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Committee advances $3 million MathLab pilot to build elementary math fluency
Summary
Senate Bill 116 would fund MathLab pilot classes in elementary schools, using $3 million to support about 30 MathLab classrooms for hands-on, experiential math instruction; the Senate Education Committee gave the bill a unanimous due pass.
Senator Brandt introduced Senate Bill 116, the MathLab pilot project, telling the Senate Education Committee the bill grew from local GROW funding and classroom visits that showed strong student engagement.
The bill would provide $3,000,000 to pilot MathLab classrooms (roughly 30 classes statewide) designed to give K'3–K'5 or K'3–K'6 students weekly, hands-on math experiences separate from their regular classroom. Senator Brandt said the program costs about $100,000 per teacher (teacher benefits and materials) and would be evaluated over several years to measure actual learning gains, not just enjoyment.
Supporters included school districts, education associations and STEM advocates. Chris Bozano (registered lobbyist for the "Toronto" [Rio Rancho] Public Schools) said the program helped students who had been scared of math. Bonnie Lightfoot and the New Mexico School Board Association voiced support, as did the Society of Women Engineers; Jan Williams said the approach "encourages students to explore career options in STEM."
Online testimony and in-person speakers emphasized the program's alignment with other STEM initiatives passed recently in committee and urged that evaluation use existing assessments rather than adding new high-stakes tests. Senator Thornton and other committee members emphasized the accountability measures in the bill's evaluation plan; Thornton noted the bill uses the same standardized assessments used statewide for before/after comparisons.
After discussion the committee recorded a unanimous due pass recommendation; the bill will move to the finance committee for consideration of funding and scaling.
