Panel blocks early childhood education initiative
As early education fight rages in Roundhouse, more schools face closure
Martha Shweder, director of the Playschool for the Arts, leads a music lesson Tuesday with preschool students. The school serves 58 children ages 1 to 5. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican
Posted: Monday, February 17, 2014 9:20 pm | Updated: 12:12 am, Tue Feb 18, 2014.
Panel blocks early childhood education initiative
By Milan Simonich The New Mexican
The proposed constitutional amendment to tap New Mexico’s $13.1 billion land-grant endowment to help fund early childhood education appears dead.
A mix of Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee stopped the initiative Monday night on an 8-2 vote. Sen. Carlos Cisneros, D-Questa, said the bill was “temporarily tabled,” but even the measure’s die-hard advocates concede that the odds of it passing now are minuscule.