*HB 21

*H 21 LIMIT CERTAIN SCHOOL GRADE PROMOTIONS (Passed H-Died on Senate Calendar), Rep. MH. Garcia— CS/H 21a repeals the section of the Assessment and Accountability Act regarding grade promotions, remediation, and retention to provide that, in kindergarten through grade 3, a student must be evaluated to determine reading ability and if deemed deficient, an academic improvement plan must be developed for the student; and that beginning with school year 2012-2013, at the end of grade 3 a student who does not score higher than the lowest level on the New Mexico standards-based assessment must be retained in grade 3 for one year without the opportunity for a parental waiver, with an academic improvement plan that prescribes specific intervention and remediation programs; to specify exemptions from retention for certain students; and to require that at the end of the summer immediately preceding grade 4, a retained student must have the opportunity to demonstrate reading proficiency and be promoted to grade 4. (CS/H 21 & 100)

HB 86

SCHOOL BOARD EMPLOYEE DECISIONS, Rep. Begaye— amends the Public School Code to make local school boards responsible for approving or disapproving the employment, termination, or discharge of all school employees. Died in Committee

*HB 104

REDUCE NONLICENSED SCHOOL EMPLOYEE PROBATION, Rep. E. Chávez — amends the Public School Code to allow local school boards and state agencies to terminate non-licensed employees with less than one year of service for any reason deemed sufficient; and allows a non-licensed employee of more than one year to be fired only for just cause, and permits such an employee to request to make a statement before the school board, and to have the reasons for termination in writing. Died in Committee

HB 518

H 518 EDUCATION DEPT. REDIRECTING RESOURCES, Rep. Hall — amends the Public School Code to allow the Public Education Department to redirect school district resources toward educational programs and methods that are grounded in scientifically based research linked to student achievement. Died in Committee

HB 510

SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP, Rep. Begaye— creates the Special Needs Student Scholarship Act to be administered by the Public Education Department; provides for tuition scholarship organizations to grant educational scholarships to special needs students to attend certain public and nonpublic schools; creates income tax and corporate income tax credits for contributions to tuition scholarship organizations that provide educational scholarships for special needs students to attend public or private schools of the student’s parents’ choice; and adjusts the Public School Funding Formula to deduct students who participate in the scholarship program. [Identical to S 398] Died in Committee

*HB 427

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP ACT, Rep. Maestas — creates the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act; provides for tuition scholarship organizations to grant educational scholarships to low-income students to attend certain public and nonpublic schools; creates income tax and corporate income tax credits for contributions to tuition scholarship organizations that provide educational scholarships for low-income students to attend public or private schools of the student’s parents’ choice; requires the Public Education Department to administer the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act; and reduces program units and program costs in the State Equalization Guarantee distribution. [Identical to S 433]

*HB 644

AMEND CERTAIN RETIREMENT ACTS, Rep. Stewart— amends the Public Employees Retirement Act and the Educational Retirement Act to reduce cost-of-living adjustments; and increases age and service requirements for retirement of certain legislators and employees. Died in Senate Finance

SB 1

RECOVERY INVESTMENT BONDING ACT, Sen. M. Sanchez — creates the Recovery Investment Bonding Act; authorizes the issuance of up to $300 million of short-term revenue bonds, known as “Recovery Investment Notes,” for the purpose of supplementing revenue to the General Fund; pledges gross receipts tax revenue for the retirement of the bonds; and appropriates the gross receipt tax revenues to the State Board of Finance to make debt service payments. (May affect public schools) Finance Committee Would not Hear

SB 2

SCHOOL CAPITAL OUTLAY, GRANTS & CONSOLIDATION, Sen. Beffort — amends CS/S 2a the Public School Capital Outlay Act to provide incentives for school districts to limit school populations when constructing new schools or renovating existing schools; provides for procedures for the closure or consolidation of schools; and provides that students attending high schools with enrollments smaller than 900 students may participate in school district extracurricular activities at other schools if they are not offered at the school that they attend. Died on Senate Calendar

