SB 163
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AN ACT
RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS; PERMITTING PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENTS
WHO ARE ENROLLED, OR ELIGIBLE FOR ENROLLMENT, IN FEDERALLY
RECOGNIZED INDIAN NATIONS, TRIBES AND PUEBLOS TO WEAR TRIBAL
REGALIA AT GRADUATION CEREMONIES OR PUBLIC SCHOOL EVENTS;
DECLARING AN EMERGENCY.
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 FOR REPORTING
RACIALLY CHARGED INCIDENTS AND RACIALIZED AGGRESSION
INVOLVING STUDENTS OR SCHOOL PERSONNEL--STUDENTS MAY
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 SB 163
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board shall allow for the imposition of discipline,
discrimination or disparate treatment against a student based
on the student's race, religion or culture or because of the
student's use of protective hairstyles or cultural or
religious headdresses.
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
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 SB 163
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statewide hotline to report racially charged incidents or
racialized aggression.
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:
(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 SB 163
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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 of providing the medication.
I. Local school boards and governing bodies of
charter schools shall not prohibit a student who is enrolled,
or eligible for enrollment, in a federally recognized Indian
nation, tribe or pueblo from wearing tribal regalia or
objects of cultural significance along with or attached to a
cap or gown or wearing tribally significant footwear or other
items of apparel under a gown at graduation ceremonies or
public school events. SB 163
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J. As used in this section:
(1) "cultural or religious headdresses"
includes hijabs, head wraps or other headdresses used as part
of a person'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) "tribal regalia" means a tribe's
traditional dress or recognized objects of religious or
cultural significance, including tribal symbols, jewelry,
beading and feathers."
SECTION 2. Section 22-8B-4 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1999,
Chapter 281, Section 4, as amended) is amended to read:
"22-8B-4. CHARTER SCHOOLS' RIGHTS AND
RESPONSIBILITIES--OPERATION.--
A. A charter school shall be governed by a
governing body in the manner set forth in the charter
contract; provided that a governing body shall have at least
five members; and provided further that no member of a
governing body for a charter school that is initially
approved on or after July 1, 2005 or whose charter is renewed
on or after July 1, 2005 shall serve on the governing body of
another charter school. No member of a local school board
shall be a member of a governing body for a charter school or
employed in any capacity by a locally chartered charter SB 163
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school located within the local school board's school
district during the term of office for which the member was
elected or appointed.
B. A charter school shall be responsible for:
(1) its own operation, including preparation
of a budget, subject to audits pursuant to the Audit Act; and
(2) contracting for services and personnel
matters.
C. A charter school may contract with a school
district, a university or college, the state, another
political subdivision of the state, the federal government or
one of its agencies, a tribal government or any other third
party for the use of a facility, its operation and
maintenance and the provision of any service or activity that
the charter school is required to perform in order to carry
out the educational program described in its charter
contract. Facilities used by a charter school shall meet the
standards required pursuant to Section 22-8B-4.2 NMSA 1978.
D. A conversion school chartered before
July 1, 2007 may choose to continue using the school district
facilities and equipment it had been using prior to
conversion, subject to the provisions of Subsection E of this
section.
E. A school district that has available land or
one or more available facilities not currently used for other SB 163
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educational purposes shall make facilities and may make land
available for lease, lease-purchase or purchase to the
charter schools located in the school district for the
charter schools' operations and shall notify the charter
schools of that availability no later than May 1 of each
year. The public school facilities authority shall annually
ensure that each school district with available land or one
or more available facilities has provided that notification.
A school district may develop a facility prioritization plan
that identifies which charter schools may lease,
lease-purchase or purchase available school district
facilities. School-district-owned land shall not be
considered available to a charter school if the school
district has justified future use of that land through its
five-year facilities master plan. An agreement for the use
of school district facilities by a charter school may provide
for reasonable lease payments; provided that the payments do
not exceed the sum of the lease reimbursement rate provided
in Paragraph (1) of Subsection I of Section 22-24-4 NMSA 1978
plus any reimbursement for actual direct costs incurred by
the school district in providing the facilities; and provided
further that any lease payments received by a school district
may be retained by the school district and shall not be
considered to be cash balances in any calculation pursuant to
Section 22-8-41 NMSA 1978. The available facilities provided SB 163
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by a school district to a charter school shall meet all
occupancy standards as specified by the public school capital
outlay council. As used in this subsection, "other
educational purposes" includes health clinics, daycare
centers, teacher training centers, school district
administration functions and other ancillary services related
to a school district's functions and operations.
