SB0034

SENATE BILL 34

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Gabriel Ramos

AN ACT

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; REQUIRING THE PUBLIC EDUCATION DEPARTMENT TO REPORT AND PUBLISH DATA ON THE RESULTS OF THE STANDARDS-BASED ASSESSMENTS ADMINISTERED IN THE IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING SCHOOL YEAR; REQUIRING THE REPORT TO BE PUBLISHED ON OR BEFORE SEPTEMBER 1 OF EACH YEAR; MAKING CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.

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

SECTION 1. Section 22-2C-11 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 2003, Chapter 153, Section 20, as amended) is amended to read:

"22-2C-11. ASSESSMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM REPORTING--PARENT SURVEY--PRELIMINARY AND ACCOUNTABILITY DATA SYSTEM--FISCAL INFORMATION.--

A. The department shall:

(1) issue a state identification number for each public school student for use in the accountability data system;

(2) adopt the format for the reporting required by the Assessment and Accountability Act that is clear, concise and understandable to parents and the general public and that protects the privacy of students;

(3) report individual student assessments to parents, [The student assessments] which shall include a report [each] on the student's progress and academic needs as measured against state standards;

[(3) adopt the format for reporting annual]

(4) report the preliminary data on the results of the standards-based assessments from the immediately preceding school year on or before September 1 of each year, which shall include data on the proficiency rates for each tested subject and each grade tested by school level, district level and statewide performance and by student demographics;

(5) provide an annual accountability report on the progress of public schools, school districts, state-chartered charter schools and the department; [a school district's report shall include reports of all locally chartered charter schools in the school district] provided that if the department has adopted a state improving schools program, the annual accountability report shall include the results of that program for each public school; [The annual accountability report format shall be clear, concise and understandable to parents and the general public. All annual accountability reports shall ensure that the privacy of individual students is protected;

(4) require that when public schools, school districts, state-chartered charter schools and the state disaggregate and report school data for demographic subgroups, they include data disaggregated by ethnicity, race, limited English proficiency, students with disabilities, poverty and gender; provided that ethnicity and race shall be reported using the following categories:

(a) Caucasian, non-Hispanic;

(b) Hispanic;

(d) American Indian or Alaska Native;

(e) Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander;

(f) Asian;

(g) two or more races; and

(h) other; provided that if the sample of students in any category enumerated in Subparagraphs (a) through (g) of this paragraph is so small that a student in the sample may be personally identifiable in violation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, the report may combine that sample into the "other" category;

(5)] (6) report cohort graduation data annually for the state, for each school district and for each state-chartered charter school and each public high school, based on information provided by all school districts and state-chartered charter schools according to procedures established by the department; provided that the report shall include the number and percentage of students in a cohort who:

(a) have graduated by August 1 of the fourth year after entering the ninth grade;

(b) have graduated in more than four years, but by August 1 of the fifth year after entering ninth grade;

(c) have received a state certificate by exiting the school system at the end of grade twelve without having satisfied the requirements for a high school diploma as provided in Section 22-13-1.1 NMSA 1978 or completed all course requirements but have not passed the graduation assessment or portfolio of standards-based indicators pursuant to Section 22-13-1.1 NMSA 1978;

(d) have dropped out or whose status is unknown;

(e) have exited public school and indicated an intent to pursue a high school equivalency credential; or

(f) are still enrolled in public school;

[(6)] (7) report annually, based on data provided by school districts and state-chartered charter schools, the number and percentage of public school students in each cohort in the state in grades nine through twelve who have advanced to the next grade or graduated on schedule, who remain enrolled but have not advanced to the next grade on schedule, who have dropped out or whose other educational outcomes are known to the department; and

[(7)] (8) establish technical criteria and procedures to define which students are included or excluded from a cohort.

B. Local school boards and governing boards of charter schools may establish additional indicators through which to measure the school district's or charter school's performance.

C. Student demographic data in a report required by the Assessment and Accountability Act shall be disaggregated by ethnicity, race, limited English proficiency, students with disabilities, poverty and gender. Ethnicity and race shall be reported using the following categories: Caucasian, non-Hispanic; Hispanic; African American; American Indian or Alaskan Native; Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander; Asian; two or more races; and other. If the sample of students in an ethnicity and race category, besides the "other" category, is so small that a student in the sample may be personally identifiable in violation of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974, the report may combine that sample into the "other" category.

D. The department's report on preliminary data on the results of the standards-based assessments shall be conspicuously published on the department's website in an accessible and user-friendly digital format.

[C.] E. The school district's or state-chartered charter school's annual accountability report shall include a report of four- and five-year graduation rates for each public high school in the school district or state-chartered charter school. [All annual accountability reports shall ensure that the privacy of individual students is protected.] As part of the graduation rate data, the school district or state-chartered charter school shall include data showing the number and percentage of students in the cohort:

(1) who have received a state certificate by exiting the school system at the end of grade twelve without having satisfied the requirements for a high school diploma as provided in Section 22-13-1.1 NMSA 1978 or completed all course requirements but have not passed the graduation assessment or portfolio of standards-based indicators pursuant to Section 22-13-1.1 NMSA 1978;

(2) who have dropped out or whose status is unknown;

(3) who have exited public school and indicated an intent to pursue a high school equivalency credential;

(4) who are still enrolled; and

(5) whose other educational outcomes are known to the school district.

[D.] F. The school district's or state-chartered charter school's annual accountability report shall be adopted by the local school board or governing body of the state-chartered charter school [shall be] and published no later than November 15 of each year [and shall be published at least once each school year] in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the school district or state-chartered charter school is located as well as [online] on the website of the school district or state-chartered charter school. In publication, the report shall be titled "The School District Report Card" or "The Charter School Report Card" and disseminated in accordance with guidelines established by the department to ensure effective communication with parents, students, educators, local policymakers and business and community organizations.

[E.] G. The annual accountability report shall include the names of [those] the members of the local school board or the governing body of the charter school who failed to attend annual mandatory training.

[F.] H. The annual accountability report shall include data on expenditures for central office administration and expenditures for the public schools of the school district or charter school.

[G.] I. The department shall create [an accountability] a data system for preliminary and accountability data through which data from each public school and each school district or state-chartered charter school may be compiled and reviewed. The department shall provide the resources to train school district and charter school personnel in the use of the accountability data system.

[H.] J. The department shall verify data submitted by the school districts and state-chartered charter schools.

[I. At the end of fiscal year 2005] K. After the budget approval cycle, the department shall produce a report to the legislature that shows, for all school districts, [using performance-based program budgeting] the relationship between [that] the portion of a school district's program cost generated by each public school in the school district and the budgeted expenditures for each public school in the school district as reported in the district's performance-based program budget. [At the end of fiscal year 2006 and subsequent fiscal years, after the budget approval cycle, the department shall report on this relationship in all public schools in all school districts in the state.

J. When all public schools are participating in performance-based budgeting]

L. The department shall recommend annually to the legislature [for inclusion in the general appropriation act the] a maximum percentage of general appropriation act appropriations that may be expended in each school district for central office administration.

[K.] M. The department shall disseminate its statewide accountability report to school districts and charter schools; the governor, legislators and other policymakers; and business and economic development organizations.

[L.] N. As used in this section, "cohort" means a group of students who enter grade nine for the first time at the same time, plus those students who transfer into the group in later years and minus those students who leave the cohort for documented excusable reasons."

- 9 -