Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the NM Legislature. The LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports
if they are used for other purposes.
Current FIRs (in HTML & Adobe PDF formats) are a vailable on the NM Legislative Website (legis.state.nm.us).
Adobe PDF versions include all attachments, whereas HTML versions may not. Previously issued FIRs and
attachments may be obtained from the LFC in Suite 101 of the State Capitol Building North.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Arnold-Jones
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
2/7/06
HB 829
SHORT TITLE UNM Law School Child Mentoring Programs
SB
ANALYST Lewis
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY06
FY07
100.0
Recurring
General Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Similar to SB 181, which appropriates $200,000 but is otherwise a duplicate of this bill.
Relates to HB 169/SB 35 (NMSU (Enlace Program).
Relates to HB209/SB 36 (Post-Secondary School Enlace Programs).
Relates to SB 440 (UNM College Preparatory Mentoring Program).
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Public Education Department (PED)
Higher Education Department (HED)
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 829 appropriates $100,000 from the general fund to the Board of Regents of the Uni-
versity of New Mexico to fund college preparatory mentoring programs at the University of New
Mexico School of Law for children in the eighth through twelfth grades in the Albuquerque pub-
lic school system.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The appropriation of $100,000 contained in this bill is a recurring expense to the general fund.
Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2007 shall revert
to the general fund.
pg_0002
House Bill 829 – Page
2
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
According to the Higher Education Department (HED),
this appropriation would support one of
many mentoring programs connected with the UNM School of Law. The program is part of the
ENLACE initiative to strengthen the educational pipeline and increase opportunities for Hispan-
ics to enter and complete college. The proposed mentoring program expands ENLACE to form a
partnership with Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) to benefit students in grades 8-12. These
students will be mentored by law students and undergraduate students on site at their local
schools. The mentoring program prepares students for undergraduate studies. According to Dean
Suellyn Scarnecchia, UNM School of Law, consistent mentoring is the key to success in this
program. The purpose of the funding is to provide stability and keep students and mentors en-
gaged in the program. The funding provides stipends to mentors to help them persist, and it funds
activities for the APS students.
This request was not on the list of priority projects submitted by UNM to the HED for review
and was not included in HED’s funding recommendation for FY07.
According to the Public Education Department (PED),
a report being prepared by the UNM
School of Law shows three middle schools and three high schools will be involved in the pro-
gram (Garfield Middle School and Valley High, Truman Middle School and West Mesa High
and Washington Middle School and Albuquerque High). From these schools the population
served will be approximately 270 middle school students and 360 high school students.
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
HED notes that this bill supports the Making Schools Work initiative by increasing access to
public post-secondary education and ensuring that students graduating from high school are bet-
ter prepared to succeed in higher education. It supports the HED goal of increasing higher educa-
tion program completion and graduation rate.
ML/nt