AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PROVIDING FOR ALLOCATIONS OF SCHOOL LIBRARY FUNDS.

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

     Section 1. Section 22-15C-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 149, Section 6) is amended to read:

     "22-15C-6. DISTRIBUTION OF MONEY FOR SCHOOL LIBRARY MATERIAL.--

          A. On or before July 1 of each year, the department shall allocate from the fund at least ninety percent of the estimated entitlement for each school district or state institution as determined from the estimated forty-day membership for the next school year to each school district and state institution. The entitlement of a school district or state institution is the portion of the total amount of the annual appropriation less a deduction for a reasonable reserve for emergency expenses that its forty-day membership bears to the forty-day membership of the entire state. Additional students shall be counted as six students for the purpose of the allocation.

          B. On or before January 15 of each year, the department shall recompute each entitlement using the forty-day membership for that year and shall allocate the balance of the annual appropriation adjusting for any over- or under-estimation made in the first allocation.

          C. The department shall establish procedures to distribute funds directly to school districts and state institutions.

          D. A school district or state institution that has funds remaining for the purchase of school library material at the end of a fiscal year shall retain those funds for expenditure in subsequent years."

HB 349

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