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A MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT STUDY THE

HIRING POLICIES AND PRACTICES OF LOCAL SCHOOL BOARDS.

WHEREAS, public school reforms enacted in 2003 limited

the employment duties of local school boards to

superintendents; and

WHEREAS, public school reforms enacted in 2003 expanded

the employment duties of superintendents to include all

district employees, whether licensed or unlicensed; and

WHEREAS, parents, teachers and other stakeholders in a

school district have a vested interest in the board members

whom they elect to office; and

WHEREAS, parents, teachers and other stakeholders in a

school district have a vested interest in the superintendent

who is hired by the local school board; and

WHEREAS, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of

public education dollars are expended each year to pay the

salaries, benefits and other contractual perquisites of

district superintendents; and

WHEREAS, in recent years, local school boards have made

superintendent hiring decisions that have resulted in the

actual or perceived need to end those employments; and

WHEREAS, some of the recent superintendent hiring

decisions that have resulted in termination of those

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employments have led to litigation; and

WHEREAS, some of the recent superintendent hiring

decisions that have resulted in termination of those

employments have led to costly buyouts of the remainder of

lengthy and lucrative contracts; and

WHEREAS, some of these recent issues between

superintendents and their local school boards have raised

concerns over fiscal responsibility, board member ethics, the

methods by which boards find and select candidates for

superintendent and the use of multiyear contracts instead of

single-year contracts;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF

REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the public

education department be requested to study the hiring policies

and practices of local school boards in the state to determine

what works and what does not; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department determine the

cost of contract buyouts during the 2006-2007 school year; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department examine the

contract duration options that are available under current

law; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department identify the

ethical, constitutional or legal issues, if any, that are

raised when local school board members offer a multiyear

employment contract to an incumbent superintendent before they

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leave office in a school election year; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department study and

recommend options to change laws regarding the relieving,

hiring, terminating and disciplining of superintendents and

local school board members; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the department report its

findings and recommendations to the legislative education

study committee no later than November 1, 2007; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be

transmitted to the secretary of public education.