44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RELATING TO EDUCATION; AMENDING A SECTION OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE PERTAINING TO ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES, REMEDIATION PROGRAMS AND PROMOTION POLICIES.

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

Section 1. Section 22-2-8.6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986, Chapter 33, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-2-8.6. ESSENTIAL COMPETENCIES--REMEDIATION PROGRAMS--PROMOTION POLICIES--EXCEPTION.--

A. The state board shall identify measurable essential competencies and determine the criteria for mastery of the essential competencies as established in the state educational standards.

B. Local school boards shall develop remediation programs to provide special instructional assistance to students in grades one through eight who fail to master the essential competencies as established by the state board and shall provide early notification of such failure to parents of those students. Remediation programs may include but not be limited to tutoring or summer programs. The cost of school district-approved remediation programs shall be borne by the school district. Remediation plans shall be filed with the state board.

C. The cost of summer and after-school remediation programs offered in grades nine through twelve shall be borne by the parent or guardian; however, where parents are determined to be indigent according to guidelines established by the state board, the local school board shall bear those costs.

D. Diagnosis of weaknesses identified by the reading assessment instrument administered pursuant to Section

22-2-8.5 NMSA 1978 shall serve as a criterion in assessing the need for remedial programs or retention.

E. At the end of grades one through eight, there are three options available, dependent on a student's mastery of essential competencies:

(1) the student has mastered the essential competencies and shall enter the next higher grade;

(2) the student has not mastered the essential competencies and may participate in remediation. Upon certification by the school district that the student has successfully mastered his areas of deficiency, he shall enter the next higher grade; or

(3) the student has not mastered the essential competencies and upon the recommendation of the certified school instructor and school principal shall be retained in the same grade for no more than one school year in order to have an additional opportunity to master the essential competencies, at which time the student shall enter the next higher grade.

F. Any student who has participated in remediation programs pursuant to Paragraph (2) of Subsection E of this section and for whom retention is recommended shall be afforded an opportunity for a parent-teacher conference for the purpose of outlining the options available for the student and explaining the grounds for the recommendation of retention. [A parent or guardian who refuses to allow his child to be retained pursuant to Paragraph (3) of Subsection E of this section shall sign a waiver indicating that the child's promotion is against the specific advice and recommendation of the certified school instructor and the school principal.]

G. Any student who fails to master the essential competencies for two successive school years shall be referred to an alternative program designed by the school district. Alternative program plans shall be filed with the state board."