0001|                          SENATE MEMORIAL 7
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0002|     43RD LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - SECOND SESSION, 1998
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0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
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0004|                             CYNTHIA NAVA
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0005|     
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0006|                                   
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0007|     
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0008|     
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0009|     
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0010|                              A MEMORIAL
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0011|     REQUESTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC EDUCATION AND
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0012|     COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION TO INTEGRATE SERVICE LEARNING
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0013|     INTO THE ENTIRE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM SO THAT ALL NEW MEXICAN
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0014|     KINDERGARTEN THROUGH COLLEGE STUDENTS SHALL HAVE THE
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0015|     OPPORTUNITY TO ENGAGE IN SUCH ACTIVITIES.
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0016|     
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0017|          WHEREAS, throughout the United States and New Mexico
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0018|     there is a strong interest in community service being an
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0019|     integral component of academic pedagogy at all educational
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0020|     levels and across all academic disciplines; and
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0021|          WHEREAS, it is currently estimated that more than ten
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0022|     million students, twenty thousand in New Mexico, are
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0023|     participating in a variety of service learning activities and
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0024|     programs through their regular and elective classes; and
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0025|          WHEREAS, many of New Mexico's service learning projects
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0001|     have been identified and recognized as national models; and
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0002|          WHEREAS, service learning experiences, in applying
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0003|     classroom knowledge to real life situations, improve academic
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0004|     learning and contribute to the development of self-esteem,
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0005|     character, responsibility and citizenship, while exposing
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0006|     young people to potential careers; and
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0007|          WHEREAS, service learning cultivates young people as
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0008|     resources who make positive contributions to their
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0009|     communities; and
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0010|          WHEREAS, some states have passed legislation requiring
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0011|     that students be afforded opportunities to participate in
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0012|     service learning activities; and
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0013|          WHEREAS, New Mexico currently receives over one million
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0014|     two hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) from the federal
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0015|     government to facilitate community service activities for
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0016|     people of all ages, and an alliance of kindergarten through
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0017|     grade twelve service learning providers includes over eight
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0018|     hundred educators; and
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0019|          WHEREAS, nine federally funded regional service learning
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0020|     centers, located in Taos, Farmington, Las Vegas, Santa Fe,
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0021|     Albuquerque, Gallup, Portales, Silver City and Las Cruces,
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0022|     have already trained over one thousand two hundred teachers in
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0023|     service learning and are helping to spread service learning to
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0024|     all regions of New Mexico; and
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0025|          WHEREAS, in 1997, the state department of public
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0001|     education allocated ninety thousand dollars ($90,000) of New
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0002|     Mexico's federal Goals 2000 funds to support professional
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0003|     development opportunities for service learning in eleven
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0004|     school districts; and
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0005|          WHEREAS, the forty-second legislature, in 1995, allocated
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0006|     fifty-five thousand dollars ($55,000) to the state department
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0007|     of public education to help build infrastructure for service
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0008|     learning; and
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0009|          WHEREAS, the honorable governor of New Mexico endorsed
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0010|     community service as a key element of his education platform
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0011|     in his 1994 gubernational campaign;
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0012|          NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE
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0013|     NEW MEXICO that it request the state department of public
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0014|     education and the commission on higher education to integrate
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0015|     service learning into the entire educational system so that
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0016|     all New Mexican kindergarten through college students have the
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0017|     opportunity to engage in such activities; and
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0018|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a joint report be produced
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0019|     within one year that identifies the strategies for the
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0020|     integration of service learning into kindergarten through
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0021|     college curricula and provides cost estimates for ensuring
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0022|     that service learning has standards of effective practice, is
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0023|     included in New Mexico's academic performance standards, is
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0024|     promoted statewide and uses professional development to ensure
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0025|     the highest quality; and
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0001|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the state department of
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0002|     public education and the commission on higher education
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0003|     produce their report for review by the appropriate interim
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0004|     legislative committee by December 1, 1998 for development of
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0005|     legislation to be presented to the first session of the forty-
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0006|     fourth legislature; and
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0007|          BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this memorial be transmitted
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0008|     to the superintendent of public instruction, the state board
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0009|     of education and the commission on higher education.
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0010|                              
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