NMCEL -

Tomorrow House Education meets at 9:00 and will hear HB122, School Cyber Security Program; Senate Education will meet at 9:30 to hear SB 195, Statewide Media Literacy Program. The House is scheduled to hear the General Appropriations Act (HAFC sub/HB2,3) sometime after they convene at 11:00 am

Senate Bill 1 passed Senate Finance Committee last night unanimously. This sets the $50,000, $60,000, and $70,000 minimums for teachers and subsequently, principals. This bill will now go to the Senate Floor. Senate Bill 172 which provides for Return to Work after 90 days unanimously passed Senate Education. The General Appropriations Act is scheduled to be heard on the floor of the House late this morning. It should then move to the Senate on Friday. The weather may change times of legislative process today. Go to nmlegis.gov for updates.

The House Appropriations and Finance Committee is expected to vote on the final Committee Substitute of HB2 tomorrow morning. It is expected that the committee will act to eliminate the mandatory ELTP and K-5+ language, recraft the funding for ELTP, incentivize pay for ELTP and K-5+, increase k-12+ opportunities, increase salaries 7% and set higher teacher minimum salaries for 3 tiered system. Also expected to raise minimum salaries for educational personnel. The specifics of these portions should be released sometime after tomorrow’s committee meeting.

House Education met today and passed HB87 Indian Education Fund Distributions,HB88 Yazzie Lawsuit Appropriations, and HB90 Appropriations for Yazzie Lawsuit; each with amendment. Senate Education met today and passed SB 101 School Group Insurance Contributions, SB132 Educational Assistant Minimum Salaries.

House Appropriations and Finance Committee acted today to remove the mandatory language for ELTP in action today. They will take final action on HB2 on Tuesday.

House Education passed HB 57 which establishes pre-pandemic ridership for each district for FY23 assuring the necessary funding for student transportation. They approved an amendment that assured that new charters were also protected. In the joint budget session of HEC and SEC staff from LFC noted that the HAFC acted yesterday to remove the mandatory language for ELTP. The staff was directed to remove certain funding for ELTP. A meeting of HAFC is still scheduled for 9:00 am tomorrow (Saturday) through broadcast. Go to nmlegis.gov for access.

House Education action today approved HB119 which will significantly increase the state match for SB9 for all districts; Senate Education approved SB1 which sets teacher minimums at $50,000, $60,000, and 70,000; SB36 which will increase and fund 2% increase in employer share starting in the 2022-23 school year to offset the unfounded liability of the ERB fund with no increase of employee match. House Appropriations reviewed and approved the PED budget. House Appropriations will review the proposed HB 2 budget including SEG and ELTP funding on Saturday morning at 9:00 am. House and Senate Education will meet Friday morning. Go to nmlegis.gov for agendas.

House Education and Senate Education meet Wednesday morning to consider several important bills to us. Please go to nmlegis.gov for agendas and Zoom connect information.

House Education Committee met this morning and approved HB 13 Teacher Residency Changes which will allow teacher residency for undergraduate seniors to do approved residencies in local school districts and be funded for that residency; approved HB 59 School Group Insurance Contributions which would raise the employer share for NMPSIA districts to 80% and fund that district share for FY23; approved HB 73 Educational Retirees Returning to Work which would add an additional provision allowing a retirement layout of 90 days allowing return to work at full salary in districts for a period of 36 months (consecutive or non-consecutive). To review calendars for House Education and Senate Education for Wednesday, go to nmlegis.gov.

House Education Committee to hear HB73 supporting the NMCEL/NMSSA Platform. STATE OF NEW MEXICO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FIFTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE SECOND SESSION, 2022 Linda Vieira, Committee Assistant, Room 313, ext. 4842, Molly Forgaard, Committee Assistant, Room 313 ext. 4852 HOUSE EDUCATION COMMITTEE - G. Andres Romero, CHAIR Monday, January 24, 2022 - 8:00 a.m. - Room 309 - Zoom Organization and Orientation for Committee HB 13 HB 59 HB 73 TEACHER RESIDENCY CHANGES SCHOOL GROUP INSURANCE CONTRIBUTIONS EDUCATIONAL RETIREES RETURNING TO WORK (SARIÑANA/GARRATT) (LARA/ROMERO GA) (GARRATT/ANDERSON) You are invited to a Zoom webinar. When: Jan 24, 2022 08:00 AM Mountain Time (US and Canada) Topic: House Education Committee Please click the link below to join the webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82380513568 Or One tap mobile : US: +16699009128,,82380513568# or +12532158782,,82380513568# Or Telephone: Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 9128 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1 646 558 8656 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 312 626 6799 Webinar ID: 823 8051 3568 International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcTckJ2dP Any amendments, substitutes, handouts, or supplemental information shall be submitted to Linda Vieira at linda.vieira@nmlegis.gov at least 24 hours before the committee hearing.

