HOUSE JOINT MEMORIAL 93

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

INTRODUCED BY

Richard D. Vigil

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO STUDY THE FEASIBILITY AND EFFECT OF USING STATE SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION DISTRIBUTION FUNDS TO PROVIDE CITY BUS PASSES FOR STUDENTS TRAVELING BETWEEN SCHOOL ZONES.

     WHEREAS, New Mexico students and their families have the opportunity to transfer to the school of their choice within a district when space is available; and

     WHEREAS, the Albuquerque public schools' board of education supports the policy of allowing parents to choose the schools their children attend to the extent permitted by law; and

     WHEREAS, the Albuquerque public schools offer a variety of programs throughout the city designed to satisfy the great range of educational needs, interests and aspirations of Albuquerque high school students; and

     WHEREAS, the opportunity to choose a school where the parents and students feel comfortable can often be the critical factor in whether a student completes high school successfully; and

     WHEREAS, over three thousand four hundred high school students and their parents in the Albuquerque public schools exercise the opportunity to choose to attend a school outside their regular attendance zones but within the district; and

     WHEREAS, parents whose students transfer within their district are responsible for transporting their students to and from school; and

     WHEREAS, riding the bus is often the urban equivalent of automobile travel for city-dwelling inter-zone transfer students; and

     WHEREAS, the cost of inter-zone travel to and from school by whatever means may create a barrier to the exercise of choice for students whose families do not own a reliable automobile or who for other reasons cannot transport them to distant high schools;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public education department be requested to study the feasibility of permitting school districts to use state school transportation distribution funds to provide municipal bus tokens to high school inter-zone transfer students to travel to and from the school of their choice; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that in the course of the study, the public education department research the potential fiscal, student health and safety, tort liability, logistical and other effects and constraints that might weigh in the decision to put an inter-zone bus token policy in place, as well as the changes that would be required in law and rule to implement an inter-zone bus token policy; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education department include input from interested parties, including school district representatives, municipal transportation officials and the families of inter-zone students, in the study; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the public education department report its findings and recommendations to the legislative education study committee by November 2005; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of public education and the director of the legislative education study committee.

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