SENATE BILL 516

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025

INTRODUCED BY

Roberto "Bobby" J. Gonzales

 

 

 

 

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; REQUIRING SCHOOL DISTRICT AND CHARTER SCHOOL FINANCIAL MONITORING; REQUIRING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO SYNTHESIZE SCHOOL DISTRICT AND CHARTER SCHOOL FINANCIAL MONITORING DATA AND PUBLISH AN ANNUAL RETURN ON INVESTMENT REPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SCHOOL DISTRICT AND CHARTER SCHOOL FINANCIAL MONITORING--STATEWIDE RETURN ON INVESTMENT REPORT FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION.--

          A. Each local school board and governing body of a charter school shall adopt a financial monitoring system to collect and analyze record-level data for operational and programmatic expenditures and for student demographics, performance and outcomes. No later than June 30 after each school year, school districts and charter schools shall publish on their websites a financial monitoring report based on the data collected and analyzed and shall submit the data to the department. A local school board or governing body of a charter school may use a commercial data analytics service to meet the requirements of this subsection and include the contract price for such service in a budget for a school district or charter school.

          B. The department shall develop or adopt a process for synthesizing school district and charter school data collected pursuant to Subsection A of this section to determine the effect of school district and charter school spending on student achievement statewide. On or before October 1 of each year, the department shall publish and submit to the governor and the legislature a return on investment report that outlines how expenditures for public education correlate with or cause student achievement. The return on investment report shall include recommendations for optimizing future spending for maximized improvement in student achievement."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Ten million dollars ($10,000,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the public education department for expenditure in fiscal year 2026 to cover the costs for the public education department, local school boards and governing bodies of charter schools to comply with the provisions of Section 1 of this act. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2026 shall revert to the general fund.

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