HOUSE BILL 298

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

David E. Adkins and Sander Rue

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; ENACTING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT REORGANIZATION ACT; REQUIRING SCHOOL DISTRICTS WITH MORE THAN FORTY THOUSAND STUDENTS TO REORGANIZE; EXEMPTING SUCH SCHOOL DISTRICTS FROM CERTAIN LAWS AND RULES.

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] SHORT TITLE.--This act may be cited as the "School District Reorganization Act"."

     SECTION 2. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] DEFINITIONS.--As used in the School District Reorganization Act:

          A. "school board" means the local school board of a school district; and

          B. "school district" means a school district that is required to reorganize."

     SECTION 3. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] DISTRICT REORGANIZATION--SCHOOL BOARD--APPOINTMENT OF TECHNICAL ADVISORY COMMITTEE--TIMELINE.--

          A. A school district with more than forty thousand students shall reorganize as provided in the School District Reorganization Act. The first reorganization pursuant to the School District Reorganization Act shall follow the schedule in this section. Future reorganizations shall follow similar schedules.

          B. By July 1, 2017, the school board shall appoint a technical advisory committee to develop a plan in accordance with the School District Reorganization Act to reorganize the school district. The school board shall appoint the technical advisory committee that shall include at least the following members:

                (1) the local superintendent;

                (2) the associate superintendents for elementary, middle and high schools;

                (3) teachers and other staff representatives from elementary, middle and high schools;

                (4) the chief financial officer of the school district;

                (5) the director of the budget and strategic planning department;

                (6) representatives from teacher and school employee unions;

                (7) members of business and civic organizations with a focus on education;

                (8) parents from parent-teacher organizations in elementary, middle and high schools; and

                (9) representatives of the municipality and county in which the school district is located and other members of the community interested in public education and the school district.

          C. The technical advisory committee may appoint subcommittees and may appoint other staff members of the school district or members of the community in addition to committee members.

          D. Meetings of the committee and subcommittees are public meetings, and the committee and subcommittees shall provide a means for public input at the meetings.

          E. The technical advisory committee shall develop a reorganization plan for the school board's approval and shall hold school cluster and districtwide public feedback meetings in July and August, 2018 or earlier. The plan may be revised based on the public feedback meetings and shall be presented to the school board for review, revision and approval by September 15, 2018.

          F. The 2018-2019 school year shall be a pilot year for the school district as it begins to implement the school district reorganization plan. The local superintendent may make appropriate adjustments to the reorganization plan based on feedback received during the pilot year. The reorganization shall be fully implemented by the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year."

     SECTION 4. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] REORGANIZATION PLAN--CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION, SCHOOL CLUSTER AND SCHOOL AUTHORITY--ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENTS--SCHOOL BUDGETS.--

          A. The school district shall be reorganized into:

                (1) central administration, overseen by the local superintendent;

                (2) school clusters, overseen by associate superintendents; and

                (3) public schools, overseen by school principals.

          B. Central administration includes:

                (1) school district human resources, including applicant processing and qualifying applicants for positions;

                (2) school transportation;

                (3) food service;

                (4) risk management;

                (5) financial services, including payroll;

                (6) services to promote equity and diversity;

                (7) civil rights compliance;

                (8) special education, including identification, evaluation, program placement and ancillary services;

                (9) legal services;

                (10) maintenance of buildings and grounds;

                (11) custodial services;

                (12) English language learner master plan;

                (13) internal audit;

                (14) information technology services;

                (15) district police;

                (16) emergency management;

                (17) capital improvements planning, building and monitoring;

                (18) state and federal assessment and accountability reporting;

                (19) charter schools; and

                (20) programs of a districtwide nature.

          C. The local superintendent is responsible to the school board for:

                (1) the overall management of the school district;

                (2) hiring, training, supervising, disciplining, terminating or discharging associate superintendents and central administration staff and other school employees not provided for in Subsection E of this section;

                (3) holding associate superintendents responsible for school cluster academic performance, including increased graduation rates and decreased truancy rates, and operational management;

                (4) ensuring that the school district, including charter schools, is in compliance with federal and state laws and the state budget;

                (5) reviewing data from all of the school clusters to see which teaching and other methodologies are the most successful in engaging students, faculty and staff to higher performance;

                (6) meeting regularly with associate superintendents; and

                (7) reporting to the school board at every board meeting.

