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Committee asks staff to track state-held PSAT appropriation; government affairs to follow up with PED
Summary
Board members raised a question about a PSAT testing appropriation they believed to be held by the New Mexico Public Education Department; staff said the appropriation is with PED and assigned government affairs to track disbursement and report back.
During the finance committee's review on Sept. 24, board members asked staff to check the status of an appropriation intended to pay for PSAT test costs for district students.
Board member Heather Benavides said she believed the appropriation was "about 1 to $2,000,000" and described it as an appropriation that went to the Public Education Department (PED) rather than directly to the district. Benavides praised a student (identified in the meeting as Walter Bradford) who had brought the issue to the board’s attention.
District staff responded that the district's government affairs team is tracking multiple appropriations held at PED that have not yet been disbursed. Daniel Manzano (government affairs) told the committee the district was creating a running list of pending PED items and would research the PSAT appropriation's status and report back.
Why it matters: If PED holds an appropriation intended for local districts, the district must track disbursement timing to ensure students receive the benefit in the intended school year.
What’s next: Government affairs staff will follow up with PED and report the status of the PSAT appropriation to the committee; staff said they would add this appropriation to the list of pending items for ongoing tracking.
