Supporters of early childhood education they were hoping for this legislative session.
Some House lawmakers wanted to use more money from the for things like pre-K, childcare cssistance and other programs. But Democratic State Senator John Arthur Smith said that鈥檚 a bad idea.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not like Congress. We can鈥檛 run a deficit,鈥� Smith said. 鈥淲e have to have a balanced budget, and we have to have a reliable revenue stream. The Land Grant Fund gives us a reliable revenue stream.鈥�
Smith said New Mexico needs quality programs for kids, but using more land grant money could jeopardize the state in the future.
Almost a billion dollars of the fund is already budgeted for public education each year. That鈥檚 not enough to fund early childhood education for all the children who are .
