PED allocates money to 108 NM schools

The New Mexico Public Education Department last week allocated $15 million in targeted aid to 108 New Mexico schools — including four in Quay County — based on the new Family Income Index designed to fight concentrated poverty in schools.

Here are the county’s public schools and the aid they will receive, based on the district’s enrollment and its family income index:

• Tucumcari, $283,736;

• Logan, $39,038;

• San Jon, $38,085;

• House, $20,000.

The money must be used for reading and math interventions; hiring school counselors and social workers; creating family information and resource centers; adopting culturally and linguistically diverse classroom texts; offering innovative professional learning opportunities for educators; and after-school enrichment programs.

It is the first round of funding in a two-year pilot project approved by the New Mexico Legislature to direct additional aid to schools serving the most economically disadvantaged students.

Another $15 million will be distributed to qualifying schools in fiscal year 2023.

“Unlike most programs that funnel money through school districts, the Family Income Index gets extra aid directly to the schools that need it most to offset the effects of concentrated poverty,” Public Education Secretary Ryan Stewart said. “Schools will use this extra funding expressly for evidence-based programs known to improve academic outcomes.”

Awards ranged from the legislative minimum of $20,000, received by 13 schools with enrollments of fewer than 50 students, to $434,174 to El Camino Real Community School in Santa Fe, which has 840 students.

Funding was spread across 69 of New Mexico’s 89 districts and 10 of its 98 state-chartered schools.

In all, 42% of New Mexico local educational agencies qualified for funding per rules established in the legislative pilot program.

The Public Education Department first proposed a Family Income Index in December as a partnership with the Taxation and Revenue and Human Services departments. The goal is to offset known disparities in academic outcomes in schools with concentrated poverty. The Legislature passed it as Senate Bill 17, which Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed on April 5.

The project began by using income and Census data to identify the household income of every New Mexico public school student. Next, the Public Education Department calculated each school’s Family Income Index, which is the percentage of students in families with extremely low or very low incomes. A family of four earning less than about $34,000 a year would fall into one of those categories.

To allocate the $15 million, PED identified the half of all New Mexico schools with the highest Income Index, effectively creating a list of schools with the highest concentrations of poverty.

Any district with at least one school on that list will receive funding for that school; those with multiple schools on the list will receive funding for up to 10% of all district schools. No qualifying school will receive less than $20,000.

As with many awards, schools can begin spending the award after July 1, then seek reimbursement from the Public Education Department.