I have no problem with people disagreeing with ideas, and in fact constructive disagreement often leads to new and interesting ideas.
The challenge comes when the response to new ideas is knee-jerk negativity.

The truth is, I have NEVER, ever suggested that we bankrupt the Land Grant Permanent Fund.

I have NEVER, ever suggested that we stop spending the LGPF on education.

I have NEVER, ever suggested that the county commission has any say over what does happen to the LGPF.

What I did suggest was a big, bold idea--that New Mexico use money in the LGPF to transform our state from dead last or nearly last in everything important to something we can all look back on and say GǣI was part of something so amazing, let me tell you what we did...Gǥ

So let's look at the math again and this time, we'll look at it with a commitment to fund education at the same dollar amount proposed for 2017. The LGPF currently has 20 billion dollars in it. Let's Jump Start New Mexico on a ten-year plan by putting 1 billion dollars in the general fund right now to balance the budget, spend 1 billion dollars a year on public education, 1 billion dollars a year on things like ensuring every child in our state is fully ready to start school regardless of their economic status; creating an economic environment that will attract all manner of imaginative, inventive, entrepreneurial awesomeness, and a half a billion dollars a year on infrastructure that will benefit all New Mexicans.

That's 3.5 billion the first year and 2.5 billion for the following nine years. Over decades the LGPF has demonstrated an 11% annual return. Under current law, 5.3% of the fund value is distributed to various educational entities (this distribution will be reduced to 5.0% in 2017). Under my proposal, adjusted for inflation and all else remaining equal, at the end of ten years, the LGPF would have a balance of $2,532,096,418.39 while continuing to support public education, AND we would have put an astounding amount of money to work by investing the money in improving the health, well-being and prosperity of all the citizens of New Mexico.

The bottom line is the state of New Mexico is forcing counties and municipalities to raise taxes in order to provide basic services, while at the same time sitting on an enormous savings account that could be doing a lot more for us than just continuing to fund education at current levels. We can't afford for the state to continue to ignore what our economic disaster is doing to families, including robbing our children of their future.

Alicia Edwards
Silver City, NM 88061