faces students. By 2020, an estimated 63 significant shortages in healthcare ture repeatedly took money from percent of New Mexico jobs will professionals, so the program helps the fund to pay for other needs. At require at least some college, yet fill critical needs statewide while this point, without intervention, the state falls short in supplying also helping students fulfill career FY18 will be the last year students a skilled workforce to fill those may apply for these dollars, because goals. A coalition of New Mexico positions. colleges, agencies and employers, At New Mexico First’s 2018 town the fund is essentially empty.

SUN PATH has enabled 3,100 New Mexico First’s town hall hall, “Strengthening Higher Educastudents to complete health degrees implementation team recommends tion and Tomorrow’s Workforce,” replenishing the fund with $50 mil- and certifications – at a 34 perparticipants recommended finanlion from the budget surplus and cent higher rate than average high cial support for students so they begin re-growing the endowment. school graduates. What’s more, encumber as little debt as possible Also, it’s time to update the law to students who complete SUN PATH while completing well-defined authorize at least $3 million a year are ready for the job and earn highhigher education pathways, from in expenditures for student scholer wages. The Bureau of Business certificates to professional degrees.

To that end, we are working on two urgent pieces of legislation that will prevent the shuttering of two important projects: the College New Mexico has never been in a better Affordability Fund and the SUN financial position to help our aspiring college PATH program for students aspiring to healthcare careers. graduates. As the College Affordability Fund To help more students pay for and SUN PATH demonstrate, we do not always schooling, the New Mexico Legislature established the College have to reinvent the wheel.

Affordability Fund in 2005. Since

and Economic Research concluded that SUN PATH produces a $2.22 return on investment for every dollar spent.

Without the Legislature’s intervention, SUN PATH will close its doors because the federal grant that created it has ended. The hard and expensive phase of building the project is completed; now we just have to maintain it. Additionally, the program can be replicated for other in-demand New Mexico industries, like energy, IT, and early childhood and K-12 teacher training.

New Mexico has never been in a better financial position to help our aspiring college graduates. As the College Affordability Fund and SUN PATH demonstrate, we do not always have to reinvent the wheel.

Instead we can maintain smart solutions that are already offering proven results.

Heather Balas is the president and executive director of New Mexico First, a statewide, nonpartisan public policy organization that advances New Mexico through independent research, civic engagement and advocacy. Browse our library of town hall reports and more at nmfirst.org. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Legislature should enact voters’ mandate for strong ethics commission

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he “devil is in the ficials are not above the details,” the old law and to build public adage goes, and notrust, we believe that the where is this more evident ethics commission should than in drafting legislainclude these features: tion. After 75 percent of New Mexico’s voters • Will receive complaints supported the passage of a Heather from any person alleging constitutional amendment a violation of any of the Ferguson to establish an indepenlaws within the scope of its dent ethics commission last fall, the authority. It may also initiate com2019 legislature is now mandated plaints on its own. to craft those “devilish details” and • Will have primary jurisdiction to pass enabling legislation that will set enforce civil provisions of campaign up and empower this commission finance and financial disclosure to begin its work. The 2017 House laws, the Governmental Conduct Joint Resolution that initiated the Act, lobbyist and gift regulations, ballot measure only drew a broad the Procurement Code, the Whisoutline of the commission’s appoint- tleblower Protection Act and others, ment process, statutory jurisdiction working in cooperation with appliand powers, and now it’s time to cable agencies. provide the ways and the means • Complaints not initially disfor the commission’s functions and missed will be investigated fully funding. and a determination made within a This presents an exciting opportuspecified period whether probable nity for New Mexico. cause exists to convene a formal Since June of 2018, staff from hearing.

Common Cause, New Mexico First, • Will be authorized to issue subthe League of Women Voters, NM poenas, or to request a court to issue Ethics Watch, legislators and their subpoenas, for compulsory appearstaff have been meeting to work through many of these details and to build a blueprint for enabling legislation. These meetings have been open to the public and transparent — just as the Ethics Commission itself should be.

To assure voters that public of-

ance of witnesses and production of evidence.

• Following a hearing, the commission will make and publish its determination, written findings and conclusions.

