HB0451

HOUSE BILL 451

53rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2017

INTRODUCED BY

Elizabeth "Liz" Thomson

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CHANGING THE DEFINITIONS OF "SCHOOL-AGE PERSON" AND "PRE-KINDERGARTEN" FOR THE PURPOSES OF COMMUNITY SCHOOLS; TRACKING THE COMMUNITY SCHOOLS ACT WITH THE FEDERAL EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT; ADDING EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND VOLUNTARY PRE-KINDERGARTEN AS ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS; REQUIRING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO USE TITLE 1 FUNDING TO INVEST IN COMMUNITY SCHOOLS STATEWIDE.

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

SECTION 1. Section 22-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 3, as amended by Laws 2015, Chapter 58, Section 2 and by Laws 2015, Chapter 108, Section 1) is amended to read:

"22-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Code:

A. "academic proficiency" means mastery of the subject-matter knowledge and skills specified in state academic content and performance standards for a student's grade level;

B. "charter school" means a school authorized by a chartering authority to operate as a public school;

C. "commission" means the public education commission;

D. "department" means the public education department;

E. "home school" means the operation by the parent of a school-age person of a home study program of instruction that provides a basic academic educational program, including reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies and science;

F. "instructional support provider" means a person who is employed to support the instructional program of a school district, including educational assistant, school counselor, social worker, school nurse, speech-language pathologist, psychologist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, recreational therapist, marriage and family therapist, interpreter for the deaf and diagnostician;

G. "licensed school employee" means teachers, school administrators and instructional support providers;

H. "local school board" means the policy-setting body of a school district;

I. "local superintendent" means the chief executive officer of a school district;

J. "parent" includes a guardian or other person having custody and control of a school-age person;

K. "private school" means a school, other than a home school, that offers on-site programs of instruction and that is not under the control, supervision or management of a local school board;

L. "public school" means that part of a school district that is a single attendance center in which instruction is offered by one or more teachers and is discernible as a building or group of buildings generally recognized as either an elementary, middle, junior high or high school or any combination of those and includes a charter school;

M. "school" means a supervised program of instruction designed to educate a student in a particular place, manner and subject area;

N. "school administrator" means a person licensed to administer in a school district and includes school principals, central district administrators and charter school head administrators;

O. "school-age person" means a person who is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year and who has not received a high school diploma or its equivalent. "School-age person" means a person who is at least three years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year if a public school offers voluntary pre-kindergarten as part of a community schools initiative. A maximum age of twenty-one shall be used for a person who is classified as special education membership as defined in Section 22-8-21 NMSA 1978 or as a resident of a state institution;

P. "school building" means a public school, an administration building and related school structures or facilities, including teacher housing, that is owned, acquired or constructed by the school district as necessary to carry out the functions of the school district;

Q. "school bus private owner" means a person, other than a school district, the department, the state or any other political subdivision of the state, that owns a school bus;

R. "school district" means an area of land established as a political subdivision of the state for the administration of public schools and segregated geographically for taxation and bonding purposes;

S. "school employee" includes licensed and nonlicensed employees of a school district;

T. "school principal" means the chief instructional leader and administrative head of a public school;

U. "school year" means the total number of contract days offered by public schools in a school district during a period of twelve consecutive months;

V. "secretary" means the secretary of public education;

W. "state agency" or "state institution" means the New Mexico military institute, New Mexico school for the blind and visually impaired, New Mexico school for the deaf, New Mexico boys' school, girls' welfare home, New Mexico youth diagnostic and development center, Sequoyah adolescent treatment center, Carrie Tingley crippled children's hospital, New Mexico behavioral health institute at Las Vegas and any other state agency responsible for educating resident children;

X. "state educational institution" means an institution enumerated in Article 12, Section 11 of the constitution of New Mexico;

Y. "substitute teacher" means a person who holds a certificate to substitute for a teacher in the classroom;

Z. "teacher" means a person who holds a level one, two or three-A license and whose primary duty is classroom instruction or the supervision, below the school principal level, of an instructional program or whose duties include curriculum development, peer intervention, peer coaching or mentoring or serving as a resource teacher for other teachers;

AA. "certified school instructor" means a teacher or instructional support provider; and

BB. "certified school employee" or "certified school personnel" means a licensed school employee."

