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HOUSE BILL 297
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
Anita Gonzales and Debra M. Sariñana and Tanya Mirabal Moya
AN ACT
RELATING TO SCHOOL PERSONNEL; PROVIDING FOR LICENSURE
ENDORSEMENT IN COMPUTER SCIENCE FOR ALL GRADES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 22-10A-6 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986,
Chapter 33, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-10A-6. EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR LICENSURE.--
A. The department shall require a person seeking
licensure or reciprocity in elementary, special, early
childhood or secondary education to have completed the
following minimum requirements in the college of arts and
sciences:
(1) nine semester hours in communication;
(2) six semester hours in mathematics;
(3) eight semester hours in laboratory
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science;
(4) nine semester hours in social and
behavioral science; and
(5) nine semester hours in humanities and fine
arts.
B. In addition to the requirements specified in
Subsections A and C of this section, the department shall
require that a person seeking standard or alternative
elementary licensure shall have completed six hours of reading
courses, and a person seeking standard or alternative secondary
licensure shall have completed three hours of reading courses
in subject matter content. The department shall establish
requirements that provide a reasonable period of time to comply
with the provisions of this subsection.
C. Except for licensure by reciprocity, the
department shall require, prior to initial licensure, no less
than sixteen weeks of student teaching, a portion of which
shall occur in the first thirty credit hours taken in the
college of education and shall be under the direct supervision
of a teacher and a portion of which shall occur in the
student's senior year with the student teacher being directly
responsible for the classroom.
D. Nothing in this section shall preclude the
department from establishing or accepting equivalent
requirements for purposes of reciprocal licensure or minimum
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requirements for alternative licensure.
E. Vocational teacher preparatory programs may be
exempt from Subsections A through C of this section upon a
determination by the department that other licensure
requirements are more appropriate for vocational teacher
preparatory programs.
F. [Before December 31, 2021, the department shall
create a license endorsement in secondary computer science
available to all teachers who hold a ] Teachers seeking to add
an endorsement for computer science on a valid license [and]
shall demonstrate sufficient content knowledge in computer
science [as determined by the department ]. The department
shall consult with computer science education experts with
experience in creating or supporting computer science
endorsement pathways when developing computer science
endorsement requirements. The endorsement requires the teacher
to have:
(1) earned fifteen post-secondary course
credits in computer science;
(2) passed the department-approved teacher
licensure examination for computer science;
(3) a minimum of two years of work experience
in an industry related to computer science, which the applicant
must validate using a verifiable list of references;
(4) an industry certification in a field
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related to computer science, which the applicant must validate
using official documentation of the industry certification;
(5) completed sixty hours of professional
development within the three years immediately prior to
applying for a computer science endorsement, which the
applicant must validate using documentation from the
organization that provided the professional development,
including the number of hours of each training; or
(6) three or more years of computer science
teaching experience, including computer coding program
structure in one or more languages, debugging computer
programs, computer modeling and skills relevant to applications
such as data management, graphics and text processing, which
the applicant must validate with a letter signed by a school
district administrator, charter school administrator or school
principal."
SECTION 2. APPROPRIATION.--Two hundred fifty thousand
dollars ($250,000) is appropriated from the general fund to the
public education department for expenditure in fiscal years
2026 and 2027 for professional development for teachers who
want a computer science endorsement or want to maintain the
endorsement. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining
at the end of fiscal year 2027 shall revert to the general
fund.
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