House Memorial 39

HOUSE MEMORIAL 39

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Joy Garratt

 

 

 

 

 

A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE HIGHER EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO CONDUCT A STUDY ON HIGHER EDUCATION COMPENSATION FOR BOTH TEMPORARY AND NON-TEMPORARY INSTRUCTIONAL STAFF IN COLLABORATION WITH THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE AND THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE.

 

     WHEREAS, temporary and non-temporary instructional staff struggle with low pay, inadequate access to benefits and little to no job security, and recent studies have found that sixty-six percent of temporary and non-temporary instructional staff have contemplated leaving the profession altogether; and

     WHEREAS, a recent report by the American association of university professors found that more than one-fourth of survey participants earn less than twenty-six thousand five hundred dollars ($26,500) annually; and

     WHEREAS, in the same report, survey participants indicated that they were not offered continuing contracts despite satisfactory job performance; and

     WHEREAS, in 2022, the American federation of teachers conducted a survey and found that food scarcity impacts both temporary and non-temporary instructional staff; and

     WHEREAS, the same survey found that twenty percent of temporary and non-temporary instructional staff rely on medicare or medicaid to access basic health care services; and

     WHEREAS, forty years ago, seventy percent of academic employees were tenured or on the tenure track, while today that ratio has flipped and sixty-eight percent of faculty are holding positions that are not even eligible for tenure and forty-eight percent of faculty are holding positions that are fully part time; and

     WHEREAS, many temporary and non-temporary instructional staff work far more hours than they are paid for, holding long office hours and participating in shared governance; and

     WHEREAS, a large number of faculty in New Mexico are leaving public post-secondary educational institutions to teach in secondary educational institutions to earn higher compensation;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the higher education department, in collaboration with the legislative finance committee and the legislative education study committee, be requested to conduct a comprehensive study on issues relating to the state of higher education compensation for temporary and non-temporary instructional staff; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the study review and examine current New Mexico compensation data for temporary and non-temporary instructional staff, including salaries and benefits, counts, titles, credits or contract hours taught, other required duties and course overload policies for all public post-secondary educational institutions in the state; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the higher education department, in collaboration with the legislative finance committee and the legislative education study committee, consult with faculty and instructional staff, directors from diverse departments and programs, representatives of bargaining units, human resource managers, chief academic officers and administrators at each of the state's two- and four-year public post-secondary educational institutions while gathering this data to adequately address cost concerns related to fringe benefits, compression, return-to-work faculty, faculty duties, non-credit and workforce training instructional staff and increased administrative responsibilities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that if the findings of the higher education department, in collaboration with the legislative finance committee and the legislative education study committee, lead to a recommendation that there should be considerations of compensation structures that exceed the amounts currently received, the department also recommend methodologies to fund compensation increases; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the higher education department present its findings and recommendations by December 1, 2025; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor, the director of the legislative finance committee, the director of the legislative education study committee and the secretary of higher education.

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