SENATE MEMORIAL 52

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2008

INTRODUCED BY

Bernadette M. Sanchez

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE AND THE OFFICE OF EDUCATION ACCOUNTABILITY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION TO CONDUCT AN EVALUATION OF THE ALBUQUERQUE PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT.

     WHEREAS, with approximately eighty-eight thousand students, the Albuquerque public school district is the largest school district in the state and one of the largest school districts in the country; and

     WHEREAS, the student population of the Albuquerque public school district includes a majority who are Hispanic students, approximately thirty percent who are non-Hispanic Caucasian students, almost four percent who are African American students and an approximately two and one-half percent who are Asian students; and

     WHEREAS, the school district encompasses the south valley, southeast heights, far northeast heights and the west mesa areas of the Albuquerque metropolis; and

     WHEREAS, the Albuquerque public school district includes the entire range of the socioeconomic scale, with sixty-one percent of its elementary and middle school students receiving free or reduced-fee lunch; and

     WHEREAS, the state equalization guarantee includes a cost differential that provides school districts with additional funds based upon certain characteristics that describe students at risk of dropping out, including mobility, family income, English-language learner status and the percent of students who receive Title 1 funding; and

     WHEREAS, because those characteristics are accurate predictors of the number of students who are at risk of not completing high school, it is important that state funding for at-risk students be spent in the schools and classrooms that generate the funds; and

     WHEREAS, the schools in the West Mesa school cluster have many students who come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds; and

     WHEREAS, anecdotal information indicates that those schools are no longer receiving the financial aid they once received to serve their large numbers of at-risk students; and

     WHEREAS, as a result of decreases in financial aid to the West Mesa cluster schools, these schools are hampered in their ability to provide the intensive services through Title 1, direct services and other educational programs that at-risk students need if they are going to remain in school and graduate;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the legislative finance committee and the office of education accountability of the department of finance and administration be requested to conduct an evaluation of the West Mesa cluster schools of the Albuquerque public school district to determine how, for what purposes and to what schools state and federal funds are allocated; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislative finance committee and the office of education accountability also determine whether the Albuquerque public school district is putting its at-risk funding into schools identified as having the highest dropout rates and other indicators of large at-risk student populations; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the evaluation team conducting the study report its findings and recommendations to the legislative finance committee, the legislative education study committee and the public education department by November 1, 2008; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the director of the legislative finance committee, the director of the office of education accountability of the department of finance and administration and the secretary of public education.

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