• Will be empowered to impose sanctions on violators, including censure and public reprimand, and to refer adjudicated cases to other agencies, employers or prosecutors for possible further disciplinary action.

• Will issue advisory opinions to people presenting legitimate questions about whether their own contemplated future conduct may violate any laws.

• Will have a budget sufficient to allow it to hire staff, including a director and legal counsel, to assist it in carrying out these functions.

• No more than three members of the seven-member commission may be from the same political party.

• Formal hearings will be conducted in public, and all rulings of the commission will be published.

Common Cause will also be working to update and reform our

The “devil is in the details,” the old adage goes, and nowhere is this more evident than in drafting legislation.

campaign finance disclosure laws to make it easier for New Mexico’s voters to know who is paying to influence their votes. The campaign finance disclosure bill will bring the current law into compliance with recent court rulings and in-line with modern campaign practices.

We will also be working on legislation to allow for automatic voter registration using a secure database to identify and register all eligible citizens when they renew their driver’s license or change their address.

We look forward to working with all elected officials on these, and other good government reforms which, combined, will give all New Mexicans an increased opportunity to both participate and restore their trust in our democracy.

Heather Ferguson is executive director of Common Cause New Mexico, a nonpartisan grassroots organization dedicated to upholding the core values of American democracy. It works to create open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest; promote equal rights, opportunity, and representation for all; and to empower all people to make their voices heard as equals in the political process. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Legislature faces both peril, opportunity in 2019

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ith New Mexprograms (or tax cuts) in ico’s politics place based on oil revetrending hardnues. left, what is a fiscally conOn that note the Netflix servative think tank that deal is no reason to elimfocuses on New Mexico’s inate the $50 million film still-shaky economic situsubsidy cap. Unlike most ation to do? Quite simply, Paul J. Gessing economic development there will be more to do programs the film subthan ever. sidy is NOT a tax credit.

For starters, New Mexico’s $1.1 It is taxpayers’ money that reimbillion oil-generated surplus brings burses film companies 25 percent both opportunity and peril. The of what it costs to film a movie and Rio Grande Foundation has long 30 percent for television shows. called for reform of our state’s The Netflix deal CAN be a big broken and politically manipulated win for our state if the cap regross receipts tax. The surplus is an mains in place and payouts reopportunity for legislators to remain strictly controlled. The New form a broken system in ways that Mexico Film Office’s own 2014 make New Mexico’s tax structure report showed that film subsidies economically competitive in ways returned just 43 percent of what that encourage businesses to stay was spent to state and local coffers. in New Mexico. Of course, we’d While the Rio Grande Foundation love to see New Mexico househas always opposed film subsidies, holds given tax relief as well, but if Netflix makes New Mexico its given the political winds in Santa film hub without digging further Fe, revenue-neutral reform is likely into taxpayers pockets, the industhe best we can hope for. try could wind up being a winner While the massive growth of oil for the state. production in the Permian Basin Eliminating the subsidy cap has generated optimism about could cost taxpayers hundreds of New Mexico’s future we all have millions of dollars annually and a stake in spending that money would make budgeting in the wisely. It is worth noting here that Legislature a real challenge due to volatile annual expenditures. oil markets are fickle. They rise To reform government and create and fall quickly. It is unwise to put jobs the Legislature should use for“permanent” new government

mer Gov. Susana Martinez’s occupational licensure executive order as a guide for reducing unnecessary burdens on workers and consumers.

This is another bipartisan reform idea as the Obama Administration urged (and offered a road map) for states to enact reforms to make it easier for workers to get work without unnecessary and expensive government permission slips.

All provisions of the order should be considered for legislative approval, thus giving them a permanence that they currently lack, but the “consumer choice” concept is the most important. This innovative idea would allow a person to practice without a state license as long as his or her employer informed prospective customers of the lack of a license.

Finally, the issue of New Mexico’s utilities and how they are regulated and managed will be critical in 2019. PNM is looking to get out of the San Juan Generating Station.

This despite the fact that a whopping $500 million in scrubbing technology was just invested in an effort to clean the plant’s emissions. Unfortunately, if San Juan Generating Station is mothballed it will come at the cost of the utility’s customers throughout New Mexico in the form of significant increases in utility rates.

If Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and the Legislature follow through on their pledge to raise the renewable mandate on PNM and other utilities to 50 percent by 2030, PNM will use that to justify the rate payers’ bailing them out for their “stranded costs.” This could cost anywhere from $150 million to $800 million (PNM is being cagey with the actual “stranded cost” number). Of course this doesn’t even include the job and tax revenue losses felt on the Navajo Reservation and other various school districts and taxing authorities in the Four Corners. The San Juan College president estimates it will lose $2 million from the closing alone.

The “blue wave” of 2018 will have major impacts in New Mexico politics. With great power comes great responsibility.

Paul Gessing is the president of New Mexico’s Rio Grande Foundation. The Rio Grande Foundation is an independent, non-partisan, tax-exempt research and educational organization dedicated to promoting prosperity for New Mexico based on principles of limited government, economic freedom and individual responsibility. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

To improve our schools, spend more in the classroom

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administrative overhead in our ne of this session’s to the National Center top priorities will schools is outrageous.” on Education Statistics. be increasing Think New Mexico is advocating Another 13 percent goes for legislation that would limit the to student support and New Mexico’s education instructional support. The growth of administrative spending funding in the wake of to no faster than the CPI (which inremaining 30 percent of the recent Yazzie court creased by an average of 1.7 percent the education budget – decision that found that Fred Nathan nearly one out of every a year over the past decade). ClassNew Mexico is failing to three dollars appropriated room spending would not be limspend enough money on for education – is spent ited. So in good budget years like programs that improve on administrative costs.

2019, when additional resources are outcomes for at-risk students.

Even more concerning is that available for our schools, taxpayers Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, as administrative spending has been can be assured that the vast majorwell as many new and returning growing at a faster rate than classity of that funding will be directed legislators, have been strong adto the classroom where the learning room spending in most districts. vocates for increasing spending in takes place, rather than getting lost Between 2006-2007 and 2016the classroom, especially on proven in layers of administration.

2017, more than two-thirds of programs like high-quality early We define “classroom spending” school districts across New Mexico childhood education. as a broad category that includes (61 of 89) saw their administrative Unfortunately, in recent years, too all the elements of education that spending grow faster than their much of New Mexico’s education the research shows make an impact classroom spending, according to budget has been spent on things on student learning. Our definidata obtained from the New Mexico that don’t make a difference for Legislative Finance Committee.

As tion includes not only instruction students. (teachers), instructional support Between 1993 and 2015 (the most Governor Lujan Grisham told the Albuquerque Journal last July, “The (e.g., librarians), and student suprecent year for which national data is available), New Mexico rose from 44th in the nation to 35th in the nation for total annual spending per Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, as well as many student, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. new and returning legislators, have been strong Yet our graduation rates and math advocates for increasing spending in the classroom. and reading scores continue to lag behind states that spend less per Unfortunately, in recent years, too much of New student.

Mexico’s education budget has been spent on things New Mexico only spends an average of 57 percent of its education that don’t make a difference for students. dollars on instruction, according

port (e.g., counselors, nurses), but also principals, since the research suggests that principals can have a powerful positive impact on student achievement.

As the Yazzie ruling put it: “The evidence demonstrated that money spent on classroom instruction programs such as quality pre-K, K-3 Plus, extended school year, and quality teachers can all improve the performance of at-risk students and overcome the gap caused by their backgrounds.”

The Yazzie decision made it clear that New Mexico not only needs more money in its education budget: we also need to spend it better.

We encourage parents and families across New Mexico to urge their legislators and Governor Lujan Grisham to respond to the landmark Yazzie decision by both increasing public school funding and also limiting the growth of administrative spending to make sure that those additional dollars actually reach our students in the classroom.

