SENATE BILL 484
49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009
INTRODUCED BY
Cisco McSorley
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; AMENDING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE TO INCLUDE MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS AS INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDERS; PROVIDING FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS TO BE LICENSED BY THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO WORK IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Code:
A. "academic proficiency" means mastery of the subject-matter knowledge and skills specified in state academic content and performance standards for a student's grade level;
B. "adequate yearly progress" means the measure adopted by the department based on federal requirements to assess the progress that a public school or school district or the state makes toward improving student achievement;
C. "commission" means the public education commission;
D. "department" means the public education department;
E. "forty-day report" means the report of qualified student membership of each school district and of those eligible to be qualified students but enrolled in a private school or a home school for the first forty days of school;
F. "home school" means the operation by the parent of a school-age person of a home study program of instruction that provides a basic academic educational program, including reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and science;
G. "instructional support provider" means a person who is employed to support the instructional program of a school district, including educational assistant, school counselor, social worker, school nurse, speech-language pathologist, psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist, marriage and family therapist, interpreter for the deaf and diagnostician;
H. "licensed school employee" means teachers, school administrators and instructional support providers;
I. "local school board" means the policy-setting body of a school district;
J. "local superintendent" means the chief executive officer of a school district;
K. "parent" includes a guardian or other person having custody and control of a school-age person;
L. "private school" means a school, other than a home school, that offers on-site programs of instruction and that is not under the control, supervision or management of a local school board;
M. "public school" means that part of a school district that is a single attendance center in which instruction is offered by one or more teachers and is discernible as a building or group of buildings generally recognized as either an elementary, middle, junior high or high school or any combination of those and includes a charter school;
N. "school" means a supervised program of instruction designed to educate a student in a particular place, manner and subject area;
O. "school administrator" means a person licensed to administer in a school district and includes school principals and central district administrators;
P. "school-age person" means a person who is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year and who has not received a high school diploma or its equivalent. A maximum age of twenty-one shall be used for a person who is classified as special education membership as defined in Section 22-8-21 NMSA 1978 or as a resident of a state institution;
Q. "school building" means a public school, an administration building and related school structures or facilities, including teacher housing, that is owned, acquired or constructed by the school district as necessary to carry out the functions of the school district;
R. "school bus private owner" means a person, other than a school district, the department, the state or any other political subdivision of the state, that owns a school bus;
S. "school district" means an area of land established as a political subdivision of the state for the administration of public schools and segregated geographically for taxation and bonding purposes;
T. "school employee" includes licensed and nonlicensed employees of a school district;
U. "school principal" means the chief instructional leader and administrative head of a public school;
V. "school year" means the total number of contract days offered by public schools in a school district during a period of twelve consecutive months;
W. "secretary" means the secretary of public education;
X. "state agency" or "state institution" means the New Mexico military institute, New Mexico school for the blind and visually impaired, New Mexico school for the deaf, New Mexico boys' school, girls' welfare home, New Mexico youth diagnostic and development center, Sequoyah adolescent treatment center, Carrie Tingley crippled children's hospital, New Mexico behavioral health institute at Las Vegas and any other state agency responsible for educating resident children;
Y. "state educational institution" means an institution enumerated in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico;
Z. "substitute teacher" means a person who holds a certificate to substitute for a teacher in the classroom;
AA. "teacher" means a person who holds a level one, two or three-A license and whose primary duty is classroom instruction or the supervision, below the school principal level, of an instructional program or whose duties include curriculum development, peer intervention, peer coaching or mentoring or serving as a resource teacher for other teachers;
BB. "certified school instructor" means a teacher or instructional support provider; and
CC. "certified school employee" or "certified school personnel" means a licensed school employee."
Section 2. Section 22-10A-17 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 48, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-10A-17. INSTRUCTIONAL SUPPORT PROVIDER LICENSES.--
A. The department shall license instructional support providers, including educational assistants, school counselors, school social workers, school nurses, speech-language pathologists, psychologists, physical therapists, physical therapy assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, recreational therapists, marriage and family therapists, interpreters for the deaf, diagnosticians and other service providers. The department may provide a professional licensing framework in which licensees can advance in their careers through the demonstration of increased competencies and the undertaking of increased duties.
B. The department shall provide by rule for the requirements for licensure of types of instructional support providers. If an instructional support provider practices a licensed profession, [he] the provider shall provide evidence satisfactory to the department that [he] the provider holds a current, unsuspended license in the profession for which [he] the provider is applying to provide instructional support services. The instructional support provider shall notify the school district and department immediately if [his] the provider's professional license is suspended, revoked or denied. Suspension, revocation or denial of a professional license shall be just cause for discharge or termination and suspension, revocation or denial of the instructional support provider license."
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