Tight budget to cause big problem for schools.(Legislature)

Byline: Deborah Baker The Associated Press

SANTA FE In a year with a tight state budget and a short legislative session, New Mexico faces an enormous, expensive problem.

A state district judge in Gallup last year ruled that the way the state funds school construction is unconstitutional. He gave the state until July 28, 2000 to fix it.

If the Legislature doesn't pass and the governor doesn't sign a constitutional plan for distributing money to build schools, lawmakers and school administrators fear, the judge could come up with his own plan: School construction could end up governed by a court order, much as state prisons were for years.

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