On February 21, the House Appropriations and Finance Committee will hear HB 147, which amends the New Mexico Indian Education Act. This bill will increase the distributions to Tribes from the Indian Education Fund and ensure that balances no longer revert.

HB 147 is endorsed by the Legislative Education Study Committee and was passed unanimously by the House Education Committee. It will change the Indian Education Fund distributions to ensure that Tribes get at least half of all available funding. It will also replace short-term grant funding with monthly distributions for Tribes that can be carried over. This would create capacity for tribal education departments to collaborate effectively with schools in serving Native students.

If you are a constituent of one of the members of the House Appropriations Committee, you can email or call them to ask for their support of HB 147 (view a list of committee members here).