By Todd G. Dickson

State Higher Education Secretary Jose Garcia and Public Education Secretary-designate Hanna Skandera say they intend to make the public schools and higher education work together to provide a better trained work force.

Speaking before the Mesilla Valley Economic Development Alliance (MVEDA) Tuesday, Jan. 3, Garcia and Skandera said they also will make the educational system more accountable. Their appearance in Las Cruces was followed up by Gov. Susana Martinez meeting with a large group of regents, governing board members and post-secondary institution presidents in Socorro to discuss the state’s new higher education funding formula.

The new formula will reward New Mexico’s higher learning institutions based on outcome measures that reflect student achievement and preparedness for New Mexico’s work force, as opposed to basing the allocation of funding on measurements like the size (square footage) of each institution. Also, the current formula funds colleges and universities based on courses and degree programs started. The new formula would be based on courses and degree programs completed.

Garcia said this is about more than making better use of the state’s support of higher education. The idea is to put the money into where there are gaps, especially in skill sets needed in high-tech professions.

At the MVEDA luncheon, Garcia noted that Intel decided to expand its Arizona operations, but not its plant in Rio Rancho. Yet, New Mexico spends more per graduate than Arizona, he said. Garcia said he took it as signal that New Mexico is not producing the kind of work force that is needed for the United States to be competitive globally.

“The central goal of New Mexico’s higher education institutions should be to graduate the students New Mexico’s economy will depend on for decades,” Martinez said. “In an increasingly competitive global economy, this formula will help us deliver the graduates we need for the jobs of tomorrow, and it serves to intently focus our attention on the achievement of our students.”

Under the formula, institutions would receive funding for graduating students in “STEHM” (Science, Technology, Engineering, Health Care and Mathematics) fields. A recent study disclosed that New Mexico’s economy will require nearly 50,000 employees with STEHM degrees by 2018 and nearly 95 percent of those jobs will require post-secondary education. “For the first time in the history of New Mexico, the younger generation is less educated than the generations before,” Garcia said. “This new formula is our opportunity to make sure today’s students are tomorrow’s successful employees.”

Meanwhile, Skandera said the schools will be changing, too, with a focus on making graduates better prepared for the work force or higher education once they complete school. Skandera said the schools will be more realistically assessed than the guaranteed failure rates offered by No Child Left Behind standards, which she said has only resulted in schools putting resources into helping borderline students rather than helping struggling students.

“Education is about setting up our kids for success,” Skandera said. “Let’s honor the successes we see and work on the areas we need to.”

At the MVEDA luncheon, a local success story was also highlighted. The Arrowhead Park Early College High School (APECHS) on the New Mexico State University campus will get a boost from a $345,090 W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant for the public-private workforce development advocate. The school, created by a school-business partnership called the Bridge of Southern New Mexico gives students the chance to learn in a higher education environment and earn college credits.

APECHS can tout that none of its students have dropped out, said Tracey Bryan, president and CEO of The Bridge. She said the cooperative efforts between the public schools, higher education and the business community is what spurred Kellogg to give the significant grant.

Distribution of the grant money includes $45,000 to NMSU’s Enlace Program that helps minority students succeed in higher education, $45,000 to NMSU and the University of New Mexico education research centers, $37,090 to the Arrowhead Center where the school is housed and $10,000 to the Service Learning Program at the NMSU College of Education. But the bulk of the Kellogg grant will be used to increase the student capacity at APECHS and to begin work on setting up four more early college high schools in Doña Ana County, according to the grant announcement.

Bryan said the Kellogg grant is a significant award, but The Bridge also has been getting grants from other private foundations and local businesses to help the APECHS effort. Through APECHS and other efforts, Las Cruces Public Schools is seeing good progress on reducing its dropout rate overall, Bryan said, “and the sky’s the limit” for future progress.

Skandera touted APECHS as an example of how to improve schools. “We didn’t point fingers in Las Cruces,” she said. “We sat down and said how do we get there, and we partnered.”

The first session is scheduled for December 9, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the New Mexico State University Albuquerque branch, 4501 Indian School Rd. NE.