Fred Nathan is executive director of Think New Mexico, an independent, nonpartisan, results-oriented think tank serving New Mexicans. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Conditions for New Mexico’s children are ripe for change

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he challenge is sion in early childhood. National these systems must clearer than ever: grow through increased research has found such practices A judge has ruled are widespread and disproportionfunding and sustained that New Mexico – once attention to quality. ately affect boys of color. Locally, again ranked last for Even as broad consen- our researchers surveyed early child well-being – fails childhood educators, who reported sus has grown around Elizabeth to provide its children that about 25 percent of preschoolthe importance of Yakes Jimenez with a sufficient eduearly learning, pay and ers exhibit persistently challenging cation, and must do working conditions for behavior, and about 7 children per and Hailey better. Fortunately, after early childhood educa1,000 had been expelled. Educators Heinz years of austerity, lawwant and need more consultation tors have not kept pace makers expect to have and training on behavior managewith this consensus. more than a billion new Although New Mexment and special needs, and robust dollars to allocate this year, along funding for supports in this area is ico lacks reliable data on its early with a new governor who brings a central to expanding an inclusive childhood workforce, the inforfresh mandate and agenda. A policy mation we do have suggests many early childhood system. window is opening, and substantial educators are themselves in poverty Preparing young children for kinchange is possible.

– despite being the front line work- dergarten is a crucial first step, but During this special moment, it is just that. When children enter ers in one of New Mexico’s central lawmakers should prioritize early strategies for raising up its children. the K-12 system, they must be met childhood. The science is clear – the This contributes to high turnover, with culturally and linguistically apfirst years of life set the brain’s foun- which is disruptive to children in propriate education, well-supported dation for future success in procare. Funding for wage supplements teachers, and schools with sufficient found ways, and reliable access to and scholarships that support these resources to support vulnerable care and education supports family educators should be priorities, as children. These are among the economic and educational attainwell as efforts to collect reliable suggested remedies arising from the ment. New Mexico has numerous workforce data. We at the UNM recent court decision, and should programs to serve young children, Cradle to Career Policy Institute are be priorities for this Legislature. including home visiting for famin the early stages of such an effort.

Across systems, data are essential ilies with new babies, child care A well-supported workforce also to learn what is most effective, and assistance for low-income families, helps limit suspension and expulto make adjustments. New Mexico federal Head Start services, pre-k for 3- and 4-year-olds, K-3 Plus programs that lengthen the school year, and services for children with A policy window is opening, disabilities or developmental deand substantial change is possible. lays. To best serve all families who would benefit from them, though,

has built the foundations of an early childhood integrated data system, but to be ultimately useful it will need policy attention and resources.

And although New Mexico collects copious data on K-12 education, the state has been bitterly divided on the usefulness and appropriateness of standardized testing data as a measure of learning. This Legislature should engage deeply with questions of how learning can most effectively be measured, especially for children experiencing trauma and instability. CCPI is working with some of New Mexico’s charter schools that serve primarily highrisk adolescents to evaluate alternative ways to assess learning.

Substantial change is possible, and it should start with early childhood, culturally and linguistically appropriate practices, and thoughtful assessment that equips educators with actionable data.

Elizabeth Yakes Jimenez is interim director of the University of New Mexico Cradle to Career Policy Institute. Hailey Heinz is a research scientist there. The Institute produces research, evaluation, and analysis that supports thoughtful and informed policymaking for children and families. The views in this column are the authors’ alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

Oil, gas fueling a renaissance in business, communities

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Oil and gas operators are driving production. Building on new era is on the production to record highs, but, it the $13 billion invested horizon for New is also a fact that oil and gas proin New Mexico last year, Mexico. The future investments turned into for the oil-and-gas indusducers are the largest single force in results as production driving transformations in how we try in the state has never soared in New Mexico. In reduce air emissions, manage land, been brighter. Of course, fact, record production and conserve water. this is not only true for has pushed New Mexico Protecting the environment is the New Mexico’s political Ryan Flynn to become the third-largresponsibility of anyone who seeks transition, it’s true for the to operate in New Mexico. Through energy renaissance taking est producer of oil in innovation and new technology, the place across America and right here America. oil and gas industry in New Mexico in the Land of Enchantment.

Oil isn’t New Mexico’s only nathas reduced methane emissions Earlier this year, the Energy ural resource, as New Mexico has by an incredible 47 percent in the Information Agency reported that also been blessed with abundant San Juan Basin and 6 percent in the the United States became the largest natural gas reserves, making New Permian Basin, from 2011-2016. producer of crude oil in the world.