F. A locally chartered charter school may pay the
costs of operation and maintenance of its facilities or may
contract with the school district to provide facility
operation and maintenance services.
G. Locally chartered charter school facilities are
eligible for state and local capital outlay funds and shall
be included in the school district's five-year facilities
plan.
H. A locally chartered charter school shall
negotiate with a school district to provide transportation to
students eligible for transportation under the provisions of
the Public School Code. The school district, in conjunction
with the charter school, may establish a limit for student
transportation to and from the charter school site not to
extend beyond the school district boundary.
I. A charter school shall be a nonsectarian,
nonreligious and non-home-based public school.
J. Except as otherwise provided in the Public SB 163
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School Code, a charter school shall not charge tuition or
have admission requirements.
K. With the approval of the chartering authority,
a single charter school may maintain separate facilities at
two or more locations within the same school district; but,
for purposes of calculating program units pursuant to the
Public School Finance Act, the separate facilities shall be
treated together as one school.
L. A charter school shall be subject to the
provisions of Section 22-2-8 NMSA 1978 and the Assessment and
Accountability Act.
M. Within constitutional and statutory limits, a
charter school may acquire and dispose of property; provided
that, upon termination of the charter, all assets of the
locally chartered charter school shall revert to the local
school board and all assets of the state-chartered charter
school shall revert to the state, except that, if all or any
portion of a state-chartered charter school facility is
financed with the proceeds of general obligation bonds issued
by a local school board, the facility shall revert to the
local school board.
N. The governing body of a charter school may
accept or reject any charitable gift, grant, devise or
bequest; provided that no such gift, grant, devise or bequest
shall be accepted if subject to any condition contrary to law SB 163
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or to the terms of the charter. The particular gift, grant,
devise or bequest shall be considered an asset of the charter
school to which it is given.
O. The governing body may contract and sue and be
sued. A local school board shall not be liable for any acts
or omissions of the charter school.
P. A charter school shall comply with all state
and federal health and safety requirements applicable to
public schools, including those health and safety codes
relating to educational building occupancy.
Q. A charter school is a public school that may
contract with a school district or other party for provision
of financial management, food services, transportation,
facilities, education-related services or other services.
The governing body shall not contract with a for-profit
entity for the management of the charter school.
R. To enable state-chartered charter schools to
submit required data to the department, an accountability
data system shall be maintained by the department.
S. A charter school shall comply with all
applicable state and federal laws and rules related to
providing special education services. Charter school
students with disabilities and their parents retain all
rights under the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act and its implementing state and federal rules. SB 163
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Each charter school is responsible for identifying,
evaluating and offering a free appropriate public education
to all eligible children who are accepted for enrollment in
that charter school. The state-chartered charter school, as
a local educational agency, shall assume responsibility for
determining students' needs for special education and related
services. The division may promulgate rules to implement the
requirements of this subsection."
SECTION 3. A new section of the Charter Schools Act is
enacted to read:
"POLICY OF NON-DISCRIMINATION.--
A. A charter school shall be subject to all
federal and state laws and constitutional provisions
prohibiting discrimination on the basis of disability,
physical or mental handicap, serious medical condition, race,
creed, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation,
spousal affiliation, national origin, religion, ancestry or
need for special education services and shall not allow for
the imposition of discipline, discrimination or disparate
treatment against a student based on the student's race,
religion or culture or because of the student's use of
protective hairstyles or cultural or religious headdresses.
B. Governing bodies of charter schools shall not
prohibit a student who is enrolled, or eligible for
enrollment, in a federally recognized Indian nation, tribe or SB 163
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pueblo from wearing tribal regalia or objects of cultural
significance along with or attached to a cap or gown or
wearing tribally significant footwear or other items of
apparel under a gown at graduation ceremonies or public
school events.
C. As used in this section:
(1) "cultural or religious headdresses"
includes hijabs, head wraps or other headdresses used as part
of a person'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) "tribal regalia" means a tribe's
traditional dress or recognized objects of religious or
cultural significance, including tribal symbols, jewelry,
beading and feathers."
SECTION 4. EMERGENCY.--It is necessary for the public
peace, health and safety that this act take effect
immediately.