The Income & Education Gap
New Mexico has one of the largest income gaps in the nation. Los Alamos county was recently recognized as having the highest median income in the U.S. (see Los Alamos County Wealthiest in Nation: http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/35676.html). What to do about this disparity is not a new topic, but is fraught with a cultural and economic divide wider than the Rio Grande.
Traditionalists are under the impression that New Mexico can stay an agriculture/artisan centric state, while the reality is that the state’s number one employer is government. The love//hate relationship with tourists in parts of the state further complicates and increases the income gap, as most folks love the tax dollars (or at the very least what can be afforded because of those revenues) but hate the seasonal crowding, low-paying service sector jobs, and what they see as a dilution of local cultures by those tourists who come and stay, instead of just leaving.
New Mexico has a wind-fall this year of an extra $1 billion from oil and gas leases which can only be spent on capital improvements, and upwards of an extra $100 million per year for the increase in the gross receipts tax (GRT) that will come from changing the Los Alamos National Laboratory operating contract from a non-profit (the University of California) to an limited liability corporation (LLC). No matter who wins the operating contract, UC-Bechtel or University of Texas-Lockheed Martin, the new LANL operator will be an LLC.
So, what to do with all of this extra money?
My modest proposal is to use the capital funds to bring all state K-12 facilities up to a higher standard of quality, along with building three regional science and math magnet high schools (one north, one south and one in the middle of the state). As for the increase in GRT, the state should spend the $100 million per year on the state’s K-12 teachers.
Although many tactics have been attempted in raising the per capita income in specific regions, the one tactic that consistently produces higher personal income is to increase educational standards (which is not to be confused with standardization through testing, but actual higher standards in facilities, curricula, and quality teachers). New Mexico has hovered for years in the bottom five of the fifty states in terms of education quality. This is an unbelievable abomination considering that New Mexico has the highest concentration of Ph.D.s, computing power, and government facilities of any state in the U.S.
It’s time the state higher education institutions and federal labs rub off on the general populous. These are easy answers to be sure, but difficult to implement unless the state legislature, the Govenor, regional stakeholders, parents, and lobbyist don’t commit to real change.
Traditionalists are under the impression that New Mexico can stay an agriculture/artisan centric state, while the reality is that the state’s number one employer is government. The love//hate relationship with tourists in parts of the state further complicates and increases the income gap, as most folks love the tax dollars (or at the very least what can be afforded because of those revenues) but hate the seasonal crowding, low-paying service sector jobs, and what they see as a dilution of local cultures by those tourists who come and stay, instead of just leaving.
New Mexico has a wind-fall this year of an extra $1 billion from oil and gas leases which can only be spent on capital improvements, and upwards of an extra $100 million per year for the increase in the gross receipts tax (GRT) that will come from changing the Los Alamos National Laboratory operating contract from a non-profit (the University of California) to an limited liability corporation (LLC). No matter who wins the operating contract, UC-Bechtel or University of Texas-Lockheed Martin, the new LANL operator will be an LLC.
So, what to do with all of this extra money?
My modest proposal is to use the capital funds to bring all state K-12 facilities up to a higher standard of quality, along with building three regional science and math magnet high schools (one north, one south and one in the middle of the state). As for the increase in GRT, the state should spend the $100 million per year on the state’s K-12 teachers.
Although many tactics have been attempted in raising the per capita income in specific regions, the one tactic that consistently produces higher personal income is to increase educational standards (which is not to be confused with standardization through testing, but actual higher standards in facilities, curricula, and quality teachers). New Mexico has hovered for years in the bottom five of the fifty states in terms of education quality. This is an unbelievable abomination considering that New Mexico has the highest concentration of Ph.D.s, computing power, and government facilities of any state in the U.S.
It’s time the state higher education institutions and federal labs rub off on the general populous. These are easy answers to be sure, but difficult to implement unless the state legislature, the Govenor, regional stakeholders, parents, and lobbyist don’t commit to real change.
posted by Grizz at 21:10
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