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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR:	Cervantes		DATE TYPED:	2-5-02		HB	275
SHORT TITLE:		Repeal Public School Code				SB
					ANALYST:		Segura

APPROPRIATION

Appropriation Contained		Estimated Additional Impact		Recurring or Non-Rec	Fund Affected
FY02	FY03	FY02	FY03
	$20.0		Indeterminate	Recurring	General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

State Department of Education (SDE)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

House Bill 275 repeals the Public School Code and creates the Public School Code Review Task Force.

Significant Issues

House Bill 275 creates a 16-member Public School Code Review Task Force composed as follows:

- three members ( including two principals and one teacher) appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives;

- two members (including one principal and one teacher ) appointed by the minority leader of the House of Representatives;

- three members ( including two principals and one teacher) appointed by the President Pro Tem of the Senate;

- two members ( including one principal and one teacher) appointed by the minority leader of the Senate;

- one member of the Governor’s staff

- one member of the business community appointed by the Governor;

- one school parent appointed by the Governor;

- two school district superintendents appointed by the state superintendents’s association;

- one member appointed by the State Board of Education.

The members will be appointed by July 31,2002 and function as a task force until December 31, 2003.

The bill charges the task force with conducting a review of the “Public School Code and state board of education rules governing primary and secondary education in New Mexico to identify those statutes and rules that unnecessarily burden administrators and teachers at the school site, and that prevent administrators and teachers at the school site from effectively performing their roles as instructional leaders and educators.”

The task force is directed to present its findings and recommendations no later than December 31, 2003. The State Department of Education is directed to staff the task force.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

House Bill 275 appropriates $20.0 from the general fund for the per diem and mileage costs for members.

According to SDE, the task force will place a significant burden on the department to be absorbed within available resources. In addition, to the staffing requirements the projects suggests the need for experts in a variety of areas, and no appropriation is available to support this function.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

According to SDE, if the outcome of the task force is to rewrite the Public School Code in its entirety, the department will be required to implement changed requirements in a broad variety of areas, including public school funding, program requirements, transportation accountability and numerous other areas. Also, public school districts will be required to implement and respond to changed requirements. A complete revamping of the state’s system of public education will require significant fiscal and administrative resources for implementation, both at the state and local levels.

OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

According to SDE, the provisions of the Public School Code are broad-ranging and cover virtually all aspects of the public education system. The task of rewriting the code in its entirety in an 18 month period is formidable, given the complexity of a number of the areas subsumed in the code.

RS/njw