SECTION 2. Section 22-1-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1967, Chapter 16, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-1-3. DEFINITIONS--PUBLIC SCHOOLS--CLASSIFICATIONS.--As used in the Public School Code:

A. "elementary school" means a public school providing instruction for grades kindergarten through eight, unless there is a junior high school program approved by the [state board] department, in which case it means a public school providing instruction for grades kindergarten through six; provided that "elementary school" also includes a public school providing voluntary pre-kindergarten as part of a community schools initiative;

B. "secondary school" means a public school providing instruction for grades nine through twelve, unless there is a junior high school program approved by the [state board] department, in which case it means a public school providing instruction for grades seven through twelve;

C. "junior high school" means a public school providing a junior high school program approved by the [state board] department for grades seven through nine or for grades seven and eight; and

D. "high school" means a public school providing instruction for any of [the] grades nine through twelve, unless there is a junior high school program approved by the [state board] department for grades seven through nine, in which case it means a public school providing instruction for any of [the] grades ten through twelve."

SECTION 3. Section 22-8-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1978, Chapter 128, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-8-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Public School Finance Act:

A. "ADM" or "MEM" means membership;

B. "membership" means the total enrollment of qualified students on the current roll of a class or school on a specified day. The current roll is established by the addition of original entries and reentries minus withdrawals. Withdrawals of students, in addition to students formally withdrawn from the public school, include students absent from the public school for as many as ten consecutive school days; provided that withdrawals do not include students in need of early intervention and habitual truants the school district is required to intervene with and keep in an educational setting as provided in Section 22-12-9 NMSA 1978;

C. "basic program ADM" or "basic program MEM" means the MEM of qualified students but excludes the full-time- equivalent MEM in early childhood education and three- and four-year-old students receiving special education services;

D. "cost differential factor" is the numerical expression of the ratio of the cost of a particular segment of the school program to the cost of the basic program in grades four through six;

E. "department" or "division" means the public education department;

F. "early childhood education ADM" or "early childhood education MEM" means the full-time-equivalent MEM of students attending approved early childhood education programs;

G. "full-time-equivalent ADM" or "full-time- equivalent MEM" is that membership calculated by applying to the MEM in an approved public school program the ratio of the number of hours per school day devoted to the program to six hours or the number of hours per school week devoted to the program to thirty hours;

H. "operating budget" means the annual financial plan required to be submitted by a local school board or governing body of a state-chartered charter school;

I. "program cost" is the product of the total number of program units to which a school district is entitled multiplied by the dollar value per program unit established by the legislature;

J. "program element" is that component of a public school system to which a cost differential factor is applied to determine the number of program units to which a school district is entitled, including [but not limited to] MEM,

full-time-equivalent MEM, teacher, classroom or public school;

K. "program unit" is the product of the program element multiplied by the applicable cost differential factor;

L. "public money" or "public funds" means all money from public or private sources received by a school district or state-chartered charter school or officer or employee of a school district or state-chartered charter school for public use;

M. "qualified student" means a public school student who:

(1) has not graduated from high school;

(2) is regularly enrolled in one-half or more of the minimum course requirements approved by the department for public school students; and

(3) in terms of age:

(a) is at least five years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year;

(b) is at least three years of age at any time during the school year and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department; [or]

twenty-second birthday on the first day of the school year and is receiving special education services pursuant to rules of the department; [and] or

(d) is at least three years of age prior to 12:01 a.m. on September 1 of the school year and is attending voluntary public pre-kindergarten in a public school with a community schools initiative; and

N. "state superintendent" means the secretary of public education or the secretary's designee."

SECTION 4. Section 22-32-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2013, Chapter 16, Section 1) is amended to read:

"22-32-1. SHORT TITLE.--[This act] Chapter 22, Article 32 NMSA 1978 may be cited as the "Community Schools Act"."

