SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR

SENATE BILL 575

51st legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2013

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; INCREASING THE MINIMUM INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS IN A SCHOOL YEAR; RECONCILING MULTIPLE AMENDMENTS TO THE SAME SECTION OF LAW IN LAWS 2011; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.

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

     SECTION 1. Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 33, Section 2, as amended by Laws 2011, Chapter 35, Section 1 and by Laws 2011, Chapter 154, Section 1) is amended to read:

     "22-2-8.1. SCHOOL YEAR--[LENGTH OF SCHOOL DAY] MINIMUM INSTRUCTIONAL HOURS.--

          A. [Except as otherwise provided in this section, regular students shall be in school-directed programs, exclusive of lunch, for a minimum of the following:

                (1) kindergarten, for half-day programs, two and one-half hours per day or four hundred fifty hours per year or, for full-day programs, five and one-half hours per day or nine hundred ninety hours per year;

                (2) grades one through six, five and

one-half hours per day or nine hundred ninety hours per year; and

                (3) grades seven through twelve, six hours per day or one thousand eighty hours per year] In a school year, public school students shall be in programs, exclusive of lunch, for the following minimum instructional hours:

                (1) for students in kindergarten attending half-day programs, five hundred instructional hours and, for students in kindergarten attending full-day programs, one thousand one hundred instructional hours;

                (2) for students in grades one through six, one thousand one hundred instructional hours; and

                (3) for students in grades seven through twelve, one thousand two hundred instructional hours.

          B. For a school that follows a regular school year calendar, a school year consists of a minimum of two hundred instructional days that provide the minimum instructional hours established in Subsection A of this section in four ten-week quarters evenly spaced in a calendar year. For a school that follows a variable school calendar pursuant to the Variable School Calendar Act, the department shall approve a school's requested length and number of instructional days in a school year that provides the minimum instructional hours established in Subsection A of this section in four quarters evenly spaced in a calendar year.

          [B.] C. The following programs may count toward the calculation of the minimum instructional hours in a school year:

                (1) professional development programs provided by the school district;

                (2) up to thirty-three hours of the full-day kindergarten program may be used for home visits by the teacher or for parent-teacher conferences;

                (3) up to twenty-two hours of grades one through six programs may be used for home visits by the teacher or for parent-teacher conferences; and

                (4) up to twelve hours of grades seven through twelve programs may be used to consult with parents to develop next step plans for students and for parent-teacher conferences. 

          D. Days or hours when no instruction is given due to weather, in-service training, teacher planning and preparation or other events that are not programs set forth in Subsection C of this section shall not count toward the calculation of minimum instructional hours.

          [C.] E. Nothing in this section precludes a local school board or the governing body of a charter school from [setting a school year or the length of school days in excess of] increasing the number of minimum [requirements] instructional hours established [by Subsection A of] in this section.

          [D. The secretary may waive the minimum length of school days in those school districts where such minimums would create undue hardships as defined by the department as long as the school year is adjusted to ensure that students in those school districts receive the same total instructional time as other students in the state.

          G.] F. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, provided that instruction occurs simultaneously, time when breakfast is served or consumed pursuant to a state or federal program shall be deemed to be time in a program [and is part of the instructional day] that counts toward the calculation of minimum instructional hours."

     SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred sixty-one million one hundred thirty-four thousand dollars ($261,134,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state equalization guarantee for expenditure in fiscal year 2014 to provide for twenty instructional days. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2014 shall revert to the general fund.

     SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2013.

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