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

SPONSOR Wirth

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2-6-06

2-14-06 HB 839/aHEC

SHORT TITLE

HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS FEASIBILITY

STUDY

SB

ANALYST Hadwiger

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$500.0 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates SB723.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA)

Public Education Department (PED)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of HEC Amendment

The HEC amendment to House Bill 839 would change the recipient of the appropriation from the

Office of the Governor to the Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC) and revise the re-

maining text to reflect that perspective. Whereas in the original bill, the Public Education De-

partment and Department of Cultural Affairs would have been required to study the need and

feasibility of establishing a school for the arts, in the amended version, this study would be con-

ducted by the LESC.

Synopsis of Original Bill

House Bill 839 appropriates $500 thousand from the general fund to the Office of the Governor

in FY07 for a feasibility study on the creation of a publicly funded statewide residential high

school for the arts. The Office of the Governor would direct the study through the Public Educa-

tion Department (PED) and Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA). The Office may contract for

part or all of the study.

House Bill 839/aHEC – Page

2

PED and DCA would be required to study the need and feasibility of establishing a school for

the arts and, if the study determines that such a school is necessary and feasible, the study would

include one or more conceptual design options and consider how the school should be structured

and governed; how the school should relate to the public school system, including the public

education department, school districts and federal and state law; costs of and funding for the

school; and any other matters the office of the governor or the public education and cultural af-

fairs departments deem necessary.

The results of the study, including recommendations, would be reported to the Legislative Edu-

cation Study Committee and the Legislative Finance Committee by October 15, 2006. Two cop-

ies of the report would be filed with the Legislative Council Service library.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $500 thousand contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the gen-

eral fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 would revert

to the general fund.

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DCA noted New Mexico is widely recognized as a center for the arts. However, no public high

schools exist to prepare our own citizens for this industry.

PED indicated the feasibility study would allow the state to study and make recommendations

concerning legal, budgetary and programmatic questions regarding a school of the arts. It is not

clear whether the study is to address the feasibility of implementing the full high school, or

whether the phase-in provided for in HB 332 and SB 599 is envisioned.

PED noted that issues to be studied and addressed concerning a publicly funded statewide resi-

dential high school for the arts include:

•

governance;

•

accreditation;

•

legal status of the high school for purposes of compliance with federal law, including Ti-

tle IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (20 US Code 1681), the Individuals with

Disabilities Education Act (IDEA - 20 US Code 1400), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation

Act of 1973 (29 US Code 741) and No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 (PL 107-

110 - the Elementary and Secondary Education Act). If the school is deemed an LEA for

purposes of compliance with NCLB, this would implicate a host of federal statutory and

regulatory provisions not least of which are mandatory annual standards-based assess-

ments, the need to meet adequate yearly progress (AYP) based upon a state definition and

the need to have “highly qualified teachers” in the classroom who teach core academic

subjects. The core academic subjects include English, reading or language arts, mathe-

matics, science, foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history and

geography; and

•

status of employees.

House Bill 839/aHEC – Page

3

PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS

According to PED, the bill supports the Governor’s Making Schools Work policy framework for

improving education for all New Mexicans.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

PED and DCA would enter into an MOU to administer the funds and contract with the appropri-

ate entities if necessary to perform the study.

DH/nt:mt