Blog: Education bills, day three

The big drama at the Legislature right now is the budget showdown, which is in my colleague Dan Boyd’s capable hands, and which has some education implications. But I’m using this blog to keep an eye on the smaller education bills that aren’t necessarily making the paper, but which matter to education wonks and practitioners. Here are some new bills that have passed both chambers and made it to the Governor’s desk. My past two round-ups are here and here. Also, in this morning’s paper, I wrote about the veto of SB147.

HB112: This bill specifies that school accountability reports must include disaggregated data about the performance of different subgroups, like ethnic groups and students learning English.

HB192: Currently, New Mexico teachers receive a pay increase for getting their National Board Certification. I’ve written about the process here and elsewhere. This bill would extend that pay increase to other licensed school employees, not just teachers.

HB300: This bill requires schools to provide excused absences for pregnant and parenting teens. Here’s some past coverage by my colleague Deb Ziff, and today’s story by my colleague Jim Monteleone.

HB541: This bill would create a bilingual seal for high school diplomas and GEDs, as a way of recognizing bilingual students. It would also create a bilingual education advisory council. I got an enthusiastic press release about this one from the guys over at Dual Language Eduction of New Mexico, saying this is really good for dual language kiddos.

Finally, the Governor announced today that she has vetoed HB273, which I covered in this blog post. The bill would have removed the requirement that charter school lease assistance payments be adjusted based on the consumer price index, instead saying these payments may be adjusted based on the CPI. The Governor isn’t having it, and said in her veto statement that she fears the bill would limit charter schools’ ability to fund future leasing needs, and could possibly cut into classroom spending at charters.