Noteworthy Bills and Memorials
Legislative Session Cheat Sheet
After several years of cuts, UNM may finally see a budget increase during this year’s legislative session.
UNM is expected to receive a $9.9 million increase to its budget after the New Mexico House Appropriation Finance Committee selects a higher education budget recommendation on how the increased funds should be used.
The Committee meets Monday to review three budget recommendations for fiscal year 2013, said Marc Saavedra, UNM Director of Government Relations.
“The recommendations reinvest money back into higher education after three years of cutting budgets,” he said. “In the five years I’ve been with UNM, these are probably the most balanced, responsible, accountable and fair recommendations I’ve seen these agencies give. I’m still pinching myself with how good these budgets are.”
The UNM Board of Regents celebrated the expected increase in the University’s financial allotment at its Jan. 10 meeting. Regent Don Chalmers said he is confident the increase in funding will be used the right way.
“Sometimes when you have money, it may be a tougher chore than not having it,” Chalmers said. “It is easy to say no but hard to say yes to proper, strategic things. We are going to be tested to see if we spend dollars in the most strategic way.”
Both recommendations include a new performance-based funding formula, which means UNM will receive money based on outcome measures such as course completion and degrees awarded.
Previously, the funding formula was based on enrollment, Saavedra said.
“As a taxpayer, I agree,” Saavedra said. “We should not fund on the front end, but should fund on course completion and graduation rates.”
Programs like Graduation Express and changes in advisement have already been initiated to improve UNM’s 45.1 percent six-year undergraduate graduation rate, which is about 10 percent lower than the national average.
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The UNM provost’s office has plans to develop additional programs to increase course completion and graduation rates in order to take advantage of the new performance-based funding formula, said Jennifer Gomez-Chavez, Director of Student Academic Success.
The budget recommendations under consideration during the legislative session also allow University employees to stop paying the 1.75 percent of their salaries they put toward retirement.
Instead, the University would be responsible for putting that money toward employees’ retirement funds.
UNM plans to participate in a funding formula task force with other New Mexico higher education institutions to streamline credit-hour transfers and explore how funding can be spent on research.
Saavedra said UNM’s Budget Office will meet to prepare the 2013 budget once the legislative session is complete.
