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 Soules
/Sharer/Shendo
LAST UPDATED
ORIGINAL DATE 3/2/25
SHORT TITLE Appointed State Board of Education, CA
BILL
NUMBER
Senate Joint
Resolution 15
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
Parentheses ( ) indicate expenditure decreases.
*Amounts reflect most recent analysis of this legislation.
Relates to House Bill 157
Conflicts with House Joint Resolutions 4 and 13 and Senate Joint Resolution 3
Sources of Information
LFC Files
Legislative Education Study Committee Files
Agency Analysis Received From
Public School Facilities Authority (PSFA)
Regional Education Cooperatives (REC)
Agency Analysis was Solicited but Not Received From
Public Education Department (PED)
SUMMARY
Senate Joint Resolution 15 would amend the state constitution to establish an appointed state
board of education (SBE), and transfer governance of the Public Education Department (PED)
from the governor to under the SBE. The resolution allows current elected members of Public
Education Commission (PEC) to continue serving as state charter school authorizers. SBE shall
have nine appointed members as provided by law. SBE would then determine public school
policies, have control over all public schools, and appoint a superintendent of public instruction
to direct operations of PED. The secretary of PED will serve as the superintendent of public
instruction until replaced by SBE.
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.
Senate Joint Resolution 15 – Page 2
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.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
Provisions of this resolution would require voters to authorize the appointment of nine members
to serve on SBE pursuant to state law. It is unclear who will appoint these members, although
presumably this would be a governor’s responsibility, or how long their terms would be. SBE
would then appoint a qualified, experienced New Mexico licensed educational administrator to
be the superintendent of public instruction.
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 turnover in the
position, with eight secretaries and five interim secretaries since 2003. Secretary tenures range
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
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.
Every state except for the District of Columbia and Hawaii has statutory provisions
related to outlining the authority of local school boards. (Hawaii is one single school
district and so is the District of Columbia.) Senate Joint Resolution 15 – Page 3
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 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.
Given the significant number of confounding variables affecting student performance on the
NAEP test, it is unclear whether the change in governance structure from the prior state board to
PED is associated with changes in student performance because 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 resolution would require the appointment of nine members of SBE within
specific parameters. The Legislature would need to create enabling legislation to detail how
terms would be determined and further clarify duties of SBE and PED.
Senate Joint Resolution 15 – Page 4
CONFLICT, DUPLICATION, COMPANIONSHIP, RELATIONSHIP
This resolution conflicts with House Joint Resolution 4, which asks voters to elect a 10-member
state board of education to appoint a qualified, experienced and currently licensed educator to be
the superintendent of public instruction to manage PED. The resolution also conflicts with House
Joint Resolution 13, which also proposes a 10-member elected board to appoint a qualified,
experienced educator to by superintendent of public instruction. The resolutions also conflicts
with Senate Joint Resolution 3, which asks voters to elect a 10-member state board of education
with one governor-appointed member to appoint a qualified, experienced educator to be the
superintendent of public instruction.
This resolution also relates to House Bill 157, which creates new licenses for school site
administrators, superintendents, and other school administrators.
SL/hg