SB0112

SENATE BILL 112

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2012

INTRODUCED BY

Howie Morales

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE; AMENDING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF "SCHOOL-AGE PERSON".

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

SECTION 1. Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Code:

A. "academic proficiency" means mastery of the subject-matter knowledge and skills specified in state academic content and performance standards for a student's grade level;

B. "adequate yearly progress" means the measure adopted by the department based on federal requirements to assess the progress that a public school or school district or the state makes toward improving student achievement;

C. "commission" means the public education commission;

D. "department" means the public education department;

E. "home school" means the operation by the parent of a school-age person of a home study program of instruction that provides a basic academic educational program, including reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and science;

F. "instructional support provider" means a person who is employed to support the instructional program of a school district, including educational assistant, school counselor, social worker, school nurse, speech-language pathologist, psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist, marriage and family therapist, interpreter for the deaf and diagnostician;

G. "licensed school employee" means teachers, school administrators and instructional support providers;

H. "local school board" means the policy-setting body of a school district;

I. "local superintendent" means the chief executive officer of a school district;

J. "parent" includes a guardian or other person having custody and control of a school-age person;

K. "private school" means a school, other than a home school, that offers on-site programs of instruction and that is not under the control, supervision or management of a local school board;

L. "public school" means that part of a school district that is a single attendance center in which instruction is offered by one or more teachers and is discernible as a building or group of buildings generally recognized as either an elementary, middle, junior high or high school or any combination of those and includes a charter school;

M. "school" means a supervised program of instruction designed to educate a student in a particular place, manner and subject area;

N. "school administrator" means a person licensed to administer in a school district and includes school principals and central district administrators;

O. "school-age person" means a person who is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year, [and] who has not received a high school diploma or its equivalent [A maximum age of twenty-one shall be used for a person who is classified as special education membership as defined in Section 22-8-21 NMSA 1978 or as a resident of a state institution] and who has not reached the person's twenty-second birthday on the first day of the school year;

P. "school building" means a public school, an administration building and related school structures or facilities, including teacher housing, that is owned, acquired or constructed by the school district as necessary to carry out the functions of the school district;

Q. "school bus private owner" means a person, other than a school district, the department, the state or any other political subdivision of the state, that owns a school bus;

R. "school district" means an area of land established as a political subdivision of the state for the administration of public schools and segregated geographically for taxation and bonding purposes;

S. "school employee" includes licensed and nonlicensed employees of a school district;

T. "school principal" means the chief instructional leader and administrative head of a public school;

U. "school year" means the total number of contract days offered by public schools in a school district during a period of twelve consecutive months;

V. "secretary" means the secretary of public education;

W. "state agency" or "state institution" means the New Mexico military institute, New Mexico school for the blind and visually impaired, New Mexico school for the deaf, New Mexico boys' school, girls' welfare home, New Mexico youth diagnostic and development center, Sequoyah adolescent treatment center, Carrie Tingley crippled children's hospital, New Mexico behavioral health institute at Las Vegas and any other state agency responsible for educating resident children;

X. "state educational institution" means an institution enumerated in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico;

Y. "substitute teacher" means a person who holds a certificate to substitute for a teacher in the classroom;

Z. "teacher" means a person who holds a level one, two or three-A license and whose primary duty is classroom instruction or the supervision, below the school principal level, of an instructional program or whose duties include curriculum development, peer intervention, peer coaching or mentoring or serving as a resource teacher for other teachers;

AA. "certified school instructor" means a teacher or instructional support provider; and

BB. "certified school employee" or "certified school personnel" means a licensed school employee."

SECTION 2. Section 22-1-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1975, Chapter 338, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-1-4. FREE PUBLIC SCHOOLS--EXCEPTIONS--WITHDRAWING AND ENROLLING--OPEN ENROLLMENT.--

A. Except as provided by Section 24-5-2 NMSA 1978, a free public school education shall be available to any school-age person who is a resident of this state, [and] who has not received a high school diploma or its equivalent and who has not reached the person's twenty-second birthday on the first day of the school year.

B. A free public school education in those courses already offered to persons pursuant to the provisions of Subsection A of this section shall be available to any person who is a resident of this state and has received a high school diploma or its equivalent if there is available space in such courses.

C. Any person entitled to a free public school education pursuant to the provisions of this section may enroll or re-enroll in a public school at any time and, unless required to attend school pursuant to the Compulsory School Attendance Law, may withdraw from a public school at any time.

D. In adopting and promulgating rules concerning the enrollment of students transferring from a home school or private school to the public schools, the local school board shall provide that the grade level at which the transferring student is placed is appropriate to the age of the student or to the student's score on a student achievement test administered according to the statewide assessment and accountability system.

