SENATE BILL 1126

48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007

INTRODUCED BY

Phil A. Griego

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC EDUCATION; ENACTING A NEW SECTION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE TO PROVIDE FOR CONDITIONS OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE.

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] PUBLIC SCHOOL CLOSURE--CONDITIONS.--

          A. A public school, excluding charter schools, recommended or under consideration for closure shall be evaluated by a school district's local school board and school administration for both quantitative strengths and weaknesses and qualitative characteristics prior to closure. A local school board may close a school within a two-year period if six of the following criteria are met:

                (1) the school has an enrollment, on the eightieth enrollment day of the most recent school year, of less than seventy-five percent of the school's maximum student capacity published by the school district's administration, excluding portable classrooms;

                (2) the percentage of students living within a school's attendance area who are enrolled in that school on the eightieth day, determined by dividing the number of students living within a school area attending their assigned school divided by the total number of students living within the school zone, is less than seventy percent;

                (3) the school has been identified as restructuring 2 under the department's school improvement system;

                (4) the school facility is considered functionally obsolete;

                (5) more than ten years have elapsed since the last facility upgrade or remodel in excess of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000);

                (6) the current facility is out of conformity to building or safety codes;

                (7) the current facility needs upgrades or remodeling that exceeds five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in cost; and 

                (8) there has been a cumulative drop of twenty-five percent or more in the enrollment of pre-school and school-age children during the prior three-year period.                 B. If a public school meets six of the criteria for closure pursuant to this section, the school's principal, teachers, students, parents and neighborhood shall be formally notified of the school's eligibility for closure, the school shall be placed on probation and shall have the following two academic school years to improve its standing in any of the criteria identifying the school for possible closure. If after two academic years, the school no longer meets six of the eight criteria, it shall not be considered for closure."

- 3 -