SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The New Mexico legislature is advancing a constitutional amendment to increase funding programs for children for decades to come.
The state Senate is considering an additional 1.25% withdrawal from an educational endowment that has nearly doubled in the last decade to $20 billion. The Finance Committee is voting along party lines to advance the bill. Republicans say it will deplete the fund too quickly.Democrats united behind it after including K-12 funding.
The additional withdrawals would amount to hundreds of millions of dollars over the next five years. Most of the increase would support programs for children 5 and under.