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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An initiative geared toward offering higher accountability for public spending on education missed its inaugural deadline.
The New Mexico Public Education Department acknowledged Tuesday that it missed a year-end deadline to launch an internet site to offer particulars about how a lot faculties spend and on what.
The web site went stay following inquiries Monday from The Associated Press.
Lawmakers and transparency advocates decried the delay, which ran afoul of state statute.
The deadline was the primary of an annual reporting schedule mandated by a transparency regulation handed by the state Legislature in 2020 and signed by Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
The company had promoted the web site beginning in August with a countdown clock set to hit zero on Dec. 31. On Monday and Tuesday, the countdown clock on the web site learn “0,” whereas a notice under mentioned the undertaking is “on schedule and on budget.”
The state transparency web site might make it simpler to see particulars of how a lot faculties spend on administrative prices, like central workplace staff, versus classroom prices, like instructor salaries and scholar provides.
After questions from The Associated Press on Monday, the Public Education Department held a gathering with its software program vendor, in line with spokeswoman Judy Robinson.
The web site went stay earlier than midday on Tuesday, with a notice that it’s a piece in progress and should include errors.
“The portal was ready in mid-December and ‘soft-launched’ at that time,” Robinson mentioned.
That beta testing got here on the tail finish of a deliberate six-month window for varsity district superintendents and monetary officers to test-drive the software program. Robinson mentioned these customers flagged considerations concerning the web site’s performance.
Data on the web site might inform policymakers who sit down subsequent week to forge the state’s education price range, prone to exceed $3 billion.
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Attanasio is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on under-covered points. Follow Attanasio on Twitter.
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