46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CREATING A SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROJECT; PROVIDING POWERS AND DUTIES; PROVIDING FOR AN EVALUATION PROCESS.

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

Section 1. SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT PILOT PROJECT--PURPOSE--SELECTION--EVALUATION.--

A. The "school improvement pilot project" is created as a five-year study to evaluate the efficacy of specified improvement strategies in the overall improvement of probationary public schools. The pilot project shall be administered by the state department of public education.

B. The pilot project shall provide a model of student achievement and school improvement that can be replicated in public schools to assist them in meeting the requirements of the statewide accountability system and the adequate yearly progress requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The pilot project shall address the first performance goal in the state department of public education's consolidated state plan, which is that, by the 2013-2014 school year, all students will reach high academic standards and, at a minimum, attain proficiency or better in reading and language arts and mathematics.

C. The state department of public education, in collaboration with the local school boards, shall select one elementary school each from the Gallup-McKinley county public school district, the Albuquerque public school district and the Gadsden independent school district that were ranked as probationary schools in the 2002-2003 school year to participate in the pilot project. The pilot project shall run from the 2003-2004 school year to the 2008-2009 school year.

D. The participating school districts and elementary schools may implement the following improvement activities within the school district's allocated federal Title 1 funds:

(1) provide extended contracts for school personnel for an eight-hour day;

(2) employ for the participating elementary schools only those teachers who are fully certified in the field in which they teach; provided that transfers of teachers who have substandard or substitute certificates or are teaching on subject waivers to other schools shall be in accordance with the due process provisions of Chapter 22, Article 10 NMSA 1978;

(3) provide a rigorous evaluation, mentorship and intervention program for teachers who choose to remain at the pilot project elementary schools;

(4) constitute a school personnel committee, consisting of a curriculum coordinator, six teachers and four parents, that develops criteria for selecting teacher candidates to fill vacancies and makes recommendations to the principal on teacher candidates;

(5) require the principal to employ new teachers from a list of three candidates recommended by the school personnel committee;

(6) provide after-school activities for the elementary school's students;

(7) provide full-day and full-year pre-kindergarten and kindergarten programs;

(8) provide a five percent salary increase for teachers in the elementary school above any other salary increase approved by the local school board; and

(9) provide an additional ten thousand dollar ($10,000) annual salary differential above the local school board salary for each teacher that is national board certified by the national board for professional teaching standards.

E. The state department of public education shall develop an evaluation component to determine the progress of the participating elementary schools, which is aligned with the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and indicates that a participating elementary school is meeting adequate yearly progress as required by that act.