SENATE BILL 134

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Mark Boitano

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; LIMITING CALENDAR ADJUSTMENTS AFTER A SCHOOL YEAR HAS BEGUN.

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

     Section 1. Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 33, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:

     "22-2-8.1. LENGTH OF SCHOOL DAY--MINIMUM.--

          A. Except as otherwise provided in this section, regular students shall be in school-directed programs, exclusive of lunch, for a minimum of the following:

                (1) kindergarten, for half-day programs, two and one-half hours per day or four hundred fifty hours per year or, for full-day programs, five and one-half hours per day or nine hundred ninety hours per year;

                (2) grades one through six, five and one-half hours per day or nine hundred ninety hours per year; and

                (3) grades seven through twelve, six hours per day or one thousand eighty hours per year.

          B. Thirty-three hours of the full-day kindergarten program may be used for home visits by the teacher or for parent-teacher conferences. Twenty-two hours of grades one through five programs may be used for home visits by the teacher or for parent-teacher conferences.

          C. Nothing in this section precludes a local school board from setting length of school days in excess of the minimum requirements established by Subsection A of this section; provided that no calendar adjustments shall be made after a school year begins that would lengthen a school day in increments of less than one-half hour per day.

          D. The [state superintendent] secretary may waive the minimum length of school days in those districts where such minimums would create undue hardships as defined by the [state board] department."

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