Last night in a bi-partisan 8-2 vote, SJR 12 which would have amended New Mexico’s Constitution to raid the Permanent Fund in order to finance an expansion of pre-K programs, was defeated. While it could be resurrected, it appears that the plan is dead for another session. Despite data indicating that such costly programs are ineffective in improving education results, it is safe to say that the pre-K expansion was, perhaps along with a hike in the minimum wage, the centerpiece of the left-wing agenda this year in Santa Fe. And now it is likely dead on an 8-2 vote. Ouch.
There’s no doubt that the senators who voted “no” will face the wrath of the powerful and well-funded leftist interest groups who were positively salivating at the possibility of tapping into the permanent fund honeypot to expand the size of government and their control over our children. So, it’s worth noting that Senators Beffort, Burt, Campos, Cisneros, Munoz, Leville, Neville, and John Arthur Smith voted ‘Yes,’ to table SJR 12 (and are worthy of praise and support for their courageous votes).
While the New Mexico pre-K vote is unlikely to generate the same national headlines, another rejection of leftist ideology: the recent vote by workers at a Volkswagen plant in Tennessee to reject unionizing with the United Autoworkers, has. The impact of this rejection is likely to be particularly important given management support for the unionization effort. Union supporters including President Obama have decried efforts by Republican politicians and conservative leaders in opposition to the unionization push, but the reality is that if workers felt they would have benefited from a union, they could have had one. Instead, the unions were rejected in a move that will only quicken the decline of private sector unions in the United States.
Unfortunately, government employee unions which even FDR opposed are the real problem, but unions of all stripes have tended to support the same left-wing policies and politicians.
NM Democrats are the same as their national bretheren, in that they all view government as a machine, with knobs, dials, levers to twist & tweak, vis-a-vis “laws” that mandate this or that outcome. They hardly ever get called on things that don’t work (80%+), because it was done “with the best of intentions” to help those ‘victimized’ by whatever cause-celeb is being addressed by the machine operators.
But we have in NM, a 50 yr track record of Democrat social, educational, & economic failures—that’s a unique advantage the GOP should exploit. It also implies more failures ahead to keep doing (funding) the s.o.s. The NM GOP has to get boldly creative here. I want to see some notable GOP State Senator or Rep take them on. “OK, you want to raid the Permanent Fund?, America’s 3rd largest sovereign wealth fund soon-to-be $20 billion, to help the poor people of NM??” “Fine, let’s take a 1-time 25% of the fund, put it in the NM budget cycle, adjust the GRT, and give ALL NEW MEXICANS zero income taxes forever.”
That’ll do more for the people of NM than any [typical] stop-gap social spending done since 1950.
I agree with you 100%.
So do I!
Pre-K education? I would rather pay mothers or fathers to stay home with the kids for an extra year, as long as they would agree to watch over them, read to them, and provide three hours a day of unstructured outdoor play. Head Start is an abject failure, and we have known this for 25 years, at least. Be better to start first grade at seven, after decent home life. But with the number of illegitimate births (to single parents and two-parent uncaring households), being raised by wolves would be an improvement over the educational system in this state.
For the vast majority of parents, I agree with you, we don’t need more government programs, we need to have parents financially able to be at home with their kids and take the time to read to them and learn with/educate them.
There are certainly some for whom parental involvement would be a negative. Dealing with those cases successfully goes far beyond Pre-K.