SECTION 5. Section 22-32-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2013, Chapter 16, Section 2) is amended to read:

"22-32-2. PURPOSE.--The Community Schools Act is enacted to provide a strategy to organize the resources of a community to ensure student success while addressing the needs of the whole student from early childhood programs and voluntary pre-kindergarten through high school graduation; to partner with federal, state and local entities [with] and private community-based organizations to improve the coordination, delivery, effectiveness and efficiency of services provided to children and families; and to coordinate resources in order to align and leverage community resources and integrate funding streams."

SECTION 6. Section 22-32-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2013, Chapter 16, Section 3) is amended to read:

"22-32-3. COMMUNITY SCHOOLS INITIATIVES--SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT FUNCTIONS--REQUIREMENTS.--

A. A community schools initiative may be created in any public school in the state. For struggling schools, a community schools initiative may be used to implement comprehensive or targeted support and improvement activities pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act.

B. A community schools initiative shall include [but not be limited to] the following core set of strategies:

(1) extended learning programs, including before- and after-school programs as well as summer programs;

(2) school-based or school-linked health care; [and]

(3) family engagement and support services; and

(4) the provision of early childhood programs funded by the children, youth and families department and voluntary pre-kindergarten funded through the Pre-Kindergarten Act and the Title 1 set-aside as essential components of a community schools initiative.

C. A community schools initiative shall include the following:

(1) a lead partner agency, including [but not limited to] a public or private agency or community-based organization, to help coordinate programs and services;

(2) an assessment of community resources informed by students, families and community and school leaders that relates to the effective delivery of core services on site; and

(3) the establishment of an evaluation process that measures both the quality and quantity of outcomes."

SECTION 7. Section 22-32-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2013, Chapter 16, Section 4) is amended to read:

"22-32-4. COMMUNITY SCHOOLS INITIATIVES--ADMINISTRATIVE COSTS--GRANTS--SCHOOL DISTRICT, GROUP OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS OR PUBLIC SCHOOL DUTIES--REQUIREMENTS.--

A. A school district shall bear any administrative costs associated with the establishment and implementation of a community school within the school district.

B. Subject to the availability of funding, grants for community schools initiatives are available to a school district, a group of public schools or a public school that has demonstrated partnerships with [any] a lead partner agency and local, private and public agencies [for the purpose of establishing, operating and sustaining] to establish, operate and sustain community schools and that meets department eligibility requirements.

C. An applicant for grants for community schools initiatives shall propose to provide at least three of the following types of community school programming at each covered school site during the grant period:

(1) full-day, high-quality pre-kindergarten;

(2) physical and mental health services for students and their families that are provided by trained health care professionals;

(3) programming that promotes academic excellence aligned with state standards and benchmarks;

(4) programming that promotes the acquisition of life skills;

(5) programming that promotes parental support of and community engagement in the community school;

(6) programming that promotes nonviolent behavior and nonviolent conflict resolution;

(7) programming designed to improve school attendance and prevent students from dropping out of school;

(8) high-quality after-school programming;

(9) high-quality summer programming designed to prevent summer learning loss; and

(10) other programming designed to meet school and community needs identified through the public school and its community partners.

[C.] D. Applications for grants for community schools initiatives shall be in the form prescribed by the department and shall include the following information:

(1) a statement of need, including demographic and socioeconomic information about the area to be served by the community schools initiative;

(2) goals and expected outcomes of the initiative;

(3) services and activities to be provided by the initiative;

(4) written agreements for the provision of services by public and private agencies, community groups and other parties;

(5) a work plan and budget for the initiative, including staffing requirements and the expected availability of staff;

(6) days and hours of operation;

(7) strategies for dissemination of information about the initiative to potential users;

(8) training and professional development plans;

(9) letters of endorsement and commitment from community agencies and organizations and local governments; and

(10) any other information the department requires.

