Mock-trial program in jeopardy as funds vanish

Blame bounces between AG’s Office, Legislature as cash for 2017-18 school year runs dry

It would make an interesting case for high school mock-trial competitors to tackle: Who is responsible for losing the money for the state’s mock-trial program?

For almost 40 years, New Mexico trial lawyers and judges have worked with high school students to conduct mock trials in a program supporters say helps teach students about the legal system.

But now the Gene Franchini New Mexico High School Mock Trial Program — named for a late New Mexico Supreme Court justice — is in jeopardy.

Lynda Latta, director of the Albuquerque-based nonprofit Center for Civic Values, which operates the program, said in a statement that a $117,000 appropriation from the Legislature didn’t come through this year. That’s “devastating” for the program and will require the group to raise money from private donations.

Leaders of the nonprofit have assured supporters that there is enough money in reserves for the program to continue for the current year. Beyond that, however, the future is uncertain.

Latta blamed the state Attorney General’s Office, which for the last three years has served as the program’s fiscal agent.

“This year, as it has the two previous years, the Attorney General’s Office sought funding for the mock trial program in its budget request to the Legislature,” Latta’s statement said. “As it had in the past, the Legislature allocated the funds requested for the program. However, it appears that at some point during the budgeting process and without [the Center for Civic Values’] involvement, the protective language that had been used to safeguard those funds for the mock trial program was not included in the AGs final budget.”

And so, she said, the program’s funds became “discretionary.”

“The Attorney General’s Office has since advised that there is no funding available for the mock trial program for 2017, without explaining what happened to the funds that appear to have been allocated to the program by the Legislature. Accordingly, we must report that the [Center for Civic Values] has lost its entire operational funding for the 2017-2018 mock trial program. While the Attorney General’s Office was technically within its authority to use the … funding for other purposes, its decision was unexpected and unfortunate.”

A spokesman for Attorney General Hector Balderas told a different story.

“Historically, the Legislature has funded the mock trial program with a line item appropriation,” James Hallinan said. “The Legislature, however, did not fund the program in its most recent budget. At the same time, the Legislature reduced the Office of the Attorney General’s budget for all contractual programs.”

Hallinan said the office is still a strong supporter of mock trials.

“The Office of the Attorney General is working to help the Center for Civic Values address the Legislature’s decision to remove funding,” he said. “Our office has offered to provide staff time as well as financial support in an amount that reflects the program costs.”

Santa Fe lawyer Trace Rabern, who has volunteered for the program, said mock trials are valuable for students.

“The high school mock trial program brings students of diverse backgrounds to explore and appreciate our justice system and work with real trial lawyers and judges in their communities,” she said in an email. “Probably the most compelling aspect of it is watching kids discover they can actually do this — that the justice system is not some abstract untouchable institution, but something they can, with a little hard work and a few new skills, can make a difference in. Many of these kids come to love the law and public service, which is a boon for our community.”

In an email she sent to fellow lawyers and others who have been involved, Rabern said, “I think that if Gene Franchini knew this was afoot, he would snort audibly in disgust from the bench and expect me to do something about it.”