SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL 1225
48th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2007
AN ACT
RELATING TO THE PUBLIC PEACE, HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE; ALLOWING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL FUNDS TO BE USED FOR MATERIALS OTHER THAN TEXTBOOKS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. 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;
B. "director" or "chief" means the chief of the bureau;
C. "instructional material" means school textbooks and other educational media 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 department;
E. "membership" means the total enrollment of qualified students on the fortieth day of the school year entitled to the free use of instructional material pursuant to the Instructional Material Law;
F. "additional pupil" means a pupil 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; [and]
G. "school district" includes state-chartered charter schools; and
H. "other classroom materials" means materials other than textbooks that are used to support direct instruction to students."
Section 2. 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 April 1 of each year, the department shall allocate to each school district, state institution or private school not less than ninety percent of its estimated entitlement 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. 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 shall recompute each entitlement using the forty-day membership for that year, 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.
C. An amount not to exceed fifty percent of the allocations attributed to each school district, state institution or adult basic education center may be used for instructional material not included on the multiple list provided for in Section 22-15-8 NMSA 1978, and up to twenty-five percent of this amount may be used for other classroom materials. The local superintendent may apply to the department for a waiver of the use of funds allocated for the purchase of instructional material either included or not included on the multiple list. If the waiver is granted, the school district shall not be required to submit a budget adjustment request to the department. 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 shall establish procedures for the distribution of funds directly to school districts, state institutions and adult basic education centers. 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 or adult basic education center that has funds remaining for the purchase of instructional material at the end of the fiscal year shall retain 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 for instructional material purchases in subsequent years."
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