HOUSE BILL 354
53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017
INTRODUCED BY
Christine Trujillo
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; AMENDING THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE TO EXPAND THE MEANING OF "SCHOOL-AGE PERSON" AND TO REQUIRE THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO ESTABLISH AND EXPAND ACCELERATION OPPORTUNITIES FOR CERTAIN QUALIFYING STUDENTS.
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 by Laws 2015, Chapter 58, Section 2 and by Laws 2015, Chapter 108, Section 1) 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. "charter school" means a school authorized by a chartering authority to operate as a public school;
C. "commission" means the public education commission;
D. "department" means the public education department;
E. "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;
F. "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;
G. "licensed school employee" means teachers, school administrators and instructional support providers;
H. "local school board" means the policy-setting body of a school district;
I. "local superintendent" means the chief executive officer of a school district;
J. "parent" includes a guardian or other person having custody and control of a school-age person;
K. "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;
L. "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;
M. "school" means a supervised program of instruction designed to educate a student in a particular place, manner and subject area;
N. "school administrator" means a person licensed to administer in a school district and includes school principals, central district administrators and charter school head administrators;
O. "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; provided that a student who has been identified as qualifying for gifted education services pursuant to Section 22-13-6.1 NMSA 1978 may begin kindergarten early as part of an academic acceleration program pursuant to Section 22-13-6.1 NMSA 1978. 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;
P. "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;
Q. "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;
R. "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;
S. "school employee" includes licensed and nonlicensed employees of a school district;
T. "school principal" means the chief instructional leader and administrative head of a public school;
U. "school year" means the total number of contract days offered by public schools in a school district during a period of twelve consecutive months;
V. "secretary" means the secretary of public education;
W. "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;
X. "state educational institution" means an institution enumerated in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico;
Y. "substitute teacher" means a person who holds a certificate to substitute for a teacher in the classroom;
Z. "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;
AA. "certified school instructor" means a teacher or instructional support provider; and
BB. "certified school employee" or "certified school personnel" means a licensed school employee."
SECTION 2. Section 22-13-6.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1994, Chapter 25, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-13-6.1. GIFTED CHILDREN--DETERMINATION.--
A. The department shall adopt standards pertaining to the determination of who is a gifted child and shall publish those standards as part of the educational standards for New Mexico schools.
B. In adopting standards to determine who is a gifted child, the department shall provide for the evaluation of selected school-age [children] persons by multidisciplinary teams from each child's school district. That team shall be vested with the authority to designate a child as gifted. The team shall consider information regarding a child's cultural and linguistic background and socioeconomic background in the identification, referral and evaluation process. The team also shall consider any disabling condition in the identification, referral and evaluation process.
C. Each school district offering a gifted education program shall create one or more advisory committees of parents, community members, students and school staff members. The school district may create as many advisory committees as there are high schools in the district or may create a single districtwide advisory committee. The membership of each advisory committee shall reflect the cultural diversity of the enrollment of the school district or the schools the committee advises. The advisory committee shall regularly review the goals and priorities of the gifted program, including the operational plans for student identification, evaluation, placement and service delivery and shall demonstrate support for the gifted program.
D. In determining whether a child is gifted, the multidisciplinary team shall consider diagnostic or other evidence of the child's:
(1) creativity or divergent-thinking ability;
(2) critical-thinking or problem-solving ability;
(3) intelligence; and
(4) achievement.
E. School districts offering a gifted education program shall:
(1) consider the potential need for social work services, transportation costs and occupational therapy for students identified as gifted pursuant to this section;
(2) adopt an academic acceleration policy that allows all of the following:
(a) a range of options such as: 1) early entry into kindergarten; 2) skipping grades; 3) facilitated enrollment in concurrent high school and college credit courses; 4) credit for demonstrated mastery of subject matter; and 5) other research-based interventions for gifted and high-ability learners as a priority for expending federal Every Student Succeeds Act funding;
(b) specified nondiscrimination and inclusiveness of all students, including those with disabilities, language differences and socioeconomic differences;
(c) provisions that the individual education plan team may make acceleration decisions for students identified as gifted and that the student assistance team may make acceleration decisions for other advanced students not identified as gifted; and
(d) inclusion of procedures for: 1) appeal and due process; and 2) safe reversion of placement within a reasonable time frame if the acceleration is ineffective;
(3) uphold the student's right to accelerate through a dual-credit or concurrent credit course in the event that the student's home school offers the course that would allow the student to earn credit toward graduation;
(4) provide special supports for disadvantaged and disabled students who are also identified as gifted pursuant to this section to participate in acceleration; and
(5) accept accelerated credit or college credit earned at accredited schools toward graduation from the student's home high school.
F. A twice-exceptional student shall continue to be eligible for special education and related services even though the child achieves a high score on an intelligence test. For purposes of this section, "twice exceptional" means a student who qualifies as a gifted student and meets the criteria for a disability under federal law."
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