HOUSE BILL 556
57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2025
INTRODUCED BY
Rebecca Dow and Gail Armstrong
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL PERSONNEL; INCLUDING COMMUNITY HEALTH WORKERS IN THE DEFINITION OF AND LICENSURE REQUIREMENTS FOR "INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDERS".
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 by Laws 2019, Chapter 206, Section 1 and by Laws 2019, Chapter 207, Section 1) 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. "charter school" means a school authorized by a chartering authority to operate as a public school;
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 and community health worker;
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, central district administrators and charter school head 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, 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 and meets other criteria provided in the Public School Finance Act;
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 licensed school employee; and
BB. "certified school employee" or "certified school personnel" means a licensed school employee."
SECTION 2. Section 22-10A-17 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 48, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-10A-17. INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDER LICENSES.--
A. The following instructional support providers shall obtain appropriate licensure from the department: educational assistants, school counselors, school social workers, school nurses, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, recreational therapists, marriage and family therapists, interpreters for the deaf, diagnosticians, attendance coaches, practical nurses, school health assistants, school business officials, rehabilitation counselors, athletic coaches, educational alcohol and drug abuse counselors, [and] substance abuse associates and community health workers. The department may provide a professional licensing framework in which licensees can advance in their careers through the demonstration of increased competencies and the undertaking of increased duties.
B. The department shall provide by rule for the licensure requirements for any instructional support providers. If an instructional support provider practices a licensed profession, the provider shall provide evidence satisfactory to the department that the provider holds a current, unsuspended license in the profession for which the provider is applying to provide instructional support services.
C. An instructional support provider licensed by the department shall also hold a valid professional license or certificate issued by the instructional support provider's respective licensing or certifying authority, if applicable, and shall continuously hold such underlying professional licensure or certification for as long as the instructional support provider holds licensure issued by the department.
D. If the underlying professional license or certificate for any reason expires, is suspended, is revoked or is denied, a person seeking or holding an instructional support provider license shall notify the department in writing within fourteen calendar days of such suspension, revocation, denial or expiration.
E. Suspension, revocation, denial or expiration of an underlying professional license or certificate, or failure to notify the department of such, shall constitute just cause for discharge or termination from employment and for suspension, revocation or denial of an instructional support provider license."
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