HOUSE BILL 97

50th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2011

INTRODUCED BY

Jimmie C. Hall

FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CLARIFYING THE ATTENDANCE PRIORITIES FOR SCHOOLS THAT ARE CONVERTED TO CHARTER SCHOOLS PURSUANT TO THE ACCOUNTABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY ACT.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

     SECTION 1. Section 22-2C-7.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2007, Chapter 309, Section 6) is amended to read:

     "22-2C-7.1. FAILING SCHOOL SUBJECT TO REOPENING AS STATE-CHARTERED CHARTER SCHOOL--REQUIREMENTS.--

          A. If, pursuant to Subsections I and J of Section 22-2C-7 NMSA 1978, the school district in which a public school that has failed to make adequate yearly progress for five consecutive years recommends that the public school be reopened as a state-chartered charter school, the department, after holding a public hearing in the school district, may take steps to have the public school reopened as a state-chartered charter school.

          B. To reopen as a state-chartered charter school:

                (1) the school's current enrollment for all grades cannot exceed ten percent of the total MEM of the school district where it is located when the school district has a total enrollment of less than one thousand three hundred students;

                (2) the students enrolled at the time of its reopening as a state-chartered charter school, as well as those students' siblings, shall be given enrollment performance;

                [(2)] (3) the department, after obtaining information and community input during the public hearing, shall find at least five qualified persons willing to serve in an interim capacity as a governing body;

                [(3)] (4) the governing body shall employ a qualified school administrator within thirty days of its appointment by the department;

                [(4)] (5) the governing body shall qualify as a board of finance and satisfy any conditions imposed by the commission prior to commencing full operation;

                [(5)] (6) the governing body shall develop a written plan and proposed charter that is satisfactory to the commission and that at a minimum addresses the following issues:

                     (a) the employment, discharge, termination or displacement of current school employees, including the effect of employment decisions on current employment contracts and collective bargaining agreements;

                     (b) fiscal and records management;

                     (c) instructional and administrative facilities;

                     (d) student transportation;

                     (e) special education;

                     (f) curriculum;

                     (g) education-related and other services;

                     (h) accreditation;

                     (i) food service;

                     (j) graduation requirements, if a waiver of state graduation requirements is sought;

                     (k) governance turnover; and

                     (l) student assessments and school accountability;

                [(6)] (7) the governing body and the school shall comply with any other substantive or procedural requirements imposed on them by law or rule of the department; and

                [(7)] (8) the department and the governing body shall have a plan to provide for an orderly transition.

          C. If, within ninety days of its determination that the school should be reopened as a state-chartered charter school, the department is unable to constitute a qualified governing body or the governing body does not have its charter approved by the commission and does not find a qualified school administrator able to commence operation of the proposed state-chartered charter school, the failing school shall not be reopened as a state-chartered charter school. Failure to reopen the school as a state-chartered charter school does not affect other actions that may be taken to improve the school.

          D. The provisions of the Charter Schools Act shall apply to a public school that is reopened as a state-chartered charter school."

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