Mexico the ninth-largest producer This spectacular accomplishment of natural gas in America.

Working together, producers are reflects the idea that we should have A strong oil and gas industry also collaborating to learn from each greater control of our energy future, translates into strong communities. other and testing innovative techmaking our country more secure, Restaurants are packed, schools are nology to achieve further reductions and allowing communities and reporting record enrollment, and in methane emissions. As a coneconomies to flourish. hotels are booked solid for a month. sumer of water in an arid state, oil As Americans, we can all admire And keeping communities strong and gas producers are finding new our country’s energy leadership, but means making smart policy both ways to manage water resources, as the state making it possible, we here in Santa Fe and in Washington, testing and implementing state of should be proud. The story of this D.C., because jobs and economic the art water recycling and cleaning American energy renaissance starts growth shouldn’t end at New Mexi- systems to optimize available water. right here in New Mexico. co’s borders.

Oil and gas producers also recLast year, oil and gas producers Of course, unprecedented isn’t ognize that maintaining lands for invested more than $13 billion into possible without responsibility. multiple use purposes and prothe state. This capital, combined with technological innovation and resourceful and efficient producers As Americans, we can all admire our has given way to an unprecedented period for this industry in New country’s energy leadership, but as the state Mexico – and it has truly been a year without precedent. making it possible, we should be proud.

Unprecedented means record oil

tecting areas of critical cultural or environmental significance is of the utmost importance. That’s why producers carefully work to reduce their environmental footprint and to mitigate impacts to New Mexico’s treasured lands.

That’s responsible production and development that has given way to unprecedented success that in turn gives way to unprecedented opportunities.

Our schools depend on a strong oil and gas industry to hire teachers, purchase new textbooks, and keep classrooms warm in the winter.

We can leverage the incredible opportunity, and surplus, oil and gas gives New Mexico to double down on solutions and investments for our next generation. New Mexico’s potential is vast. And there is no limit to what this amazing industry can continue to accomplish.

Let’s keep it going.

Ryan Flynn is executive director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, a coalition of oil and natural gas companies, individuals, and stakeholders dedicated to promoting the safe and environmentally responsible development of oil and natural gas resources in New Mexico. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

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Commentary

Lujan Grisham will return everyday voices to center of government

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ith Michelle lies. We — like Governor new industries and opportunities Diversifying our economy makes a Lujan Grisham Lujan Grisham — supin New Mexico — and they know stronger economy for all of us. at the helm, port the policies that New that clean energy is a valuable part We are looking forward to New Mexicans can be Mexicans want, such as of our economy and path to prospartnering with Governor Lujan assured that their voice perity for our state. a significant increase in Grisham and the new pro-conserwill be heard, creating a vation majority in the Legislature New Mexicans know that we clean energy like wind metamorphosis of how to return everyday New Mexican should be leading the nation in and solar, a statewide our state operates and Demis Foster methane capture rule and clean energy, but right now we’re voices to the center of our state who our government government. statewide water planning. just losing out. CVNM, our allies serves.

With clean energy costs in the environmental community We at Conservation Voters New competitive with fossil fuels right Demis Foster is the executive and New Mexicans will be advoMexico have been working hard to now, the barriers to a clean energy cating to increase our Renewable director of Conservation Voters ensure the incoming administraPortfolio Standard to 80 percent by New Mexico, a statewide nonparfuture are no longer technical or tion reflects New Mexicans’ shared 2040, which will encourage exactly tisan nonprofit that connects New economic; they’re political. When conservation values since we gave Mexicans to their political power to what New Mexicans want: new New Mexicans elected Michelle Gov. Susana Martinez an “F” in thriving industries, industries that protect our air, land and water for a Lujan Grisham their choice was our Conservation Scorecard four healthy Land of Enchantment. Visit will create good paying jobs clear.

It’s time for our elected years ago. She made it clear on her www.CVNM.org for more informaThis proposal will boost our leaders to stand up for you and me first day that she stood with her tion. The views in this column are economy and protect the air our and create the change we need to well-connected corporate donors, the author’s alone and do not reflect children breathe and the water authentically diversify our econonot with everyday New Mexicans. my. the view or opinions of New Mexico they drink. It will also keep elecWhen a tone is set like that at the Voters have a strong desire for tricity costs more stable over time.

