Roswell Daily Record THE VOICE OF THE PECOS VALLEY
Vol. 123, No. 95 75¢ Daily / $1.25 Sunday
April 19, 2014
Legislative report touts prekindergarten benefits
SANTA FE (AP) — Prekindergarten programs deliver more benefits and a greater return on taxpayers’ investment than state subsidized child care, according to a legislative report.
Yet New Mexico is spending far more on child care than prekindergarten, the Legislative Finance Committee found.
Rep. Luciano “Lucky” Varela, a Santa Fe Democrat and committee chairman, said the report will help lawmakers establish spending priorities for early childhood
SATURDAY
www.rdrnews.com
programs. The committee plans to follow up on the report during the coming months and will try to work with agencies in Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration to make any needed changes in programs. “We want some outcomes in there,” Varela said in an interview on Thursday. “Is it working or is it not, so we can make policy decisions to keep funding them or to eliminate them.” The report, released last week, is part of a broader
Passion pilgrimage
effort by the committee to perform a cost-benefit analysis of programs to provide research-based evidence to help in policy making.
Prekindergarten is provided through public schools and other locations, enrolling 4-year-olds a year before they would attend kindergarten.
The program costs about $2,900 for each student, with benefits that include improved achievement through the third grade. The report said prekindergarten
also can lessen the need for special education services for children and reduce the number of students who must be held back in the third grade because they’re struggling to read.
New Mexico will spend about $231 million on early childhood programs in the next budget year, which is nearly a 13 percent increase over current expenditures. About $98 million will go for child care assistance for potentially about 20,000 children as old as 13 from low-income families. The
services are provided through registered homes and some state licensed programs. The state expects to spend $37 million next year for prekindergarten to serve more than 10,000 children. The state also subsidizes child care for certain lowincome families in which parents are working or attending school. A family of four with income of up to about $47,000 can qualify for such assistance, according to the committee. The report said the costs
Hundreds of Christian faithful complete the Passion of the Christ pilgrimage, arriving at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Dexter on the morning of Good Friday. Parishioners from Immaculate Conception were joined by congregations from St. Catherine Catholic Church in Hagerman and Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Lake Arthur for the trek from Hagerman.
State attorney general to host foreclosure prevention program
Attorney General Gary K i ng w i ll b e i n R o s w e l l today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the S.O.Y. Mariachi School presenting a fo r ec lo s ur e p r e v en t i o n program. The Help for New Mexico Homeowners foreclosure prevention event will offer counseling and legal assistance for homeowners who are having difficulty making their mortgage payments or who are in foreclosure. Bank representatives will also be on-site. “Every day, thousands of New Mexicans face the possibility of losing their homes and/or foreclosure. It can feel like a hopeless si t u at io n ,” sa i d K i n g . “There is help available,
t h e A t tor n e y G e n er a l’ s office will be on hand to provide a legal workshop and housing counseling fo r t h os e f ac i n g t h e prospect of losing their home.” King invites homeowners to take full advantage of the event and spend the afternoon with him at the event. There will be ongoing workshops and all the experts in foreclosure prevention under one roof. Attendees can expect to see a housing counselor and leave with a follow-up appointment, which is the first step, according to a release from King’s office. The housing counselor is an advocate and the key t o su c ce s s o n l y i f t he homeowner works togeth-
AP Photo
On Good Friday pilgrims travel the road from Nambé, New Mexico, to El Santuario de Chimayo, Friday.
HIGH 76 LOW 53
TODAY’S FORECAST
“Participation in child care showed little to no impact on test scores with the exception of 4-star rated programs,” according to the report.
The report found that the benefits of some other early childhood programs exceed their costs, including certain home visiting programs that provide education and support services for pregnant women and needy families with young children.
Board approves grant application request for Tobosa JILL MCLAUGHLIN RECORD STAFF WRITER
Mark Wilson Photo
of the child care programs exceed the benefits in many instances.
Chaves County Commissioners approved Tobosa Development Center’s request to submit through the county an application for a Community Development Block Grant. The approval was a first step in a long process for the center to seek $500,000 in an effort to expand its building on North Richardson Street and hire personnel. “The needs we are presenting today are critical,” said Tobosa’s Executive Development Director Joe Madrid. Tobosa Developmental Services provides programs to help adults with disabilities integrate into the community, become self-sufficient and productive. The facility on North Richardson serves as a center to transport clients into the community to work
sites, Madrid said. It also is a gathering place for leisure time and provides educational activities and life skills programs. “That center is beginning to be too small for the services we provide there,” Madrid said. “We’re looking to this project to build a larger center at the location we’re currently occupying.” The North Richardson location has an 1,800building. square-foot Tobosa would like to build a 2,400-square-foot building at the site to complement the property. It would give the program more space and provide more room for staff to train and hold state-mandated meetings, he said. Tobosa was the only applicant for the county CDBG funds application process. The application met the criteria of benefiting low- and moderateSee BOARD, Page A3
Altrusa Club brings baskets to Assurance Home
e r wi th t h e advocat e toward a solution. Attendees can also consult with t heir l en der if t h e y ar e present.
If y ou ar e alr ead y in f or eclosu r e , you m ay apply for free legal help with your court case, King advises. “Don’t leave your home; you have the right to be heard in court and try to save your home,” the news release states. Attendees are advised to bring all relevant paperw or k wi th t h e m t o t h e e ve nt t o get t he m ost accurate advice.
For more infor mation, v is it keepyou rho menewmexico.org.
Mark Wilson Photo
The Altrusa Club of Roswell donated Easter baskets to the Assurance Home Friday in a tradition that dates back to 1979. Pictured are, from left to right: Carol Hanback of Altrusa, Ron Malone of the Assurance Home, and Altrusa Club members Joan Blodgett, Suzanne Berry and her 5-year-old granddaughter Morgan Steinback.
Thousands trek to shrine on Good Friday CHIMAYO (AP) — Before dawn, thousands of pilgrims set off on a Good Friday march to El Santuario de Chimayo as part of a centuries old tradition. Some of those making the trek were weighed down by wooden crosses, while others carried rosaries, photographs of sick relatives and requests for miracles. Some came from more than 90 miles away, having walked for days. Dustin Nguyen, a 17year-old who emigrated from
• JERRY HEINE
Vietnam to New Mexico with his family several years ago, made a 10-mile trek to the shrine Friday morning with a group from St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Albuquerque. “It shows we’re one under God,” Nguyen told The New Mexican. For two centuries, Hispanic and Native American pilgrims have made spiritual journeys to Chimayo, one of the most popular Catholic shrines in the Americas. Some 200,000 people are
TODAY’S OBITUARY PAGE A7
estimated to visit the National Historic Landmark each year, with the bulk occurring during Holy Week. The draw is a shrine at the adobe chapel that houses “el pocito,” a small pit of holy dirt that some believe possesses curing powers. Law enforcement agencies and the state Department of Transportation are working to make the crowded walking areas along the route safer by handing out glow sticks to pilgrims to make them more visible to
CLASSIFIEDS ..........B7 COMICS .................B6 ENTERTAINMENT ...A10 FINANCIAL ..............B5
motorists, closing roadside stands along the highways and doing extra traffic patrols. Transit officials also added buses to the route between Espanola and Chimayo to accommodate those making the annual pilgrimage. In central New Mexico, pilgrims were also making their way to the top of Tome Hill on Friday. After a hike up the rugged hillside, prayers are offered at the foot of three large crosses.
INDEX GENERAL ...............A2 HOROSCOPES .......A10 LOTTERIES .............A2 OPINION .................A4
SPORTS .................B1
WEATHER ............A10
WORLD ..................A7