LESC bill analyses are available on the New Mexico Legislature website (www.nmlegis.gov). Bill analyses are
prepared by LESC staff for standing education committees of the New Mexico Legislature. LESC does not assume
any responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they are used for other purposes.
LEGISLATIVE EDUCATION STUDY COMMITTEE
BILL ANALYSIS
57th Legislature, 1st Session, 2025
Bill Number HB238 Sponsor Cullen/Hernandez/Martinez
Tracking Number .229804.1 Committee Referrals HEC/HGEIC
Short Title Middle & High School Professional Work Hours
Original Date 2/10/2025
Analyst Bedeaux Last Updated
BILL SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
House Bill 238 (HB238) would amend school calendar requirements in Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA
1978 to increase the allowance of professional work hours counted toward instructional hours in
secondary schools from 30 hours to 60 hours.
FISCAL IMPACT
HB238 does not contain an appropriation.
SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
Instructional Time. HB238 may decrease the number of instructional hours for secondary
students statewide, though the exact impact would heavily depend on local calendar decisions.
Laws 2023, Chapter 19 (House Bill 130) increased the minimum number of instructional hours
schools were required to provide from 990 hours in elementary schools and 1,080 hours in
secondary schools to 1,140 hours in all schools. In New Mexico, local school boards and charter
school governing bodies have broad authority to establish calendars that meet the minimum
requirement of 1,140 instructional hours. In practice, this results in 89 school districts and 99
charter schools with varying start dates, end dates, and day lengths designed to meet local
communities’ needs. In January 2025, a ruling from the 9th Judicial District Court reaffirmed
school boards’ authority to set local school calendars, emphasizing “the Legislature’s clear
intention to allow local flexibility while still requiring 1,140 instructional hours with no
requirement for a specific number of days.”
New Mexico’s learning time reforms have focused on improving both the quantity and quality of
instructional hours, simultaneously increasing the minimum hour requirements as well as creating
allowances for professional work time. Recognizing secondary schools were required to provide
more instructional hours than elementary schools under the previous calendar law, the Legislature
established the current professional work hour allowances at 60 hours for elementary school and
30 hours for secondary schools, ensuring secondary students did not lose instructional time.
HB238 – Page 2
An LESC analysis of 2022 assessment results suggested increasing instructional hours has a
modest but statistically significant impact on student achievement in both reading and math, even
when controlling for students’ economic disadvantages. A Legislative Finance Committee (LFC)
program evaluation of time-on-task in 2016 had similar findings but noted substantially better
results for schools that added additional school days. The LFC evaluation noted that, while the
quantity of hours matter, the quality of those hours tends to matter more. LFC explains that students
in classrooms with high-quality, focused teachers with strong classroom management skills tended
to perform better on standardized assessments.
Professional Work Time. HB238 would place a larger emphasis on professional work time for
secondary educators. The National Conference of State Legislatures’ (NCSL’s) No Time To Lose
report explains how the world’s top-performing education systems found success by placing the
teaching profession at the center of their instructional systems. According to NCSL, teachers in
high performing countries:
“are given a lighter teaching load and more time for their own—and their
colleagues’—development. In some of these countries, 30 percent to 35 percent of
a teacher’s time is spent teaching students, while the rest is spent on activities such
as working in teams with other teachers to develop and improve lessons, observing
and critiquing classes, and working with struggling students.”
Research from the Learning Policy Institute, a national organization that conducts independent,
high-quality educational research to improve policy and practice, notes the most effective forms
of professional development for teachers are embedded in the course of a normal school day,
including collaboration, modeling lessons, and one-on-one coaching. Similarly, John Hattie’s
Visible Learning, a meta-analysis of more than 800 peer-reviewed educational studies, estimates
professional development has a strong, statistically significant effect on student achievement, but
reiterates the importance of particular professional development methods, including direct
observation of classroom methods, continuous feedback, and opportunities for practice.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
HB238 would simplify school calendar requirements, potentially reducing the administrative
burden associated with validating school calendars. PED staff have reported that currently, the
school calendar validation process is extremely labor intensive, requiring PED staff to determine
whether schools are actually providing the instructional hours they claim to provide in their
department-approved calendar. Simpler calendar requirements may make validation easier for
PED staff, though HB238 will likely still require a labor-intensive validation process.
OTHER SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Since the enactment of Laws 2023, Chapter 19, LESC and LFC staff have not evaluated the relative
value of instructional hours versus professional work hours. As schools become adjusted to the
law, the state is likely due for an evaluation of the return-on-investment for different types of
school calendars.
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
• LESC Files
TB/mam/mca/jkh