In Depth. top, our people suffer the most.

Our vision is for New Mexicans to thrive in equitable, resilient communities where our conservation and cultural values guide We at CVNM have been working hard to ensure the incoming our decision-makers and public policies. The 2018 elections draadministration reflects New Mexicans’ shared conservation values since matically reshaped New Mexico’s we gave Gov. Susana Martinez an “F” in our Conservation Scorecard four political landscape, making the path to this vision a reality. years ago. CVNM supported Rep. Lujan Grisham early because of her CVNM supported Rep. Lujan Grisham early because of her commitments to diversifying New Mexico’s economy by investing strongly commitments to diversifying in clean energy and protecting the health of our families.

New Mexico’s economy by investing strongly in clean energy and protecting the health of our fami-

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Commentary

With surplus, now is the time for New Mexico to go big

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ew Mexico has bold, dynamic change? the farthest into the margins. There existed under If there was ever a time is no reason for a state the size of a cloud of false for New Mexico to go big, New Mexico, with an $17.3 bilausterity for the past eight lion dollar Land Grant Permanent this is it. Aside from the Fund, to have families living in such unexpected $1.1 billion years. While the Martinez dollar surplus, thanks to a severe poverty that New Mexico administration, as well discovery of an abundance continuously ranks last for child as some members of the

By Andrea J. of oil in the Permian wellbeing. There is no reason to Senate, preached aushave court-mandated equity for all Basin, the decision of the terity they really meant Serrano students and there is no reason, in Martinez-Yazzie lawit for poor and working suit will force lawmakers to tackle 2018, that working people should families. Wealthy developers and inequities in our education system. be trying to exist on an hourly wage out-of-state corporations were not Winning the lawsuit affirmed an of $7.50. only given the perks of tax cuts uncomfortable truth — a peoNew Mexico has the ability, and deregulation, they have used ple-of-color majority state severely knowledge and revenue to do bettheir power and influence to kill ter. The old argument of “saving for underserves children of color.

In ormeasures like raising the minimum der to be in compliance, lawmakers a rainy day” and the myth of scarwage and fully funding early educity are no longer viable excuses for must not only fund education but cation. For eight years, the calls for keeping our people poor, hungry address inequities rooted in racism everyone to pay their fair share and and sick. If New Mexico is going to and classism. investing in families, workers and survive and thrive, we need lawIn order to truly confront that education have fallen on deaf ears makers to make bold moves and reality would mean confronting with little change. make deep investments in educathe history that our state is built The difference now, however, is tion (including early education), on colonization and continues to that New Mexicans signaled in a big renewable energy, infrastructure foster those deep inequities by way that they are ready for change. and jobs. We need lawmakers who ignoring the needs of those pushed Contrary to some pundits’ predictions of a razor-thin margin of victory, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham won by 15 points, and the House The old argument of “saving for a rainy day” and the expanded its Democratic majority, with some surprising upsets and myth of scarcity are no longer viable excuses for keeping longtime, powerful representatives our people poor, hungry and sick. If New Mexico is suddenly out of their seats. With one of the highest turnouts in a going to survive and thrive, we need lawmakers to make midterm election in the state’s hisbold moves and make deep investments in education, tory, voters made their intent clear.

The next question must be asked: renewable energy, infrastructure and jobs. will lawmakers heed the call for

are working on behalf of everyday, hardworking New Mexicans instead of their large donors and corporations. We need tax reform that will ensure that all people pay their fair share, and we must make voting as easy and available to as many eligible voters as possible — particularly through measures like automatic voter registration.

To be sure, the state should not rely on the oil boom for permanent revenue, but investing it in infrastructure, education and jobs will give New Mexico the foundation to prosper for generations to come.

Voters are savvy and they know when they’ve been duped. Promises on the campaign trail and good will gestures can only carry one so far; in order to earn the trust of New Mexicans and pull our state out of last place, lawmakers must first be willing to listen to their communities and carry out the will of the very people they serve. Now is the time for lawmakers to go big, or, as many incumbents found out, voters will ensure they stay home.

