Funding Formula

The New Mexico legislature has been working to increase and better target K-12 education funding to school districts with high-need students. Governor Bill Richardson and the legislature appointed a Funding Formula Task Force in 2005. The Task Force commissioned a comprehensive study of New Mexico’s public school funding formula, including an estimate of how much it would cost the state to provide a "sufficient" education to all students.

The American Institutes of Research released the New Mexico funding study in January, and concluded that "sufficient" state funding for education would require an increase of $335 million ($1,034 per-pupil), or 14.5 percent above the current $2.5 billion in spending. When the legislative session ended in March, the legislature was in the middle of considering legislation to boost spending and overhaul the state funding formula. This week, the Legislative Education Study Committee is meeting to discuss the impact of the proposed formula.

New Mexico included a critical step in this process that other states have too often left out: accountability.