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

SPONSOR Zanetti

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/10/06

HB 745

SHORT TITLE Social Studies & Civics Development

SB

ANALYST Earp

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$30.0

Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 745 appropriates $30,000 from the general fund to the Public Education Department

for the statewide social studies and civics professional development.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $30,000 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. This request is related to the operating budget for PED as provided in the

General Appropriation Act.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

This proposal was not included among the special program funding requests submitted by the

University of New Mexico to the Higher Education Department (HED) for review. Conse-

quently, this proposal has not been included in the HED fiscal year 2007 funding recommenda-

tions to the Legislature.

House Bill 745 – Page

2

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

PED reports that there is no direct impact on the PED’s Performance Measures; however, this

bill does support the implementation of the New Mexico Social Studies Content Standards,

Benchmarks, and Performance Standards.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

PED reports that this will require some staff time for the identification and initiation of an

agreement for the services required. These can be absorbed within the current resources.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

PED reports that teacher professional development is an important issue. As we continue to be

exposed to the complexities of issues facing our governments (local, state, tribal and national) it

is challenging for teachers to engage students with interesting and motivating curricular activities

to meet their level of understanding and application in real life. HB 745 not only attempts to

support the above issues regarding teacher professional development for civics and government

but also supports the findings of SJM 29 of the 2005 Legislative Session. The memorial required

the PED to report to the Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC) prior to the 2006 legis-

lative session on the alignment of social studies curricula to the New Mexico Social Studies Con-

tent Standards, Benchmarks, and Performance Standards with emphasis on those standards deal-

ing with civics and government. The memorial also requested recommendations for improve-

ment and possible initiatives to insure compliance. The report was submitted at the December

meeting of the LESC.

The information gained from the surveys indicated that schools did have aligned curricula and

that some were using extended activities to better engage students in their understanding and

knowledge of civics and government. This was, however, a teacher issue. Those teachers that

have attended trainings, workshops or conferences where programs were presented or modeled

were more likely to implement them in their own classrooms. This is reflected in the teacher re-

sponses for recommendations of the December report.

DKE/mt