HOUSE BILL 59

54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2020

INTRODUCED BY

Sheryl Williams Stapleton and Mary Kay Papen

 

 

 

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

 

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE; AMENDING THE AT-RISK PROGRAM UNITS; CHANGING THE AT-RISK INDEX CALCULATION; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

 

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

     SECTION 1. Section 22-8-23.3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 40, Section 7, as amended by Laws 2019, Chapter 206, Section 15 and by Laws 2019, Chapter 207, Section 15) is amended to read:

     "22-8-23.3. AT-RISK PROGRAM UNITS.--

          A. A school district is eligible for additional program units if it establishes within its department-approved educational plan identified services to assist students to reach their full academic potential. A school district receiving additional at-risk program units shall include a report of specified services implemented to improve the academic success of at-risk students. The report shall identify the ways in which the school district and individual public schools use funding generated through the at-risk index and the intended outcomes. For purposes of this section, "at-risk student" means a student who meets the criteria to be included in the calculation of the three-year average total rate in Subsection B of this section. The number of additional units to which a school district is entitled under this section is computed in the following manner:

                At-Risk Index x MEM = Units

where MEM is equal to the total district membership, including early childhood education, full-time-equivalent membership and special education membership and where the at-risk index is calculated in the following manner:

     Three-Year Average Total Rate x [0.25] 0.30 = At-Risk

Index.

          B. To calculate the three-year average total rate, the department shall compute a three-year average of the school district's percentage of membership used to determine its Title 1 allocation, a three-year average of the percentage of membership classified as English language learners using criteria established by the office for civil rights of the United States department of education and a three-year average of the percentage of student mobility. The department shall then add the three-year average rates. The number obtained from this calculation is the three-year average total rate.

          C. The department shall recalculate the at-risk index for each school district every year.

          D. For purposes of this section, "services" means research-based or evidence-based social, emotional or academic interventions, such as:

                (1) case management, tutoring, reading interventions and after-school programs that are delivered by social workers, counselors, teachers or other professional staff;

                (2) culturally relevant professional and curriculum development, including those necessary to support language acquisition, bilingual and multicultural education;

                (3) additional compensation strategies for high-need schools;

                (4) whole school interventions, including school-based health centers and community schools;

                (5) educational programming intended to improve career and college readiness of at-risk students, including dual or concurrent enrollment, career and technical education, guidance counseling services and coordination with post-secondary institutions; and

                (6) services to engage and support parents and families in the education of students."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Fifty million five hundred thousand dollars ($50,500,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state equalization guarantee distribution of the public school fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2021 to increase the at-risk index. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2021 shall revert to the general fund.

     SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2020.

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