NMPIRG: more fees needed

If the Student Fee Review Board’s recommendation is approved by the President’s Strategic Budget Leadership Team, the New Mexico Public Interest Research group will endure a funding cut that NMPIRG representatives said will cripple the group’s ability to function.

During the Student Fee Review Board’s recommendation deliberations on Feb. 16, NMPIRG received a recommended allocation of $0.50 per student. Last year, NMPIRG received $2.26 per student. Student fees are one of only two funding sources for NMPIRG, contributing about 46 percent of the budget last year. The group’s secondary source of funding is a $75,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, a group promoting education and racial equality.

NMPIRG, an organization that advocates at the national level for issues like the environment and lower textbook and health care costs, requested an allocation of $4.84 per student this year.

Vice Chair of NMPIRG Kymberlee Boettcher said NMPIRG may not exist next year without a funding source.

“We’ve been talking to all of the members of the Strategic Budget Leadership Team and just seeing if there’s any way that they could increase it to an amount that’s adequate enough for us to at least have a chapter next year,” she said. “If we can get at least $1.00, that’s enough to hire and organize (professionals) who can manage a chapter next year.”

SFRB member and ASUNM Attorney General Gregory Montoya-Mora said he decided not to fund NMPIRG because it advocates for issues that aren’t supported by all students.

“I don’t support funding a political organization,” he said. “My recommendation is a zero for the board and for them to charter as a student organization (and they can get funding) through that means.”

SFRB member and ASUNM Sen. Angelica Gallegos said NMPIRG funds a number of national staff who have never visited New Mexico.

According to NMPIRG’s funding request, the organization has no paid student employees, but spent $43,771 on salaries and benefits, most for professionals outside New Mexico. Boetcher said all the money for staff salaries comes from student fees.

“We are the only organization that works in D.C. on student issues,” she said. “Most of our funding goes to paying professional staff, so that includes people who are well-trained on recruiting and can help coordinating a lot of interns and board members, and that goes all the way up to advocates who spend their time lobbying in Santa Fe and D.C.”

Boetcher said she is considering chartering the group as a student organization and requesting funding from ASUNM.

“If it doesn’t get increased at all, we might have to look into getting one-time funding somehow,” she said. “From my understanding, we can get it from either ASUNM or GPSA or we can even write our own grant, like a one-time deal.”