Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Budget bill sent back

The Associated Press

SANTA FE — A $6 billion budget proposal was sent back to a House committee Wednesday for possible revisions to try to break a stalemate over education spending.

The budget failed last week on a tie vote, with one Democrat joining Republicans in opposing the measure because they contended it shortchanged educational initiatives of GOP Gov. Susana Martinez.

Democratic and Republican members huddled in separate closed-door meetings Wednesday to review a possible compromise that would have shifted about $17 million within the budget package to finance educational initiatives under the control of the Public Education Department. Proposed spending throughout the budget would have been reduced slightly to free up the money.

House Speaker W. Ken Martinez, D-Grants, said no spending deal has been reached.

“There have been a lot of good faith efforts to work that out. I don’t think we’re quite there yet,” Martinez told House members.

He said it would be best to have the difficult policy differences hammered out by the budget committee rather than during debate on the House floor.

On a party-line 34-33 vote, the House sent the budget back to the Appropriations and Finance Committee, which developed the initial spending plan.

Enrique Knell, a spokesman for the governor, said it “appears that extreme elements of the House Democratic caucus have rejected efforts to achieve a bipartisan compromise on the budget.”

Democrats hold a narrow 37-33 majority but two Democrats are absent this session because of health problems.

Among the difficult issues in budget talks is whether to provide money for a merit pay proposal by Martinez to provide stipends to high-performing teachers and principals. Many Democrats and educational unions object to merit pay that’s based on student achievement on standardized tests.

The committee’s initial budget provided money for school districts to provide an average 3 percent across-the-board pay raise for teachers and other educational workers, but no money specifically for the governor’s performance pay plan.

“We have negotiated and compromised in good faith on the state budget from day one with leaders from both parties and will continue to do so,” said Knell.

 
 
Rendered 02/23/2024 04:53