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HOUSE BILL 238
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Catherine J. Cullen and Joshua N. Hernandez
and Alan T. Martinez
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; ALLOWING UP TO SIXTY INSTRUCTIONAL
HOURS PER SCHOOL YEAR TO BE USED FOR PROFESSIONAL WORK HOURS
FOR MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL GRADES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 22-2-8.1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986,
Chapter 33, Section 2, as amended by Laws 2023, Chapter 19,
Section 1 and by Laws 2023, Chapter 84, Section 22) is amended
to read:
"22-2-8.1. SCHOOL YEAR--LENGTH OF SCHOOL DAY--MINIMUM.--
A. Except as otherwise provided in this section,
students shall be in school programs, exclusive of lunch, for a
minimum of one thousand one hundred forty instructional hours
per year, except half-day kindergarten, which shall have five
hundred fifty instructional hours per year.
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B. An instructional hour is a period at school
during which students receive instruction aligned to academic
content and performance standards and includes:
(1) a school program set forth in Sections
22-13-1 and 22-13-1.1 NMSA 1978;
(2) enrichment programs that focus on problem
solving and cognitive skills development;
(3) content that provides technical knowledge,
skills and competency-based applied learning;
(4) research- or evidence-based social,
emotional or academic interventions; and
(5) instruction that occurs at the same time
breakfast is served or consumed in accordance with the
breakfast after the bell program or federal requirements.
C. Up to sixty instructional hours per school year
for elementary, [grades and thirty instructional hours for ]
middle and high school grades may be used for professional work
hours, which may be embedded during the course of a normal
school day. A "professional work hour" means time during which
a teacher participates in professional work aligned to
challenging academic content and performance standards,
including:
(1) home visiting or parent-teacher
conferences;
(2) educator training or professional
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development; and
(3) mentorship, coaching and collaboration
between school employees.
D. Nothing in this section precludes a local school
board from setting a school year or the length of school days
in excess of the minimum requirements established by Subsection
A of this section.
E. The secretary may waive the minimum length of
school days in those school districts where such minimums would
create undue hardships as defined by the department as long as
the school year is adjusted to ensure that students in those
school districts receive the same total instructional time as
other students in the state.
F. Notwithstanding any other provision of this
section, provided that instruction occurs simultaneously, time
when breakfast is served or consumed pursuant to a state or
federal program shall be deemed to be time in a school-directed
program and is part of the instructional day.
G. Every general election and regular local
election shall be a school holiday for students and staff at
each public school in this state."
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