Legislative Finance Committee

In the five years since the first review of New Mexico’s revenue volatility found the highest levels of volatility in decades, revenues have only become more volatile, complicating revenue forecasting and challenging budget planning.

Ten years after parents sued the state for providing an insufficient public education for their children and five years after a district judge found the schools were producing “dismal” results, New Mexico has seen a significant increase in public school funding but less impressive improvement in student achievement.

See also, LegisStat: Public Schools, July 2024

The state continues to see strong performance in the Transportation, Economic Development, Tourism and Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources departments and the courts and judicial agencies, while performance continues to lag in the Children, Youth and Families Department and Health Care Authority.

The Legislature has appropriated more than three-quarters of a billion dollars over the past three years for in crime prevention approaches, but the impact has been limited.

The task force will meet June 21. The meeting in the state capitol will be webcast and public comment will be accepted virtually and in person.

Although state spending includes capital investments, special initiatives, and tax breaks, references to the “state budget” generally mean the ongoing and one-time spending authorized in the annual General Appropriation Act. The creation of the budget that will be in the next act starts now.

Teacher quality is the most important in-class factor influencing student success, but New Mexico needs to create more supports for teachers and staff classrooms more strategically, on top of paying teachers more, if it wants to improve instruction.

More than 124 thousand New Mexico public school students missed more than 10 percent of school in 2023, putting those students at risk for struggling academically and eventually dropping out.