Post by pavel on Feb 19, 2016 20:51:56 GMT -6
A leading state Senate Democrat is blasting Republican leaders in the Legislature for leaving a bill hanging that could have increased funding for the state’s K-12 public schools by about $100 million a year starting in January 2017.
Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, said that over the last two days of the session, several Republican lawmakers told him they would schedule a committee hearing for his proposed constitutional amendment to let voters decide whether to take more money from the state’s $15 billion land grant endowment for public schools. But instead of scheduling a hearing, he said, they told him they didn’t like the bill.
“All I can take from that is that they just don’t like public education in New Mexico,” Padilla said Thursday afternoon after the close of the 30-day session. “They played a game for 36 to 48 hours to say it was going to be heard. … Much to my dismay, it was not.”
Padilla said his proposal included enough money to preserve the jobs of 1,500 to 2,000 teachers in a state that almost always is listed near or at the bottom when it comes to national education rankings.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/democrat-blasts-house-gop-for-stalling-school-funding-measure/article_0d704442-5383-506f-bd0a-df370271d77e.html
Sen. Michael Padilla, D-Albuquerque, said that over the last two days of the session, several Republican lawmakers told him they would schedule a committee hearing for his proposed constitutional amendment to let voters decide whether to take more money from the state’s $15 billion land grant endowment for public schools. But instead of scheduling a hearing, he said, they told him they didn’t like the bill.
“All I can take from that is that they just don’t like public education in New Mexico,” Padilla said Thursday afternoon after the close of the 30-day session. “They played a game for 36 to 48 hours to say it was going to be heard. … Much to my dismay, it was not.”
Padilla said his proposal included enough money to preserve the jobs of 1,500 to 2,000 teachers in a state that almost always is listed near or at the bottom when it comes to national education rankings.
Read more: www.santafenewmexican.com/news/legislature/democrat-blasts-house-gop-for-stalling-school-funding-measure/article_0d704442-5383-506f-bd0a-df370271d77e.html