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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Komadina

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/12/2007

HB

SHORT TITLE Elementary School Teacher Reading Programs

SB 548

ANALYST Moser

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY07

FY08

$350.0

Non-Recurring

General Fund

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

NM Department of Higher Education (DHE)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 548 appropriates $250,000 from the General Fund for FY08 to the University of New

Mexico (UNM) College of Education (COE) to develop a course for teachers on how to teach

reading at the elementary school level.

The bill also appropriates $150.0 for FY08 to the Public Education Department (PED) for

professional development for elementary school teachers on how to teach reading.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of 250,000 contained in this bill is a nonrecurring expense to the general fund.

Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY08 shall revert to the

general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

HED expresses concern that it is unclear how the development of the UNM course for

elementary reading school teachers fits with New Mexico Reading First and other statewide

Senate Bill 548 – Page

2

reading initiatives. Additionally, a UNM College of Education administrator indicated to HED

that it costs $12,000 to create and teach a course. HED is unclear as to where the $250,000 figure

came from or what it is intended to cover. The UNM College of Education was not aware of this

bill nor did they have a sense of what the expectations would be for the College. The proposal of

$250,000 was not submitted by UNM to HED for review and is not included in the Department’s

funding recommendation for FY08.

DHE indicates that in the 2005 National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) reading

exam, 51% of fourth graders in the state scored at the basic level, 20% at the proficient level, and

just 4% at the advanced level. The remaining 25% scored below the basic level.

Reading and Literacy in New Mexico was developed by the State Department of Education in

response to House Joint Memorial 51 from the 44th Legislature, State of New Mexico, First

Session, 1999. The memorial calls for an examination of programs that focus on reading

techniques to assist in the teaching of students who have difficulty reading. One of the study’s

main conclusions was that teachers must be supported with proper pre-service and in-service

training that includes:

•

presentation of theory or description of skill or strategy;

•

modeling or demonstration of effective instructional practices;

•

practice in simulated and real classroom settings;

•

structured and open-ended feedback; and

•

expert (master teacher working with classroom teacher) and peer (colleagues working

together) coaching for application.

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) created the national Reading First program. New Mexico

Reading First is the PED initiative to implement NCLB. The purpose of both programs is to

ensure that all children learn to read well by the end of third grade through research-based

reading programs. New Mexico Reading First targets students most in need of reading

improvement and builds upon the state’s successful statewide reading initiative. The four major

components of New Mexico Reading First are

•

a comprehensive approach to teaching reading including valid and reliable assessments;

•

professional development;

•

leadership and management; and

•

evaluation.

The PED states that:

•

This bill supports New Mexico’s focus on literacy

•

The No Child Left Behind Act has in place the Reading First Program, which addresses

five areas of reading achievement. They are: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency,

vocabulary and text comprehension. This bill advocates an approach to reading

instruction that may conflict with Reading First. New Mexico currently participates in

the Reading First initiative, which is in 105 schools, grades K-3 statewide.

PED also points out that SB 548 does not address the performance implications of the

professional development for the teachers, including how many will be trained and what the

goals of the professional development will be.

Senate Bill 548 – Page

3

CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP

SB548 is related to HB310 in that the latter appropriates funds for reading materials for PED to

distribute to school districts.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

HED indicates that an administrator of New Mexico Reading First stated that the PED

appropriation of $150,000 would be used to cover the costs of professional development for

schools that are not part of New Mexico Reading First.

GM/csd