NM Could Become First State With Pre-School Funding Constitutionally Guaranteed

New Mexico is weighing a bill that could make it the country's first state to protect early education funding in its constitution.

For the last three years, New Mexico Senate majority leader Michael Sanchez (D) has introduced a bill that would let the state vote on a constitutional amendment to fund preschool by an additional $100 million annually. The money would come from an annual disbursement of 1 percent of New Mexico's Land Grant Permanent Fund, the country's second largest in-state land fund with more than $10 billion. The fund is treated as a rainy day fund, and the bill has a trigger that would stop the disbursement should the fund be significantly devalued.

In previous years, the bill was only introduced in the Senate, then locked up in the Senate's finance committee. But this year, the bill also was introduced in the House, which was expected to vote on the measure as soon as Friday afternoon.

"We're trying to run it both ways, hoping that if the House passes the bill, it will influence the Senate," Sanchez said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/08/new-mexico-early-education_n_2839811.html