Andrea J. Serrano is executive director of OLÉ. She is a native of Albuquerque and has been involved in local activism and politics since 1994. The views in this column are the author’s alone and do not reflect the view or opinions of New Mexico In Depth.

NMID will be covering the 2019 legislative ses sion Find our complete coverage online at

New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

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Commentary

It’s time to deliver for New Mexico’s working families

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lections have conbudgeting that has characterized amount necessary to increase the to vote, placing our state sequences — or at our state finances. currently limited access to home in the bottom five of all least they should.

A new Democratic governor visitation, childcare assistance and states. Despite historic The resounding victory and the eight-seat general election pre-K programs currently availturnout in the 2018 midpick-ups for Democrats in the state of Democrats in the 2018 term election, in the 2016 able to only a fraction of the state’s children. Senate Finance Commit- House should translate into more election with an expandpresidential election just support for increasing the minitee Chairman John Arthur Smith half of the eligible voters ed majority in the state Eric Griego cast a ballot, the fourth mum wage, committing to early has blocked the increase since first House, and Democrats introduced, but one senator should childhood funding, passing autolowest level of participaholding every statewide matic voter registration and other not be allowed to determine the tion in the nation. Nearly office should result in outcome of this important proposal working families’ priorities. While half a million state residents who passage of a real working families’ are eligible to vote aren’t registered. for our state’s children. This should the conservative coalition in the agenda. It is time for state leaders be a top priority for the state’s lead- Democratic state Senate majority With AVR, those numbers would to deliver a real working families’ might try to moderate these proers in the 2019 session. rise exponentially and more of us agenda in the 2019 legislative sesposals, voters deserve and expect • Progressive tax reform: With would participate in deciding our sion that should include: that several key wins for working priorities and setting the agenda for a budget surplus for the first time • Raising the minimum wage: in several years, leaders in the state families will make it to the new our state.

The top priority for policymakers governor’s desk for her signature.

• Fully funding early childhood Legislature can set a better course this session must be to raise the With full control of state governfor how the state will use funds by education: With one of the largminimum wage from the current ment, it is time for Democrats to creating diversified and adequate poverty wage of $7.50 per hour to a est permanent funds in the world, deliver on their promises to New funding for working family priorNew Mexico should not be at the a living wage of $15 per hour. RaisMexico’s working families. ities.

It also offers an opportunity bottom of most childhood wellbeing New Mexico’s minimum wage to pass progressive tax reform in ing indicators. For several years gradually over the next few years Eric Griego is executive director the form of rolling back corporate a constitutional amendment to into $15 would lift pay for 370,000 of New Mexico Working Families tax cuts and asking the wealthiest crease distribution of the fund by 1 workers, strengthening families, Party, a growing progressive political New Mexicans to pay a little more communities, and our state’s econ- percent to generate the funds nectaxes so that our state can invest in organization that fights for an econessary to increase access to quality omy. Unfortunately, an increase our greatest resource — our people. omy that works for all of us, and early childhood programs for the to $15 per hour — even gradually a democracy in which every voice Rather than perpetuating our destate’s nearly 140,000 children — seems politically difficult even matters. The views in this column pendence on oil and gas revenues, ages 0-5 has failed to pass. A one with the Democratic majority in state leaders have a chance to diver- are the author’s alone and do not percent increase in the permanent both houses of the Legislature and sify our revenue streams so that we reflect the view or opinions of New fund distribution would generate a Democratic governor. The curMexico In Depth. can minimize the boom and bust about $150 to $200 million of the rent Democratic proposal to raise it to $12 over two years is a positive start but doesn’t begin to approach a living wage that New Mexico A new Democratic governor and the eight-seat general election pick-ups for families need to support themDemocrats in the state House should translate into more support for increasing selves.

• Automatic voter registration the minimum wage, committing to early childhood funding, passing automatic (AVR): Measures to pass automatic voter registration and other working families’ priorities. While the conservative voter registration had previously failed in the Legislature due coalition in the Democratic state Senate majority might try to moderate these to opposition from conservative proposals, voters deserve and expect that several key wins for working families Democrats but the path to passage is now clearer. According to the will make it to the new governor’s desk for her signature.

