Governor’s FY23 Executive Budget Recommendation Calls For Increasing Investments In NM Tribal Communities

Submitted by Carol A. Clark
on January 7, 2022
- 7:07 am

NMIAD News:

SANTA FE — The New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) released the FY23 Executive Budget Recommendation from the Lujan Grisham Administration Thursday, totaling $8.4 billion in recurring spending, up 13.4 percent from the previous fiscal year.

This year’s Executive recommendation increases the Indian Affairs Department (IAD) budget by 63.3 percent for FY23, allowing the department to continue to build upon the progress the administration has made in New Mexico tribal communities.

“The FY23 budget recommendation would enable the department to build on its success by allowing us to hire several new full-time employees that will help fulfill mission-critical services and ensure that the department continues to effectively and efficiently serve and support New Mexico’s Nations, Tribes and Pueblos,” Secretary Trujillo said. “I am hopeful that the New Mexico Legislature will agree with DFA to increase our budget.”

The budget recommendation of $4.7 million in general fund spending includes:

$831,000 for suicide prevention in tribal communities; and
$57,900 for recurring funding for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR) taskforce.

Furthermore, the Executive recommends:

$1.4 million of Early Childhood trust fund revenue to ECECD for tribal early childhood investments.
$9.7 million in funding to the Public Education Department for the Indian Education Fund to improve educational outcomes for Native American students;
$10.2 million for Native American Student Education to leverage Indian Education funding to expand and enhance programs such as New Mexico Indigenous Languages initiatives, Native Language Database, and Grow Your Own Indigenous Language Teacher Pipeline; and
For higher education, the Executive recommends supporting the Institute of American Indian Education at the University of New Mexico in providing professional development on culturally relevant pedagogy, a Native American Teacher Residency Program and addressing the disproportionately low number of Native American licensed K-12 teachers in New Mexico.

The full details of the FY23 Executive Budget Recommendation are available here.