– This week's guests on REPORT FROM SANTA FE are Rep. DENNIS ROCH (R-Logan)and Rep. MIMI STEWART (D-Albuq.) discussing the urgent educational issues facing New Mexico. Rep. Stewart chairs the House Education Committee, of which Rep. Roch is a member. Topics of discussion include the education budget, lottery scholarships, pay raises for educators, teacher evaluations, and third grade retention. Representative Stewart is a retired educator and is serving her 20th year in the House of Representatives. Rep. Roch is superintendent of schools in Logan, NM, and is serving his 5th year in the House. 

----- QUOTES: ----- --- On Under-Funding Education: "Almost every problem that comes to us in the legislature in education is a result of not funding the schools sufficiently. I have started to call it the hunger games." -- Rep. Mimi Stewart "The last time in New Mexico that public schools received 50 percent of the state budget was in 1991...now we are down in the low 40s as a percentage of the state budget. If we were closer to 50%, we wouldn’t be having these discussions, because our schools would be sufficiently funded." -- Rep. Dennis Roch --- On The Testing Of Students: "You have no idea how much testing we do, not just the standards-based assessment, but whatever subject you are teaching... Out of the 180 day school year, we are testing 70 to 80 days." -- Rep. Mimi Stewart 

On Teacher Evaluations: "The system we have now is designed to be a balance between the objective and the subjective. Subjective means the principle still does an observation…and in these ... communications with the teacher and the principal, there is feedback for improvement. On the objective side, we are going to measure some student achievement growth because ultimately we have to be not just about inputs but about outputs in public education."  -- Rep. Dennis Roch