SB 113

TAX CREDIT FOR CERTAIN SCHOLARSHIP DONATIONS, Sen. Boitano —creates a new section of the Income Tax Act to provide a personal income tax credit for contributions made to certain organizations that provide tuition scholarships for students to attend nongovernmental schools; and requires a receipt from the organization certifying that the contribution will be used for educational scholarships or tuition grants for one or more children.  Died in Committee

SB 398

ENACT “SPECIAL NEEDS STUDENT SCHOLARSHIP ACT,” Sen. Ortiz y Pino — creates the Special Needs Student Scholarship Act; provides for tuition scholarship organizations to grant educational scholarships to special needs students to attend certain public and nonpublic schools; creates income tax and corporate income tax credits for contributions to tuition scholarship organizations that provide educational scholarships for special needs students to attend public or private schools of the student’s parents choice; and reduces program units and program costs in the State Equalization Guarantee distribution. (May affect public schools) [Identical to H 510] Died in Committee

SB 433

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY SCHOLARSHIP ACT, Sen. Campos — creates the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act; provides for tuition scholarship organizations to grant educational scholarships to low-income students to attend certain public and nonpublic

schools; creates income tax and corporate income tax credits for contributions to tuition scholarship organizations that provide educational scholarships for low-income students to attend public or private schools of the student’s parents’ choice; requires the Public Education Department to administer the Equal Opportunity Scholarship Act; and reduces program units and program costs in the State Equalization Guarantee distribution. [Identical to H 427]

SB 502

SCHOOL TEACHER & PRINCIPAL EVALUATION (Passed S), Sen. Nava — adds a

*CS/S 502 new section to the School Personnel Act and amends existing sections of that act and the

*CS/CS/S 502a Charter Schools Act to require school districts and charter schools to evaluate teachers using their own evaluation programs based on a statewide framework developed by the Public Education Department (PED) to measure teacher effectiveness and improve student achievement; among its provisions, specifies that the term “district” includes charter schools; prescribes components of the district evaluation program and requires approval and monitoring by PED; requires at least half of teacher evaluation to be based on student academic growth as determined by certain assessments; requires districts to use the results of the teacher evaluations to tailor professional development; requires at least half of school principals’ evaluations to be based on their school’s achievement; requires teacher and principal evaluations to inform incentives for effective teachers and principals; requires PED, between April and August 2011, to convene a work group to develop a statewide evaluation framework; requires districts to adopt their evaluation programs during school year 2011-2012 to create a baseline of performance; requires the evaluation program to be operational during school year 2012-2013; requires termination of a teacher with three consecutive years of lowest effectiveness ratings; requires PED to develop a reward program for effective teachers and principals, subject to available funding; and amends the three-tiered licensure system to replace references to teacher competencies reflected in PED rule with teacher effectiveness, per the school district’s evaluation system; and to eliminate references to the statewide highly objective uniform system of evaluation in movement of teachers from level to level. Died on House Calendar after heavy amendments in House Labor Committee

HJR 1

LAND GRANT FUND ANNUAL DISTRIBUTIONS, CA (Failed H), Rep. Trujillo — FL/HJR 1 proposes to amend Article 12, Section 7 of the Constitution of New Mexico to provide for a permanent annual distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund of 5.8 percent of the historical average of the value of the fund; distributes that amount for use by all public education and other purposes required by the constitution; and reduces the annual distribution to 5.0 percent if the year-end market values of the fund fall below $5.8 billion. Failed on Tie Vote in House

SJR 10

amendment to the Constitution of New Mexico to temporarily increase the distribution from the Land Grant Permanent Fund; requires a portion of the increased distribution from the School Permanent Fund to be used for early childhood education programs operated by the public schools or pursuant to contracts between the state and private entities; indefinitely extends another distribution, with the requirement that the portion of the distribution from the Permanent School Fund be used to implement and maintain educational reforms; and suspends the distributions if the average value of the funds is less than $8.0 billion or if the Legislature, by a vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house, votes to suspend the distribution. Never Heard in Senate Finance