Talked to the Chair of House Education, Chair of Senate Education about committee schedules. House Education will meet on Friday for an organizational meeting and then begin hearing bills on Monday. Senate Education will begin meeting on Monday, also. Both Committees will meet on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday each week. You can access their committee calendars by going to nmlegis.gov.

The New Mexico Legislature begins at Noon on Tuesday, January 18. Join us on our live feed to stay up to date as we post our updates.

Use the NMCEL App as your best source for live updates regarding the New Mexico State Legislature as it relates to New Mexico public schools.

We want to wish all New Mexico educators best wishes for 2022!

Greetings from the Secretary’s Desk! I hope you are all staying warm as we welcome the winter season and increasingly longer days. My morning runs are chilly, but I greatly enjoy the beautiful New Mexico winter sunrises! And now to a very serious topic… New Mexico schools are facing a staffing crisis – about 1,000 classrooms in our state currently do not have a licensed educator at the helm. Further, we are experiencing shortages of bus drivers and other key support staff across our state. We are not alone; this is a nationwide challenge, as Secretary Miguel Cardona discusses in the attached letter. Read more to see what the US Department of Education is doing about it. Here at home, we are committed to promoting the Educator Fellows, Teacher Residency, and Grow your Own programs; increasing awareness around Teacher Preparation Affordability Scholarship and Loan Repayment Program; and launching new initiatives such as a comprehensive recruitment tool, micro-credentialing options, and a statewide marketing campaign to promote educator raises, regional competitiveness, and opportunities in New Mexico. Stay tuned as we will be sharing more information and a call to action to support getting the word out in the coming months. Brand News With the new year and new seasons, we often crave the chance to reset and refresh. In that vein, I want to introduce a change coming our way. Our communications team has been working on rebranding our agency, and I'd like your feedback. This work involves more than just a new logo; it’s about providing a visual identity that conveys all the amazing and innovative work you and your teams do to support our students, families, and educators and to elevate New Mexico education. Change can be challenging, but this work reflects the qualities that we want to convey and project to our education communities and across the state—and beyond. Please take a few minutes to take a look at the new logos, select your favorite, and tell us why you like it (or your suggestions for improvements). Updates from HR A huge shout-out to our human resources team and staff across the agency who have made the hiring of 33 new PED staff possible over the last several weeks. Please join us in welcoming Paola Peacock-Villada, our new Director of Strategy and Talent Development, and all our new hires to team PED. And a huge thanks to those who supported PED at the rapid hire event this week! Please keep sharing our opportunities for employment on your LinkedIn or other social media channels. We’re so close to filling the vacancy gap! Wellness Whether it’s a relaxing walk, an afternoon cup of tea, cozying up with a good book by the fire or all of the above, I encourage you to take a few extra moments to care for yourself, your family, and even your community this season. You have earned a few days off and that time can be used to focus on what makes you feel well and warm. Your choice! Speaking of wellness, please keep an eye out for more information coming soon about a “Max the Vax” campaign. Getting vaccinated/boosted, wearing our masks, and regularly washing our hands are still the best defense against COVID and its variants – please help us take care of one another and provide the opportunity for children to attend school with their freinds. Wishing you all a wondrous holiday season, Kurt Kurt Steinhaus, Ed.D. | Secretary of Education (Designate) New Mexico Public Education Department 300 Don Gaspar Ave. | Santa Fe, NM 87501

Happy Holidays from NMCEL and NMSSA! Our office will be closed December 20th to January 3rd. We'll see you in the New Year!

Due to the Special Session continuing , we will not be presenting our legislative recommendations to the LESC tomorrow. The Ed Partners Presentation will be January 6 instead.

Welcome to the NMCEL App! We are excited to have launched this app as a significant tool for our communications and connections.

Watch the December 7, 2021 Legislative Primer Recording: https://bit.ly/dec7leg

NMCEL 2022 Scholarship Application Now Open!! Deadline February 21, 2022. The New Mexico Coalition of Educational Leaders will award two $3,000 scholarships to New Mexico high school seniors who will be entering a college or university. Click here for criteria and guidelines: https://5il.co/124sv