Fiscal impact reports (FIRs) are prepared by the Legislative Finance Committee (LFC) for standing finance
committees of the Legislature. LFC does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of these reports if they
are used for other purposes.
F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Martinez, A/Cullen
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 1/30/25
SHORT TITLE State Board of Education, CA
BILL
NUMBER
House Joint
Resolution 4
ANALYST Liu
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT*
(dollars in thousands)
Agency/Program
FY25 FY26 FY27
3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring or
Nonrecurring
Fund
Affected
Election Costs $35.0 - $50.0 $35.0 - $50.0 Nonrecurring General Fund
PED Operations
Indeterminate
but minimal
Recurring General Fund
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Relates to House Bill 157
Conflicts with Senate Joint Resolution 3
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Legislative Education Study Committee (LESC) Files
Agency Analysis was Solicited but Not Received From
Public Education Department (PED) Public School Facilities Authority (PSFA)
Office of the Governor
Because of the short timeframe between the introduction of this bill and its first hearing, LFC has
yet to receive analysis from state, education, or judicial agencies. This analysis could be updated
if that analysis is received.
SUMMARY
Synopsis of House Joint Resolution 4
House Joint Resolution 4 would amend the state constitution to reinstate an elected state board of
education in 2029 and transfer governance of the Public Education Department (PED) from the
governor to the board. The 10-member board, elected from the current Public Education
Commission (PEC) districts, would then determine public school policy, financial controls, and
other powers over all public schools provided by law and appoint a qualified, experienced and
currently licensed educator to be superintendent of public schools to manage PED. Board House Joint Resolution 4 – Page 2
vacancies would be filled by the governor with consent of the Senate. The resolution allows the
PED secretary to continue serving as superintendent of public schools until replaced by the
board.
The resolution authorizes current elected members of PEC to continue serving as state charter
authorizers until they are replaced by the elected board on January 1, 2029. The resolution then
calls on the Legislature to establish an independent state chartering authority for state-authorized
charter schools.
The joint resolution provides the amendment be put before the voters at the next general election
(November 2026) or a special election called for the purpose of considering the amendment. The
amendment would only be effective if approved by voters.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
Under Section 1-16-4 NMSA 1978 and the New Mexico Constitution, the Secretary of State
(SOS) is required to print samples of the text of each constitutional amendment in both Spanish
and English in an amount equal to 10 percent of the registered voters in the state. SOS is required
to publish the samples once a week for four weeks preceding the election in newspapers in every
county in the state. Further, the number of constitutional amendments on the ballot may impact
the ballot page size or cause the ballot to be more than one page, also increasing costs. The
estimated cost per constitutional amendment is $35 thousand to $50 thousand, depending on the
size and number of ballots and if additional ballot stations are needed.
Operating costs at PED are unlikely to change significantly based on governance.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Provisions of this bill would require voters to elect 10 members to serve on the board at the 2028
general election from the 10 current PEC districts. These districts would be the board districts for
subsequent elections and be updated after the 2030 federal census. Any board vacancies would
be appointed by the governor, with the advice and consent of the Senate, for the remainder of the
original term.
Prior to FY04, New Mexico had an elected policymaking state board of education. When the
constitutional amendment establishing PED was passed in September 2003, responsibilities
included shifting responsibilities from a superintendent of public instruction selected by the
board to a secretary selected by the governor. In recent years, PED has seen high turnover in the
position, with eight secretaries and five interim secretaries since 2003. Secretary tenures have
ranged from six months to seven years. According to LESC, between 1963 and 2002, New
Mexico had only three state superintendents of instruction, with tenures ranging from five years
to 22 years.
A 2020 analysis of governance structures by the Education Commission of the States found:
Twenty-five states have outlined a formal constitutional role specific to education for
their governor.
Every state has constitutional language detailing the authority and duties of state
legislatures in education, and 40 states give the legislature some role in appointing or House Joint Resolution 4 – Page 3
confirming the chief state school officer or state board of education members.
Thirty chief state school officers have a formal constitutional role in state government.
Additionally, how they are selected for office varies: 21 are appointed by state boards of
education, 16 are appointed by the governor, 12 are elected, and one is appointed by the
state executive-level secretary. In Oregon, the governor is the superintendent of
education.
State board of education authority and duties are also detailed in state constitutions and
statute. Twenty-three states include state boards in the constitution, and 26 have only
statutory powers and duties. Only Minnesota and Wisconsin do not have a state board,
and New Mexico’s public education commission is advisory only.
Thirty-four states have some variation of an executive-level secretary. Such positions
may mean additional formal duties for chief state school officers, or they may be
individually appointed positions designated to serve the state board of education or work
in some other capacity.
The District of Columbia and every state except Hawaii have statutory provisions related
to outlining the authority of local school boards. (Hawaii has a single school district and
so does the District of Columbia.)
PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS
Changes to New Mexico’s governance structure in the last two decades have coincided with
significant events, including the Great Recession of 2008, Martinez-Yazzie education sufficiency
lawsuit in 2018, and Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Simultaneously, the state experienced a decade
of austere budgeting for schools, the addition of over 100 charter schools, a surge and subsequent
decline in student enrollment, three major shifts in gubernatorial educational platforms and
subsequent changes to state accountability structures, major recent investments in instructional
time and educator pay, and eight PED secretaries.
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the only longitudinal national
assessment that has been administered to all states over the last two decades, shows average New
Mexico math and reading performance has fallen below 2000 levels, except for fourth grade
math scale scores. In general, New Mexico’s performance changes have largely mirrored trends
in national performance on the NAEP test, but the state’s appears now to be declining. The 2024
NAEP results continue to rank New Mexico in 50
th
place in all math and reading scores, the
same rank as the 2022 NAEP results.
House Joint Resolution 4 – Page 4
Given the significant number of confounding variables affecting student performance on the
NAEP test, it is unclear whether a change in governance structure is associated with changes in
student performance; New Mexico experienced a brief period of closing the gap with the national
average prior to 2008. According to the Legislative Education Study Committee, differences in
governance structures do not appear to have a strong relationship with NAEP performance.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
Provisions of this bill would require the Legislature to create an independent state chartering
authority to replace the PEC in 2029. Currently, PEC is staffed by PED’s Charters Schools
Division, which could substantially change depending on the enabling legislation for an
independent authority.
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
This bill conflicts with Senate Joint Resolution 3, which asks voters to establish a 15-member
state school board with a specific membership makeup comprising 10 elected members and five
appointed members. The board must appoint a qualified, experienced educational administrator
to be the superintendent of public instruction to manage PED.
This bill also relates to House Bill 157, which creates new licenses for school site administrators,
superintendents, and other school administrators.
SL/sgs/hg/sgs