          D. Each school cluster is made up of no more than thirty percent of the total number of schools in the school district and shall take into consideration:

                (1) academic performance of schools;

                (2) geographical location of schools;

                (3) feeder patterns of schools, meaning the elementary and middle schools whose student populations feed into high schools; and

                (4) specialty schools, including alternative and magnet schools.

          E. The associate superintendent of a school cluster shall:

                (1) hire, train and supervise school principals;

                (2) with the assistance of the appropriate school principal, hire and terminate or discharge teachers, other licensed school personnel and unlicensed school employees for each public school within the school cluster;

                (3) review and approve school plans and assist school principals in making necessary revisions to their plans;

                (4) develop a school cluster plan and school cluster budget and submit them to the local superintendent;

                (5) ensure that public schools are in compliance with state and federal laws;

                (6) review individual public school data on an ongoing basis to determine strategies necessary to improve student achievement; and

                (7) report regularly to the local superintendent and at least quarterly to the school board.

          F. An associate superintendent is accountable to the local superintendent for:

                (1) the performance of all public schools the associate superintendent oversees, including academic performance and operational management, including approving public school budgets, which must be allocated to implement the public school plan;

                (2) the satisfaction of parents, school administrators, teachers and other staff at each public school in the school cluster; and

                (3) selecting appropriate staff to carry out the school cluster plan.

          G. A school principal shall:

                (1) be responsible to the associate superintendent for the administration of the public school and the academic performance of the public school;

                (2) establish a school-community team for the public school;

                (3) develop a school plan and school-based budget with the assistance and advice of the school-community team;

                (4) select appropriate faculty and staff to carry out the school plan, including robust use of data to focus on student success; and

                (5) encourage teachers and instructional support providers to develop innovative methods that meet each student's needs and that help that student succeed.

          H. A school plan shall include a master plan for the public school, including academic programs, strategies to increase academic achievement of the school and extracurricular and co-curricular opportunities for students, staffing needs, instructional resources, the creation or continuation of programs that help students succeed; family and community engagement; and other matters required by the associate superintendent or recommended by the school-community team.

          I. A public school's school-community team shall consist of:

                (1) five teachers or other licensed school employees, elected by vote of the licensed school personnel;

                (2) two school staff who are not licensed school employees, elected by vote of the school staff;

                (3) four parents whose children are students at the public school, elected by parents;

                (4) if a secondary school, nonvoting students enrolled in the school, elected by the student body;

                (5) additional nonvoting members from the community, appointed by the school principal; and

                (6) the school principal, who shall be nonvoting.

          J. The school-community team shall:

                (1) meet monthly;

                (2) provide assistance and advice to the school principal in developing the school plan and its implementation and the school-based budget;

                (3) assist the associate superintendent if there is a school principal vacancy to determine the necessary candidate characteristics for the next school principal; and

                (4) select one member to serve on the interview committee when filling a school principal vacancy."

     SECTION 5. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] SCHOOL-BASED BUDGETS--ASSOCIATE SUPERINTENDENT BUDGETS--SCHOOL PERSONNEL.--

          A. Pursuant to Section 22-8-7.1 NMSA 1978, a reorganized school district shall develop school-based budgets that rollup to the school cluster and school district levels. The administrative expenses of the associate superintendents shall be part of the central administration budget.

          B. The provisions of the School Personnel Act notwithstanding, an associate superintendent may terminate or discharge a licensed school employee or terminate an unlicensed school employee based on the recommendations of the school principal. Appeals shall be taken to the local superintendent. The due process protections of the School Personnel Act shall be maintained in a termination or discharge. The associate superintendent shall not discharge a school employee without having instituted, either directly or through the school principal, mentoring, supervision and corrective action procedures as provided by department rule."

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