Two stories in Albuquerque Journal, one from Sunday, the other from Monday.
On Sunday the ABQ Journal editorialized that New Mexico’s “education moonshot” has not shown academic results. Then, on Monday a story shows that after 7 years of collecting a new gross receipts tax Bernalillo County’s effort has suffered from “disorganization, waning engagement with the community and a lack of clear cut performance standards.
It is hard for New Mexico’s big-government-addled politicians to understand, but government tends to do a poor job no matter how much money is poured into the next “solution.” So, we’ll be right back here in a few years when the pre-K constitutional amendment passes and (again) fails to move the needle on education outcomes.
Wallethub ranks New Mexico 49th on “ROI” per taxpayer dollar invested. Is this any surprise?
There is another side to this as well. Throwing money at something rarely fixes an issue. In the private sector at least, a lack of budget forces a function or organization to get creative, try something different, experiment with a new approach to an issue or opportunity, etc. Throwing money at something in NM government just seems to breed more complacency with the status quo. Seems to breed a culture of inaction that only pines for yet more funding when time passes and it is realized that no gains were realized from past funding increases.