0001| AN ACT | 0002| RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; CREATING A FRAMEWORK FOR PUBLIC SCHOOL | 0003| ACCOUNTABILITY; AMENDING SECTION 22-1-6 NMSA 1978 (BEING LAWS 1989, | 0004| CHAPTER 308, SECTION 1, AS AMENDED). | 0005| | 0006| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO: | 0007| Section 1. Section 22-1-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1989, Chapter | 0008| 308, Section 1, as amended) is amended to read: | 0009| "22-1-6. ANNUAL SCHOOL DISTRICT ACCOUNTABILITY REPORT REQUIRED.- | 0010| - | 0011| A. School districts shall be required to publish an annual | 0012| school district accountability report to provide district-wide data | 0013| for the previous school year. The state board shall establish the | 0014| format for the accountability reports and ensure that the relevant | 0015| data is provided annually to parents, students, educators, | 0016| policymakers, legislators, the governor and business and economic | 0017| development organizations. The department of education shall | 0018| establish the following five indices through which public school | 0019| performance shall be measured and reported to school districts: | 0020| (1) student achievement as measured by a nationally | 0021| norm-referenced test approved by the department of education or | 0022| through a performance-based instrument to measure proficiency; | 0023| (2) school safety; | 0024| (3) the drop-out rate; | 0025| (4) attendance; and | 0001| (5) parent and community involvement. | 0002| The department of education shall establish the methodology for | 0003| measuring each of the five indices. | 0004| B. School districts shall set two-, four- and six-year | 0005| benchmarks in each of the five indices for each public school. Local | 0006| school boards may establish additional indices, if reviewed by the | 0007| department of education, through which to measure the school | 0008| district's performance in other areas. | 0009| C. The annual accountability report shall also include the | 0010| results of a survey of parents' views of the quality of their | 0011| children's school. The survey shall be conducted each year in time to | 0012| include the results in the annual accountability report. The survey | 0013| shall compile the results of a written questionnaire that shall be | 0014| sent home with the students to be given to their parents. The survey | 0015| may be completed anonymously. The survey shall be no more than one | 0016| page, shall be clearly and concisely written and shall include not | 0017| more than twenty questions that shall be answered with options of a | 0018| simple sliding scale ranging from "strongly agree" to "strongly | 0019| disagree" and shall include the optional response "don't know". The | 0020| survey shall also include a request for optional written comments, | 0021| which may be written on the back of the questionnaire form. The | 0022| questionnaire shall include questions in the following areas: | 0023| (1) parent-teacher-school relationship and | 0024| communication; | 0025| (2) quality of educational and extracurricular | 0001| programs; | 0002| (3) instructional practices and techniques; | 0003| (4) resources; | 0004| (5) school personnel, including the school principal; | 0005| and | 0006| (6) parents' view of teaching staff expectations for | 0007| the students. | 0008| The state board shall develop no more than ten of the questions | 0009| which shall be reviewed by the legislative education study committee | 0010| prior to implementation. No more than five questions shall be | 0011| developed by the local school board and no more than five questions | 0012| shall be developed by the staffs of each individual school site, | 0013| provided that at least half of those questions are developed by | 0014| teachers rather than administrators, in order to gather information | 0015| that is specific to the particular community surveyed. The | 0016| questionnaires shall indicate the public school site and shall be | 0017| tabulated by the department of education within thirty days of receipt | 0018| and shall be returned to the respective schools to be disseminated to | 0019| all parents. | 0020| D. The annual accountability report for each school | 0021| district shall be adopted by the local school board, may be published | 0022| no later than November 15 of each year and may be published at least | 0023| once each school year in a newspaper of general circulation in the | 0024| county where the school district is located. In publication, the | 0025| report shall be titled "the school district report card" and | 0001| disseminated in accordance with guidelines established by the state | 0002| board to ensure effective communication with parents, students, | 0003| educators, local policymakers and business and community | 0004| organizations. | 0005| E. The department of education shall create an | 0006| accountability data system through which data from each public school | 0007| and each school district may be compiled and reviewed. The department | 0008| of education shall provide the resources to train school district | 0009| personnel in the use of the accountability data system. | 0010| F. The department of education shall verify data submitted | 0011| by the school districts. | 0012| G. The state board shall measure the performance of every | 0013| public school in New Mexico. Public schools achieving the highest | 0014| level of performance shall be eligible for supplemental incentive | 0015| funding. The state board shall establish the corrective actions and | 0016| interventions necessary for public schools whose performance level is | 0017| low." | 0018| Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the | 0019| provisions of this act is July 1, 1998. |