U.S. Census, just under 60 percent of New Mexicans are registered

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

Thank You…

Thank you to our generous supporters in 2018: Aaron Ezekiel Adair Waldenberg Aletta Wilson Allison Kennedy Owen Andrea Walters Anthony Albidrez Barbara Larson Bennett Baur Brian Egolf Brian Jones Brian Sanderoff Carlton Allen Carolyn Lee Caterina Platt Charles Wellborn Charlotte Roybal Cheryl Landgren Chris Jones Christine Everett Christine Mink Claudia Isaac Damien Willis Daniel Tisdel Darrell Pehr Dave Maass David Marash DeAngelo Nieves Denise Roth Barber Diana Alba-Soular Don Alexander Drew Setter Edward Chavez Elene Gusch Elise Liza Wheeler Elizabeth Dickson Emma Ulloa Eric Renz-Whitmore Eugene Grant Eve Byron

Francisca Palochak Gail Owens Grace Telles Gregory Williams Griffin Palmer Harold Hollis Heath Haussamen Ilsa Garduno Jack Ferrell Jaclyn Allen James Brooks James Jimenez James Mathews James Noel James Williams Jane Asche Janice Langdale Jarratt Applewhite Jason Gibbs Jason Marks Javier Barron Joanne Nichols Jocelyn Wu Joe Monahan Joel Levin John Daniel John Lawrence John Badal Josie Schmidt Joy Willis Kara Carlisle Karen Whitlock Kate Noble Katherine Childress Katherine Gustafson Kellie Lambert Kitty Miller Klaus Mueller Kristin Hogge

Kyla Thompson Laurie Weahkee Lawrence O'Hanlon Lee Reynis Leslie Griffy Leslye Sneider Linda Siegle Linda Zipp Lisa Peña Lorena Ancira Lucas Peerman Maggie Adams Margaret Teller Margaret Waage Marjorie Childress Martha Burk Marv Freedman Mary Ellen Capek Mary Wheeler Matt Carroll Meredith Machen Michael Browde Michael Marcotte Michaelangelo Allocca Moss Templeton Nancy Harbert Nancy Prosser Nelwyn Nations Neri Holguin Nikki Hooser Nina Hassele Norm Gaume Norton Kalishman Ona Porter Pamela Blackwell Patricia Romero Patrick Woolsey Paul Gessing Peter Ossorio

Pilar Berguido Rachel Courtney Randi McGinn Ray Rivera Reina DeMartino Richard Romero Rita Heisey Ronald Duncan Russell Mink Ruth Ann Childress Ruth Hoffman Sandra Fish Sarah Singleton Selestte Sanchez Shannon Freedle Sheldon Carpenter Sheree Livney Silvio Dell'Angela Sonya Berg Sonya Gravlee Stephanie Porter Stephen Chewning Steve Jordan Stuart Bluestone Sue Griffith Sue Rowland Susan Watson Susana Sweeters Tammy Fiebelkorn Tara Bloyd Teri Klassen Tom Johnson Veronica Ulloa Vicki Chavez Vicki Wilson Willa Pilar William Varuola Xchelzin Peña

Many thanks to:

Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation McCune Charitable Foundation Thornburg Foundation W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Special thanks to:

The Department of Communication and Journalism and the New Mexico News Port at the University of New Mexico The Department of Journalism and Media Studies at New Mexico State University

Thank you to our sponsors:

Common Cause New Mexico Conservation Voters New Mexico Griffin & Associates Institute for Analytic Journalism International Association of Fire Fighters Isleta Resort and Casino KOB 4 Laguna Development Corporation National Education Association New Mexico NM Black History Organizing Committee New Mexico Business Coalition New Mexico Federation of Labor New Mexico Transit Authority New Mexico United Open Access New Mexico Research & Polling, Inc. Rio Grande Foundation Rio Grande Sun Rio Grande Theater Santa Fe Film Office Santa Fe New Mexican Son Broadcasting Strategies 360 Working Families Party New Mexico

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New Mexico In Depth • 2019 Legislative special edition

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