SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 14

56th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2023

INTRODUCED BY

Gay G. Kernan and Martin Hickey

 

 

 

 

 

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT, THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE, THE LEGISLATIVE FINANCE COMMITTEE, THE NEW MEXICO COALITION OF EDUCATIONAL LEADERS, THE NEW MEXICO SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION AND PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOLS OF NEW MEXICO TO FORM A WORKING GROUP TO STUDY AND TO RECOMMEND A PLAN FOR REDUCING SCHOOL AND SCHOOL DISTRICT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

 

     WHEREAS, during the 2017 legislative session, the legislature unanimously enacted House Bill 453, which repealed several unnecessary and burdensome reporting requirements on school districts; and

     WHEREAS, on May 23, 2022, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed Executive Order 2022-058, directing the public education department to identify and implement changes to reduce administrative burdens for teachers and school administrators by at least twenty-five percent; and

     WHEREAS, a reports inventory conducted by the public education department in response to the executive order has identified that school districts and charter schools currently comply with two hundred forty-four data collections and application narratives across twenty-four different units of the department annually; and

     WHEREAS, the reports inventory concluded that the total annual time that school districts and charter schools spend completing these reports is approximately ten thousand five hundred hours, or the work of about five full-time employees for each school district and charter school; and

     WHEREAS, burdensome reporting requirements are one reason why central and general administration spending by school districts and charter schools grew by fifty-five percent between 2007 and 2019, while spending on instruction grew by twenty percent; and

     WHEREAS, reducing administrative burdens and costs will make additional resources available to students and teachers for expenses, including instructional materials, professional development and support services and personnel; and

     WHEREAS, the 2019 School Support and Accountability Act requires the public education department to establish a system that tracks indicators of academic achievement, metrics of school success and designations of school quality, including disaggregated student data;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department, the legislative education study committee, the legislative finance committee, the New Mexico coalition of educational leaders, the New Mexico school boards association and public charter schools of New Mexico be requested to convene a working group to study all state and federal reporting requirements imposed on school districts and charter schools; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group consider the public education data needs of the state and consult with public school and school district leaders to identify nonessential, redundant and unnecessarily burdensome school and school district reports required by state law or rule of the public education department; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the working group recommend a plan to reduce the number of state reports submitted by school districts and charter schools to the public education department, with a goal of reducing school and school district reporting requirements by at least twenty-five percent; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the plan include recommendations of any legislative or regulatory changes needed to reduce reporting requirements as well as any public education department process improvements that can be implemented without changes to law; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the plan include recommendations regarding an information technology strategy that would consolidate current education data reporting systems into a single student information system to streamline reporting and make education data more easily available for program evaluation and research, similar to the system of accountability information implemented in Nevada; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the plan be submitted to the governor and the New Mexico legislative council no later than December 1, 2023; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the governor; the secretary of public education for further distribution to the New Mexico coalition of educational leaders, the New Mexico school boards association, the public charter schools of New Mexico and other interested persons; and the directors of the legislative education study and legislative finance committees.

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