HOUSE BILL 59
54th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2020
INTRODUCED BY
Sheryl Williams Stapleton and Mary Kay Papen
FOR THE LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOL FINANCE; AMENDING THE AT-RISK PROGRAM UNITS; CHANGING THE AT-RISK INDEX CALCULATION; MAKING AN APPROPRIATION.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 22-8-23.3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1997, Chapter 40, Section 7, as amended by Laws 2019, Chapter 206, Section 15 and by Laws 2019, Chapter 207, Section 15) is amended to read:
"22-8-23.3. AT-RISK PROGRAM UNITS.--
A. A school district is eligible for additional program units if it establishes within its department-approved educational plan identified services to assist students to reach their full academic potential. A school district receiving additional at-risk program units shall include a report of specified services implemented to improve the academic success of at-risk students. The report shall identify the ways in which the school district and individual public schools use funding generated through the at-risk index and the intended outcomes. For purposes of this section, "at-risk student" means a student who meets the criteria to be included in the calculation of the three-year average total rate in Subsection B of this section. The number of additional units to which a school district is entitled under this section is computed in the following manner:
At-Risk Index x MEM = Units
where MEM is equal to the total district membership, including early childhood education, full-time-equivalent membership and special education membership and where the at-risk index is calculated in the following manner:
Three-Year Average Total Rate x [0.25] 0.30 = At-Risk
Index.
B. To calculate the three-year average total rate, the department shall compute a three-year average of the school district's percentage of membership used to determine its Title 1 allocation, a three-year average of the percentage of membership classified as English language learners using criteria established by the office for civil rights of the United States department of education and a three-year average of the percentage of student mobility. The department shall then add the three-year average rates. The number obtained from this calculation is the three-year average total rate.
C. The department shall recalculate the at-risk index for each school district every year.
D. For purposes of this section, "services" means research-based or evidence-based social, emotional or academic interventions, such as:
(1) case management, tutoring, reading interventions and after-school programs that are delivered by social workers, counselors, teachers or other professional staff;
(2) culturally relevant professional and curriculum development, including those necessary to support language acquisition, bilingual and multicultural education;
(3) additional compensation strategies for high-need schools;
(4) whole school interventions, including school-based health centers and community schools;
(5) educational programming intended to improve career and college readiness of at-risk students, including dual or concurrent enrollment, career and technical education, guidance counseling services and coordination with post-secondary institutions; and
(6) services to engage and support parents and families in the education of students."
SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Fifty million five hundred thousand dollars ($50,500,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the state equalization guarantee distribution of the public school fund for expenditure in fiscal year 2021 to increase the at-risk index. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of fiscal year 2021 shall revert to the general fund.
SECTION 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2020.
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