HOUSE BILL 345
46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2004
INTRODUCED BY
Mimi Stewart
FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE
AN ACT
RELATING TO EDUCATION; CHANGING HOW INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL ALLOCATIONS ARE CALCULATED, DISTRIBUTED AND EXPENDED.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 22-15-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 205, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-15-1. SHORT TITLE.--Sections [77-13-1 through 77-13-14 NMSA 1953] 22-15-1 through 22-15-14 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Instructional Material Law"."
Section 2. Section 22-15-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 206, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-15-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Instructional Material Law:
A. "division" or "bureau" means the instructional material bureau of the department [of education];
B. "director" or "chief" means the chief of the bureau;
C. "instructional material" means school textbooks and other educational media [including on-line resources, distance learning media and productivity software] that are used as the basis for instruction, including combinations of textbooks, learning kits, supplementary material and electronic media;
D. "multiple list" means a written list of those instructional materials approved by the [state board] department;
E. "membership" means the average total enrollment of qualified students on the fortieth, eightieth and one hundred twentieth day of the school year entitled to the free use of instructional material pursuant to the Instructional Material Law; and
F. "additional [pupil] student" means a [pupil] student in a school district's, state institution's or private school's current year's certified forty-day membership above the number certified in the school district's, state institution's or private school's prior year's forty-day membership."
Section 3. Section 22-15-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 208, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-15-4. BUREAU--DUTIES.--Subject to the policies and regulations of the [state board] department, the bureau shall:
A. administer the provisions of the Instructional Material Law;
B. enforce [regulations] rules for the handling, safekeeping and distribution of instructional material and instructional material funds and for inventory and accounting procedures to be followed by school districts, state institutions, private schools and adult basic education centers pursuant to the Instructional Material Law;
C. withdraw or withhold the privilege of participating in the free use of instructional material in case of any violation of or noncompliance with the provisions of the Instructional Material Law or any [regulations] rules adopted pursuant [thereto; and] to that act;
D. enforce [regulations] rules relating to the use and operation of instructional material depositories in the instructional material distribution process; and
E. enforce rules that require local school boards to implement a process that ensures that parents and other community members are involved in the instructional material review process."
Section 4. Section 22-15-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 213, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-15-9. DISTRIBUTION OF FUNDS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL.--
A. On or before [July 1] April 15 of each year, the department [of education] shall allocate to each school district, state institution or private school not less than [ninety] ninety-five percent of its estimated entitlement for the following year as determined from the [estimated forty-day membership for the next school year. A school district's, state institution's or private school's entitlement is that portion of the total amount of the annual appropriation less a deduction for a reasonable reserve for emergency expenses that its forty-day membership bears to the forty-day membership of the entire state. For the purpose of this allocation, additional pupils shall be counted as six pupils] membership of the current year. The allocation for adult basic education shall be based on a full-time equivalency obtained by multiplying the total previous year's enrollment by .25.
B. On or before January 15 of each year, the department [of education] shall recompute each entitlement using the [forty-day membership for that year] prior-year membership plus the number of additional students, except for adult basic education, and shall allocate the balance of the annual appropriation adjusting for any over- or under-estimation made in the first allocation. For the purpose of this allocation, additional students shall be counted as six students.
C. [An amount not to exceed thirty percent of the allocations attributed to] Each [local] school district, state institution or adult basic education center may [be used for instructional material] expend up to one hundred percent of its instructional material allocation for items that are not included on the multiple list provided for in Section 22-15-8 NMSA 1978. [Adult basic education centers may expend up to one hundred percent of their instructional material funds for items that are not on the multiple list.]
D. The department [of education] shall establish procedures for the distribution of funds directly to [local] school districts, state institutions and adult basic education centers. [The department of education shall distribute funds to private schools on a reimbursement basis] The department shall provide payment to a publisher or depository on behalf of a private school for instructional material included on the multiple list provided for in Section 22-15-8 NMSA 1978.
E. A school district, state institution, private school or adult basic education center that has unencumbered funds remaining for the purchase of instructional material at the end of the fiscal year shall retain twenty-five percent of those funds for expenditure in subsequent years. [Any balance remaining in an instructional material account of a private school at the end of the fiscal year shall remain available for reimbursement by the department of education for instructional material purchases in subsequent years.] The department shall use the remaining seventy-five percent as a credit in determining the allocation for instructional material for the following school year."
Section 5. Section 22-15-12 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 216, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-15-12. ANNUAL REPORT.--Annually, at a time specified by the department [of education], each local school board [of a school district] and each governing authority of a state institution, private school or adult basic education center acquiring instructional material pursuant to the Instructional Material Law shall file a report with the department [of education] that includes an itemized list of instructional material purchased by the eligible entity, by vendor; the total cost of the instructional material; the average per-student cost; and the year-end cash balance."
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