New Mexico 9000 was created by the Economic Development Department to provide training and assistance to New Mexico businesses in preparing for ISO 90001:2008. Training will be broken into six half-day sessions over a 3-6 month period.

“This is a great opportunity for New Mexico businesses to access new customers, become more efficient and lower their operating costs,” said Jon Barela, New Mexico Economic Development Cabinet Secretary.

The New Mexico 9000 training program has been completed by 155 companies, creating over 1,000 new expansion jobs.

Trained professionals will conduct ISO 9001:2008 classes in:

• Internal Auditing
• Writing Standard Operating Procedures
• Writing Work Instructions
• Understanding the Standard

ISO is a general Quality Management System. Companies like Intel, Boeing and many other companies are requiring that their first tier suppliers be ISO 9001 certified. In turn, those suppliers are requiring that their suppliers are ISO 9000 certified. In addition, government agencies, such as the Department of Defense, NASA and NNSA are also requiring ISO certification of their providers.

ISO 9000 standards have been adopted by 178 countries. There are now more than 1 million companies worldwide that have registered to the ISO standards. Costs associated with obtaining, maintaining, and renewing ISO registration are tax deductible. The cost of the New Mexico 9000 training classes is based on annual company sales revenue, ranging from $550 to $3,300 for the training.

For more information, or to register for the program, contact the New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership, at (505) 262-0921 or via e-mail, at info@newmexicomep.org.

Jon Barela

Cabinet Secretary Designee Jon Barela will be the featured speaker at the April Business on the Border luncheon.  Barela is Governor Susana Martinez’s nominee for secretary of Economic Development. Barela is a native New Mexican, small businessman and an active leader in the state for more than 25 years. He is committed to making New Mexico a place where business and government can work together to create an environment that promotes a vibrant and healthy job market and economy. Having grown up in Dona Ana County, he knows firsthand the economic impact southern New Mexico and border industries can have on the economy for the entire state.

Barela began his career in public service as a senior aide to then New Mexico Congressman Joe Skeen. In 1987, he returned to New Mexico and joined the Modrall Law Firm. Four years later he became New Mexico’s Assistant Attorney General and Director of the Civil Division. In this role, he led unprecedented efforts to enforce and educate the public about New Mexico’s open meetings and public records laws. In 1993, Jon joined Intel, one of New Mexico’s largest private employers, as its community and government affairs manager. He set company benchmarks for outreach into underrepresented communities and was awarded the Intel Achievement Award, the company’s highest and most selective honor. In 2002, he helped found Cerelink a high-tech startup company and has also been a partner in other business ventures.

Barela has served on numerous non-profit boards of directors and committees and is passionate about making New Mexico a better place to live and work. He has made competitiveness and improving education central themes in his chairmanship of several significant organizations throughout New Mexico.

Barela graduated from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C. with a bachelor degree in History and Diplomacy and earned his law degree from Georgetown while working for Congressman Skeen.

The meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 5, 2011 from 11:30 AM until 1:00 PM at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, 705 S. Telshor. The meeting will begin with a hot entree buffet followed by a brief update by MVEDA staff.

Luncheon cost is $20.00 per person, payable by cash, check or major credit card. Due to space limitations, reservations are required. Please confirm your attendance no later than Thursday, March 31^st by sending an email to rsvp@mveda.com or by calling the office at (575) 525-2852. The meeting is open to the public.

The “Connect New Mexico” event connected all eight new gateway sites into the Supercomputer using its new teleconferencing capability. The sites are:

• The University of New Mexico
• New Mexico State University
• Eastern New Mexico
• Western New Mexico University
• New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
• Santa Fe Community College
• San Juan College
• The State Capitol

These sites will be utilized by the universities and local businesses that need high performance computing for design and modeling purposes. The Supercomputer can be used for research, educational activities, training, and business modeling in the areas of energy, environment, digital film, aerospace, and biotechnology, among others.

The founding institutions for the New Mexico Computing Applications Center, which runs the Supercomputer, are UNM, NMSU, New Mexico Tech, and Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.

For more information about the event and future Supercomputer gateways, see the Governor’s newsroom and the NMSU News Center.