HOUSE BILL 344

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

Ray Begaye

AN ACT

RELATING TO NATIVE AMERICAN EDUCATION; DIRECTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO GATHER AND REPORT CERTAIN STATISTICS ON NEW MEXICO'S NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENTS.

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

     Section 1. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] GATHERING OF NATIVE AMERICAN STUDENT STATISTICS REQUIRED.--

          A. The department shall by rule provide for gathering and compiling information on Native American students in public schools and reporting the data through the accountability data system in operation by the department. The following information shall be gathered on the fortieth, the eightieth and the one hundred twentieth days as well as on December 1 and at the end of the year:

                (1) the numbers of Native American students in attendance;

                (2) of those Native American students in the third grade, their English reading percentile scores;

                (3) the number of Native American students who have transferred to a school since the beginning of the school year;

                (4) the number of Native American students who have withdrawn from enrollment without re-enrolling in another school in the district or requesting that their school records be forwarded to another school;

                (5) the number of Native American students who live in a single-parent household;

                (6) the number of Native American students identified for special education;

                (7) the number of Native American students identified for special education in the previous school year;

                (8) the number of Native American students qualified for the federal free or reduced fee school lunch program; and

                (9) the number of suicides of Native American students, even if the suicide occurs off-campus.

          B. For the purposes of this section a Native American student is a student who:

                (1) has been identified as Native American on school enrollment forms;

                (2) has not graduated from high school;

                (3) is regularly enrolled in one-half or more of the minimum course requirements approved by the department for public school students; and

                (4) is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year or, if receiving special education services, is at least three years of age at any time during the school year and is less than twenty-two years of age on the first day of the school year."

     Section 2. A new section of the Public School Code is enacted to read:

     "[NEW MATERIAL] REPORT TO THE LEGISLATIVE INDIAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE REQUIRED.--The secretary shall report annually to the legislative Indian affairs committee at its October meeting or its next meeting thereafter, summarizing the statistics gathered pursuant to Section 1 of this act and discussing their implications. In addition, the secretary shall issue an annual report summarizing the statistics and distribute the report to the Navajo Nation Indian education department and to all school districts where Native Americans comprise thirty percent or more of the student population."

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