E. In addition to the general requirements for a grant application in Subsection D of this section, each application shall include specific plans for the following:

(1) maintenance of attendance records in all programming components and the use of that data to target students in need of intervention;

(2) maintenance of measurable data showing annual participation and the effect of programming on the participating students and families;

(3) documentation of meaningful and sustained collaboration between the public school and community stakeholders, including local governmental units, civic engagement organizations, businesses, social service providers, cultural organizations, institutions of higher education and health institutions;

(4) ensuring compliance with the nondiscrimination policy of the federal Every Student Succeeds Act;

(5) a baseline analysis of needs at the community school, including:

(a) identification of challenges facing the community school;

(b) analysis of the student body, including the: 1) number and percentage of students with disabilities and the needs of those students; 2) number and percentage of students who are English language learners and the needs of those students in addition to English proficiency; and 3) number and percentage of students receiving free or reduced-fee lunch and the needs of those students;

(c) analysis of enrollment and retention rates for students with disabilities, English language learners and students receiving free or reduced-fee lunch;

(d) analysis of suspension and expulsion data, including justification for such disciplinary actions and the degree to which particular populations, including students of color, students with disabilities, English language learners and students receiving free and reduced-fee lunch, are represented among students subject to such actions;

(e) analysis of school achievement data disaggregated by major demographic categories, including race or ethnicity, English language learner status, disability status and free or reduced-fee lunch receipt;

(f) analysis of current parent engagement strategies and their success;

(g) evaluation of the need for and availability of wraparound services, including: 1) mechanisms for meeting students' social, emotional and physical health needs, which may include coordination of existing services as well as the development of new services based on student needs; and 2) strategies to create safe and secure school environments and improve school climate and discipline, such as implementing a system of positive behavioral supports and taking additional steps to eliminate bullying; and

(h) analysis of the breadth and depth of community and school support for the school curriculum and the breadth and depth of support for changes to the school curriculum; and

(6) a baseline analysis of needs in the community surrounding the community school, conducted by the school leadership team in collaboration with relevant experts as appropriate, that includes the need for:

(a) high-quality, full-day child care and early childhood education programs;

(b) physical and mental health care services for children and adults; and

[D.] F. A school district, a group of public schools or a public school that uses funds under this section to transform a public school into a research- and evidence-based community schools initiative shall:

(1) use rigorous, transparent and equitable evaluation systems to assess the effectiveness of the implementation of the community schools initiative;

(2) provide ongoing, high-quality professional development to staff that:

(a) aligns with the public school's instructional program;

(b) facilitates effective teaching and learning; and

(3) give the public school sufficient operational flexibility in programming, staffing, budgeting and scheduling so that the public school can fully implement a comprehensive strategy designed to focus on improving school climate, student achievement and growth in reading and mathematics, attendance, behavior, parental engagement and, for high schools, graduation rates and readiness for college or a career; and

(4) where the grantee has received funding to provide community school programming at multiple covered school sites, select and compensate a program director to oversee and coordinate programming across the multiple covered school sites and, depending on funding, select and compensate a resource coordinator at each school site.

G. The department shall use at least four percent of the Title 1 set-aside to invest in community schools statewide."

SECTION 8. Section 32A-23-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2005, Chapter 170, Section 3) is amended to read:

"32A-23-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Pre-Kindergarten Act:

A. "community" means an area defined by school district boundaries, tribal boundaries or joint boundaries of a school district and tribe or any combination of school districts and tribes;

B. "departments" means the children, youth and families department and the public education department acting jointly;

C. "early childhood development specialist" means the adult responsible for working directly with four-year-old children in implementing pre-kindergarten services;

D. "eligible provider" means a person licensed by the children, youth and families department that provides early childhood developmental readiness services or preschool special education or is a public school, tribal program or head start program;

E. "pre-kindergarten" means a voluntary developmental readiness program for children who have attained their fourth birthday prior to September 1 or have attained their third birthday prior to September 1 if they are attending pre-kindergarten in a public school with a community schools initiative; and

F. "tribe" means an Indian nation, tribe or pueblo located in New Mexico."

- 19 -