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HOUSE BILL 490
57
TH LEGISLATURE
-
STATE
OF
NEW
MEXICO
-
FIRST SESSION
,
2025
INTRODUCED BY
E. Diane Torres-Velásquez and Pamelya Herndon
and Janelle Anyanonu and Charlotte Little
and Patricia Roybal Caballero
AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; REQUIRING CHANGES TO SCHOOL
DISCIPLINE POLICIES; PROVIDING ADDITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS THAT
ARE PROTECTED FROM DISCIPLINE, DISCRIMINATION OR DISPARATE
TREATMENT; MAKING REPORTS ON THE ONLINE PORTAL RELATING TO
BEHAVIOR OF STUDENTS OR SCHOOL PERSONNEL CONFIDENTIAL.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
SECTION 1. Section 22-5-4.3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1986,
Chapter 33, Section 9, as amended by Laws 2021, Chapter 19,
Section 1 and by Laws 2021, Chapter 37, Section 1 and also by
Laws 2021, Chapter 51, Section 8) is amended to read:
"22-5-4.3. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE POLICIES--RACIAL SENSITIVITY
AND ANTI-RACISM TRAINING--[HOTLINE ] ONLINE PORTAL FOR REPORTING
RACIALLY [CHARGED] MOTIVATED INCIDENTS AND RACIALIZED
AGGRESSION INVOLVING STUDENTS OR SCHOOL PERSONNEL--STUDENTS MAY
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SELF-ADMINISTER CERTAIN MEDICATIONS.--
A. Local school boards shall establish student
discipline policies and shall file them with the department.
The local school board shall involve parents, school personnel
and students in the development of these policies, and public
hearings shall be held during the formulation of these policies
in the high school attendance areas within each school district
or on a district-wide basis for those school districts that
have no high school. No local school board shall allow for the
imposition of discipline, discrimination or disparate treatment
against a student based on the student's race, religion or
culture, disability, home language, gender, level of family
income or because of the student's use of protective hairstyles
or cultural or religious headdresses; nor shall a student be
demeaned, bullied or punished for any of these characteristics
or use of cultural symbols .
B. Each school district discipline policy shall
establish rules of conduct governing areas of student and
school activity, detail specific prohibited acts and activities
and enumerate possible disciplinary sanctions, which sanctions
may include in-school suspension, school service, suspension or
expulsion. Corporal punishment shall be prohibited by each
local school board and each governing body of a charter school.
C. An individual school within a school district
may establish a school discipline policy; provided that
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parents, school personnel and students are involved in its
development and a public hearing is held in the school prior to
its adoption. If an individual school adopts a discipline
policy in addition to the local school board's school district
discipline policy, it shall submit its policy to the local
school board for approval.
D. All school discipline policies shall define and
include a specific prohibition against racialized aggression
involving a student or school personnel. Every school district
and every charter school shall provide links to the statewide
[hotline] online portal to report racially [charged ] motivated
incidents or racialized aggression. A submission and any
information in connection to the submission made through the
online portal is not a public record and is exempt from the
Inspection of Public Records Act.
E. No school employee who in good faith reports any
known or suspected violation of the school discipline policy or
in good faith attempts to enforce the policy shall be held
liable for any civil damages as a result of such report or of
the employee's efforts to enforce any part of the policy.
F. All public school and school district discipline
policies shall allow students to carry and self-administer
asthma medication and emergency anaphylaxis medication that has
been legally prescribed to the student by a licensed health
care provider under the following conditions:
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(1) the health care provider has instructed
the student in the correct and responsible use of the
medication;
(2) the student has demonstrated to the health
care provider and the school nurse or other school official the
skill level necessary to use the medication and any device that
is necessary to administer the medication as prescribed;
(3) the health care provider formulates a
written treatment plan for managing asthma or anaphylaxis
episodes of the student and for medication use by the student
during school hours or school-sponsored activities, including
transit to or from school or school-sponsored activities; and
(4) the student's parent has completed and
submitted to the school any written documentation required by
the school or the school district, including the treatment plan
required in Paragraph (3) of this subsection and other
documents related to liability.
G. The parent of a student who is allowed to carry
and self-administer asthma medication and emergency anaphylaxis
medication may provide the school with backup medication that
shall be kept in a location to which the student has immediate
access in the event of an asthma or anaphylaxis emergency.
H. Authorized school personnel who in good faith
provide a person with backup medication as provided in this
section shall not be held liable for civil damages as a result
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of providing the medication.
I. As used in this section:
(1) "cultural or religious headdresses"
includes hijabs, head wraps or other headdresses used as part
of an individual's personal cultural or religious beliefs;
(2) "protective hairstyles" includes such
hairstyles as braids, locs, twists, tight coils or curls,
cornrows, bantu knots, afros, weaves, wigs or head wraps; and
(3) "race" includes traits historically
associated with race, including hair texture, length of hair,
protective hairstyles or cultural or religious headdresses."
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