E. A local school board shall adopt and promulgate rules governing enrollment and re-enrollment at public schools other than charter schools within the school district. These rules shall include:

(1) definition of the school district boundary and the boundaries of attendance areas for each public school;

(2) for each public school, definition of the boundaries of areas outside the school district boundary or within the school district but outside the public school's attendance area and within a distance of the public school that would not be served by a school bus route as determined pursuant to Section 22-16-4 NMSA 1978 if enrolled, which areas shall be designated as "walk zones";

(3) priorities for enrollment of students as follows:

(a) first, students residing within the school district and within the attendance area of a public school and students who had resided in the attendance area prior to a parent who is an active duty member of the armed forces of the United States or member of the national guard being deployed and whose deployment has required the student to relocate outside the attendance area for custodial care;

(b) second, students enrolled in a school ranked as a school that needs improvement or a school subject to corrective action;

(d) fourth, all other applicants;

(4) establishment of maximum allowable class size if smaller than that permitted by law; and

(5) rules pertaining to grounds for denial of enrollment or re-enrollment at schools within the school district and the school district's hearing and appeals process for such a denial. Grounds for denial of enrollment or re-enrollment shall be limited to:

(a) a student's expulsion from any school district or private school in this state or any other state during the preceding twelve months; or

(b) a student's behavior in another school district or private school in this state or any other state during the preceding twelve months that is detrimental to the welfare or safety of other students or school employees.

F. In adopting and promulgating rules governing enrollment and re-enrollment at public schools other than charter schools within the school district, a local school board may establish additional enrollment preferences for rules admitting students in accordance with the third and fourth priorities of enrollment set forth in Subparagraphs (c) and (d) of Paragraph (3) of Subsection E of this section. The additional enrollment preferences may include:

(1) after-school child care for students;

(2) child care for siblings of students attending the public school;

(3) children of employees employed at the public school;

(4) extreme hardship;

(5) location of a student's previous school;

(6) siblings of students already attending the public school; and

(7) student safety.

G. As long as the maximum allowable class size established by law or by rule of a local school board, whichever is lower, is not met or exceeded in a public school by enrollment of first- and second-priority persons, the public school shall enroll other persons applying in the priorities stated in the school district rules adopted pursuant to Subsections E and F of this section. If the maximum would be exceeded by enrollment of an applicant in the second through fourth priority, the public school shall establish a waiting list. As classroom space becomes available, persons highest on the waiting list within the highest priority on the list shall be notified and given the opportunity to enroll."

SECTION 3. Section 22-8-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 128, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-8-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Finance Act:

A. "ADM" or "MEM" means membership;

B. "membership" means the total enrollment of qualified students on the current roll of a class or school on a specified day. The current roll is established by the addition of original entries and reentries minus withdrawals. Withdrawals of students, in addition to students formally withdrawn from the public school, include students absent from the public school for as many as ten consecutive school days; provided that withdrawals do not include students in need of early intervention and habitual truants the school district is required to intervene with and keep in an educational setting as provided in Section 22-12-9 NMSA 1978;

C. "basic program ADM" or "basic program MEM" means the MEM of qualified students but excludes the full-time- equivalent MEM in early childhood education and three- and four-year-old students receiving special education services;

D. "cost differential factor" is the numerical expression of the ratio of the cost of a particular segment of the school program to the cost of the basic program in grades four through six;

E. "department" or "division" means the public education department;

F. "early childhood education ADM" or "early childhood education MEM" means the full-time-equivalent MEM of students attending approved early childhood education programs;

G. "full-time-equivalent ADM" or "full-time- equivalent MEM" is that membership calculated by applying to the MEM in an approved public school program the ratio of the number of hours per school day devoted to the program to six hours or the number of hours per school week devoted to the program to thirty hours;

H. "operating budget" means the annual financial plan required to be submitted by a local school board or governing body of a state-chartered charter school;

I. "program cost" is the product of the total number of program units to which a school district is entitled multiplied by the dollar value per program unit established by the legislature;

J. "program element" is that component of a public school system to which a cost differential factor is applied to determine the number of program units to which a school district is entitled, including but not limited to MEM,

full-time-equivalent MEM, teacher, classroom or public school;

K. "program unit" is the product of the program element multiplied by the applicable cost differential factor;

L. "public money" or "public funds" means all money from public or private sources received by a school district or state-chartered charter school or officer or employee of a school district or state-chartered charter school for public use;

M. "qualified student" means a public school student who:

(1) has not graduated from high school;

(2) is regularly enrolled in one-half or more of the minimum course requirements approved by the department for public school students; and

(3) in terms of age:

(a) is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year;

(b) is at least three years of age at any time during the school year and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department; or

twenty-second birthday on the first day of the school year [and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department]; and

N. "state superintendent" means the secretary of public education or the secretary's designee."

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